RCPath Cameron Lecture 2024
The biennial Advances in Transfusion Symposium was held in November 2024, in partnership between the College and the UK Serious Hazards of Transfusion (SHOT) haemovigilance scheme, over 2 half days as a virtual event. Dr Bernie Croal, College President, gave the opening welcome, with ~400 delegates from 30 countries participating each day.
Dr Farrukh Shah MBE delivered the prestigious Cameron Lecture on the second day of the symposium. The lecture focused on advances in the management of haemoglobinopathies, within a session on transfusion safety that was chaired by Vivienne Parry OBE and Dr Subarna Chakravorty.
Sir Roy Cameron was the founding President of the College of Pathologists. The College established the Cameron Lecture in his honour soon after its foundation. The lecture may be given on any pathology speciality and was first given in 1965 by Professor C.L. Oakley on medical microbiology. The Cameron Lecture is part of a series of named College lectures.
Dr Shah’s lecture explored the current standards of care, curative therapies such as bone marrow transplantation and gene therapy, and emerging treatment options, reviewing the current evidence available from clinical trials.
Dr Shah highlighted transformative developments, including gene-editing technologies like CRISPR-Cas9 and lentiviral gene therapy, which have shown promising results in achieving transfusion independence and reducing disease complications. Additionally, novel therapeutics targeting erythropoiesis, iron metabolism and haemoglobin stabilisation, such as Mitapivat and Luspatercept, offer new hope for patients.
Challenges remain in translating research into widely available therapies; global access to innovative treatments is limited. However, Dr Shah emphasised the potential of these advancements to usher in an era of curative and disease-modifying therapies, significantly improving outcomes for patients with haemoglobinopathies worldwide.
A recording of Dr Shah’s lecture, together with her biography, is available on the College website.
The proceedings of the Advances in Transfusion Medicine Symposium covering the other key talks given will be published in a future Bulletin issue.
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Authors
Dr Shubha Allard
