2025 National Symposium on Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes

REGISTER NOW – FREE REGISTRATION!

Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision is thrilled to invite you to join us at the 4th National Symposium on Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes, to be held from the 23-25 May 2025 at the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Melbourne. 

Thanks to the incredible support of our generous partners, registration is now completely COMPLIMENTARY for all participants – secure your spot today! 

PLEASE NOTE: for those who have already registered and paid, full refunds will be issued automatically. Your participation will remain completely cost-free. 

The symposium will bring together expert clinicians, scientists and allied health professionals to present innovative research on the diagnosis, treatment, patient care, and clinical trials for Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes.  We are thrilled to welcome international guest speakers Dr. Marcin Wlodarski and Dr. Marta Derecka from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, as well as Dr Paula Río from the Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT) in Madrid, Spain, who will be presenting virtually. Additionally, over 20 national speakers will showcase their research. The event will also offer ample opportunities for networking and collaboration.

Program Highlights
Friday May 23, 2025: 
Opening Plenary & Welcome Reception 
2.30 pm – 7.30 pm 
(Afternoon tea, canapés, and drinks included) 

Saturday May 24, 2025: 
Full-Day Scientific Program 
9 am – 5.30 pm 
(Morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea included)

Sunday May 25, 2025: 
Half-Day Scientific Program 
9 am – 1.10 pm 
(Morning tea included) 

We are thrilled to announce our invited international speakers: 

Dr Marcin Wlodarski, MD, PhD 

Assistant Member/Prof. Department of Hematology
Director Bone Marrow Failure Program
Attending, Clinical Hematology St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, United States

Dr. Marcin Wlodarski is an Assistant Professor at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where he directs the Bone Marrow Failure (BMF) and Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) Program. He received his MD and PhD from Charité Medical School, Berlin, with additional training at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm. His postgraduate training included pediatrics residency and hematology/oncology fellowship at the University of Freiburg, Germany. Dr. Wlodarski’s research focuses on the genomics of inherited hematological disorders predisposing to BMF, MDS, and leukemia. His laboratory has made discoveries in genetic syndromes caused by mutations in SAMD9/SAMD9L, GATA2, RPA1, and MDM4 genes. At St. Jude, he established a comprehensive BMF/MDS program and leads innovative clinical trials.

With over 100 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Wlodarski’s work has been recognized with awards including the Tito Bastianello Award and the Kind Philipp Prize. He chairs the US-wide registry for pediatric BMF/MDS of the North American Pediatric Aplastic Anemia Consortium. Dr. Wlodarski divides his time between clinical duties and directing a laboratory focused on the genomics of BMF syndromes.

Dr Marta Derecka, PhD

Instructor
Department of Hematology

Marta Derecka received her master’s degree in biology from Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland. During her graduate work, under the mentorship of Dr. Andrew Larner at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, she identified the role of JAK/STAT signaling pathway in brown adipose tissue differentiation and its involvement in development of obesity and metabolic syndrome. This work contributed to the emerging field of manipulating energy expenditure therapeutically to combat obesity. Additionally, she played an active role in studies that revealed a novel role for STAT transcription factors in mitochondria biology. During her postdoctoral studies with Dr. Rudi Grosschedl at Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg, Germany, she discovered a previously unknown function for the transcription factor EBF1 (Early B cell Factor 1) in mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), a crucial component of BM niche. She showed that transcriptional dysregulation of the BM microenvironment elicits stable and inheritable changes in the chromatin landscape of HSCs.

Moreover, her work contributed to deciphering the heterogeneity of the BM microenvironment, a major unresolved problem in the field.

Currently, Dr. Derecka is and Assistant Member in the Department of Hematology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The main focus of her laboratory is understanding of how molecular changes in the BM microenvironment affect normal and pathophysiological hematopoiesis.

Dr Paula Río, PhD

Paula Río, Biologist, PhD (UCM) is Head of the Bone Marrow Aplasia Unit at CIEMAT/CIBERER/IIS-FJD, UAM; Madrid. She has been working for more than 20 years in the field of gene therapy for Fanconi Anemia, where she has focused on the design of a lentiviral vector for the correction of hematopoietic stem cells in patients with Fanconi Anemia and its application in the clinic, with very promising results for patients. She is currently an associate researcher in two clinical gene therapy trials based on the preclinical studies developed by the group.

Since 2010, her work has focused on the search for new strategies to correct hematopoietic stem cells of FA patients by gene editing, a field in which she coordinated a European project, she coordinates an international consortium and participates as principal investigator in other national and European projects.

She has published more than 55 papers in the field of gene therapy. She was elected President of the Spanish Society of Gene and Cell Therapy and is a member of several scientific advisory boards, including the American Fanconi Cancer Foundation, the European Society for Gene and Cell Therapy, and the Bone Marrow Failure Subcommittee of the American Society of Hematology.

We would like to acknowledge and extend our sincere gratitude to the following sponsors for their support and contribution towards this exciting event: 

Gold Partner

Silver Partners

Catering Partner

Exhibition Partner

Event Support Partners

To find out more please contact us at – [email protected] 

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2023 National Symposium on Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes

Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision was proud to hold the 2023 Maddie Riewoldt’s National Symposium on Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes in Melbourne from Saturday October 14 – Sunday October 15 at the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

Our scientific symposium included international experts Dr Sharon Savage (Clinical Director of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics National Cancer Institute, United States) and Professor Rodrigo Calado (Chair, Department of Medical Imaging, Hematology, and Clinical Oncology Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, Brazil), along with 28 national speakers whose presentations covered a mix of basic science, translational research, gene therapy, clinical research and patient case studies across both acquired and inherited Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes.

We were thrilled to have over 150 delegates attend across both days to learn, collaborate and network with local and international Bone Marrow Failure Syndrome experts.

“Fantastic breadth of topics (basic science, translation, gene therapy, clinical adult/paeds, immune and inherited BM, non-haem manifestations), plus a predominantly local/emerging research focus rather than a “big pharma” focus. Very collaborative meeting that fostered discussion among all attendees.

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2021 National Symposium

“Excellent chairs, speakers, topics and discussions. Very thought provoking and enlightening.”

Building on the success of the 2019 Symposium, the CRE was delighted to host the 2021 National Symposium on Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes on Thursday 27 May to Saturday 29 May. Due to the pandemic, it was an entirely virtual event, incorporating a full day Patient and Family Forum and a one and a half day Scientific Symposium.   

View the recording

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2019 National Symposium

Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision has been the only organisation in Australia prioritising research in Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes since 2016. In May 2019, Maddie’s Vision reinforced this commitment with Australia’s Inaugural National Symposium on Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes which took place across two days at the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Melbourne. The Centre of Research Excellence was very proud to organise this scientific symposium which explored both clinical and research aspects of Bone Marrow Biology, acquired and inherited Bone Marrow Failure Syndromes.