ASH 2022: The Perfect Game

For me as a researcher, this year's American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting was the "Perfect Game."
The last perfect game in Major League Baseball (MLB) was on August 15, 2012 by Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners. When Felix threw his 92 mph fastball to strike out the last batter to ensure his perfect game, he threw his arms up in elation, seconds later he was surrounded by his teammates as they all celebrated together.
A perfect game is where a pitcher completes a game without the other team reaching first base. This requires super-human effort from the entire team. A perfect game is rare, in fact, only 23 perfect games have happened in MLB’s 235,500 total games (since 1876). In other words, 1 in every 10,239 games have been a perfect one.
This year at the 64th ASH Annual meeting, the HealthTree Foundation had 4 poster abstracts. Two of those posters were presented by me, Nathan Sweeney, and the other two were presented by myeloma specialists, Drs. Jens Hillengass and Sikander Ailawadhi.
I’ve been to a number of conferences and presented a number of poster abstracts, but this year something unique happened. There were 6,432 abstracts presented over 52 sessions at ASH this year, so the chance that I would present my poster abstracts with the Myeloma Heroes I spoke about in my ASH 2021 article was rare, in fact, there was a 1 in 10,000 chance (approximately).
So, not only do I suggest meeting your heroes but if the opportunity should arise, you should definitely work with your heroes because who knows you may even get to present with them and with odds like that it would make for a "perfect ASH."
Poster Abstracts:
HealthTree for Multiple Myeloma
Title: The Top Concerns at and Since Diagnosis: Standard v. High Risk Myeloma Patients
Dr. Hillengass
Title: Physical Activity in Patients with Monoclonal Gammopathies – a Healthtree Cure Hub Study
Dr. Ailawadhi
For me as a researcher, this year's American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting was the "Perfect Game."
The last perfect game in Major League Baseball (MLB) was on August 15, 2012 by Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners. When Felix threw his 92 mph fastball to strike out the last batter to ensure his perfect game, he threw his arms up in elation, seconds later he was surrounded by his teammates as they all celebrated together.
A perfect game is where a pitcher completes a game without the other team reaching first base. This requires super-human effort from the entire team. A perfect game is rare, in fact, only 23 perfect games have happened in MLB’s 235,500 total games (since 1876). In other words, 1 in every 10,239 games have been a perfect one.
This year at the 64th ASH Annual meeting, the HealthTree Foundation had 4 poster abstracts. Two of those posters were presented by me, Nathan Sweeney, and the other two were presented by myeloma specialists, Drs. Jens Hillengass and Sikander Ailawadhi.
I’ve been to a number of conferences and presented a number of poster abstracts, but this year something unique happened. There were 6,432 abstracts presented over 52 sessions at ASH this year, so the chance that I would present my poster abstracts with the Myeloma Heroes I spoke about in my ASH 2021 article was rare, in fact, there was a 1 in 10,000 chance (approximately).
So, not only do I suggest meeting your heroes but if the opportunity should arise, you should definitely work with your heroes because who knows you may even get to present with them and with odds like that it would make for a "perfect ASH."
Poster Abstracts:
HealthTree for Multiple Myeloma
Title: The Top Concerns at and Since Diagnosis: Standard v. High Risk Myeloma Patients
Dr. Hillengass
Title: Physical Activity in Patients with Monoclonal Gammopathies – a Healthtree Cure Hub Study
Dr. Ailawadhi

about the author
Nathan Sweeney
Nathan W. Sweeney, Ph.D. - Dr. Sweeney is the Manager of Clinical Research for the HealthTree Foundation and a pediatric cancer survivor (ALL). He has 14 years of research experience including undergraduate research at the University of Utah, doctoral research in Cancer Biology at the University of Arizona, and post-doctoral research at the Huntsman Cancer Insitute. When he's not researching cancer you can find him mountain biking, fishing, or playing video games with his 6-year-old daughter.
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