LEO Annual Meeting
Year 8 Retreat – October 18-21, 2022
Houston, Texas
The 2022 annual investigator and coordinator retreat was held at the Houston Marriott Medical Center/Museum District hotel near the MD Anderson campus. The coordinator retreat focused on infrastructure improvements and training refreshers, while the investigator retreat included updates from a variety of working groups, and future planning for the LEO Cohort.
Investigator Meeting
Coordinator Meeting
LEO Scientific Retreat – February 17-18, 2022
San Diego, California
After not meeting in person during 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we planned an in-person scientific retreat for February 2022, but due to the omicron surge we had to meet virtually on zoom. We held eight sessions to start planning research using LEO over the next 2 years. Over 50 people attended over the two days and multiple research initiatives and new investments into LEO were identified.
Year 5 – December 29, 2019
Orlando, Florida
The 2019 LEO Annual Investigator Meeting was held at the Hyatt hotel in Orlando. The meeting included reports from several LEO working groups as well as discussion of grant and funding options. We also held a session with the LEO External Advisory Board to review study progress and the LEO grant renewal
Year 4 – November 29, 2018
San Diego, California
The 2018 LEO Annual Investigator Meeting was held at the Omni hotel in San Diego. This fourth annual meeting was the first time the Investigator and Coordinator meeting would be split into two separate events. As the study has continued to grow, the content needing coverage also continues to grow. The focus of the investigator meeting covered current projects, the future of the LEO Cohort, and upcoming initiatives. The coordinator meeting was held at the Miami LEO site in January of 2019. The coordinator meeting included breakout sessions for consistent training across all LEO sites, an interactive session to update processes and procedures, as well as an opportunity to meet with LEO’s patient advocate.
Year 3 – December 5-7, 2017
Atlanta, Georgia
Nearly 100 lymphoma researchers representing all 8 of the LEO Centers convened at the Emory Conference Center for the 3rd Annual LEO Meeting. The three-day meeting consisted of two coordinator-specific days of meetings, where coordinators were trained on important study tasks such as data entry, participant recruitment strategies, and following uniform study protocols. In addition, the coordinators from all sites participated in team building activities, including a bowling outing at the Emory Conference Center. The investigators joined the coordinators for the third day of the meeting, where more high-level study concerns and issues were discussed by the doctors and researchers. As the LEO study continues to grow and expand, the future of LEO and ideas for future improvement were a main focus of this meeting.
Year 2 – November 30-December 1, 2016
San Diego, California
In December of 2016, the doctors, pathologists, statisticians, and coordinators that are a part of the LEO Consortium gathered in San Diego, California for the second LEO Annual Meeting. This meeting is a vital component of the development and growth of the LEO Study. Each year, contributing staff members have an opportunity to present the previous year’s work in a formal setting, receive feedback from colleagues, and exchange ideas on how to better improve our research. For two full days, over 50 staff members listened to and participated in the main conference and smaller, more focused breakout sessions intended for learning and discussion. The main session included talks from some of the studies clinicians and pathologists as well as our patient advocate. The smaller breakout sessions help to develop more effective research practices for patient recruitment and the collection of data and research specimens. This gathering is beneficial for all participating LEO centers as it allows us to become more effective and efficient at out work, while networking with colleagues from other institutions, meeting with lymphoma experts, and inspiring us to grow.
Year 1 – December 2-3, 2015
Orlando, Florida
The first LEO Annual Meeting took place in December 2015 in Orlando, Florida. During meeting the principal investigators, pathologists, clinicians, and coordinators that conduct the LEO study met to discuss the progress that occurred since it began in July 2015. A majority of this meeting was spent discussing the LEO processes and brainstorming ways to improve the LEO experience for both patients and researchers.
The beginning of the two day meeting consisted of a coordinator specific section, where coordinators from each LEO center discussed their experiences and gave suggestions with the intent of bettering the flow of the study. The coordinators were then joined by the rest of the group to discuss the LEO study’s scientific directions and priorities and evaluate the first six months of the study, what improvements needed to be made, and how best to implement those changes. Many great ideas were discussed, which resulted in a multitude of important improvements that would ultimately make LEO more successful and beneficial to the lymphoma community.
