For Immediate Release
Contact: Tiffany Sarpy
(310) 846-4718 or
tiffany.sarpy@lls.org

Los Angeles, CA (December 5, 2011) - The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS's) Greater Los Angeles Chapter will host its First Annual Blood Cancer Highlights Conference on Saturday, January 21, 2011 at Marriott Warner Center Woodland Hills.

The largest free patient education program ever hosted by the Greater Los Angeles Chapter, the conference will open with a keynote address from Lisa Solis DeLong, registered nurse, bereavement facilitator and author of Blood Brothers: A Memoir of Faith and Loss While Raising Two Sons with Cancer, a story of her two sons sharing the same kind of leukemia.

DeLong's keyonote address will be followed by addresses from Dr. Janet L. Franklin, MD, MPH, Clinical Research Medical Director of Hematology/Oncology with Amgen Inc. and a member of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter's Board of Trustees.

In addition to the featured speakers, patients and their families will be able to choose from eight disease-specific sessions each hosted by a local expert:

• Acute Leukemias (ALL and AML) - Dr. Ravi Bhatia, City of Hope
• Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) - Dr. Herbert Eradat, UCLA
• Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) - Dr. David S. Snyder, City of Hope
• Multiple Myeloma (MM) - Dr. Robert Vescio, Cedars Sinai
• Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) - Dr. Ronald Paquette, UCLA
• Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) (High Grade) - Dr. Ann Mohrbacher, USC
• Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) (Low Grade) & Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia
  - Dr. Lauren Pinter-Brown, UCLA
• NHL Pogram (general overview) in Spanish - speaker to be announced

The disease-specific breakout sessions will be followed by lunch with Dr. Deborah Banker, LLS's Vice President of Research Communication. The conference will conclude with a question and answer session.

To register or for more information on the Greater Los Angeles Chapter's First Annual Blood Cancer Highlights Conference, please visit www.lls.org/los/bloodcancers.org or call 310.342.5838.

About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society ® (LLS) is the world's largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. The LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world and provides free information and support services.

Founded in 1949 and headquartered in White Plains, NY, LLS has chapters throughout the United States and Canada. To learn more, visit www.lls.org or contact the Information Resource Center at (800) 955-4572, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET. www.lls.org.