The 5th GCC Hematology Expert Forum returns as a fully virtual scientific meeting on Sunday, 30 August 2026, convened by the Emirates Society of Haematology (ESH) with Meeting Minds Experts. This edition is dedicated to a single, tightly focused theme — Engaging in Discussions Focused on CLL Management — bringing Gulf haematologists together for 90 minutes of practice-changing discussion on chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.
Why this forum matters
CLL management has changed faster than almost any other haematological malignancy over the past five years. Covalent and non-covalent BTK inhibitors, BCL-2 inhibition, fixed-duration doublets and MRD-guided stopping rules have all moved from trial data into everyday clinics — and the sequencing questions that follow are now the hardest part of the job. This forum is built specifically around those questions, with faculty from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and the wider Gulf presenting how the evidence is actually being applied in regional practice.
Scientific programme
The session runs 19:30–21:00 KSA / Kuwait / Qatar / Oman time (20:30–22:00 UAE time) and is structured as a rapid-fire expert panel:
- Opening remarks and welcome — Dr. Mahmoud Marashi
- Frontline CLL management: where are we post-EHA? — Dr. Ihab El Hemaidi
- Optimizing treatment sequencing in relapsed/refractory CLL — Dr. Mahmood Al Abri
- Translating evidence to clinical practice: the KSA experience — Dr. Binyam Usman
- CLL inside the clinic: the Gulf experience — Dr. Inas El Najjar
- Interactive Q&A with all panellists, followed by closing remarks
The format deliberately keeps each talk short so that the majority of value sits in the moderated discussion and the audience Q&A, where regional access, reimbursement and toxicity-management realities can be debated openly.
About the organiser
The Emirates Society of Haematology began in 2005 as the Abu Dhabi Haematology Group and was formally recognised by the Emirates Medical Association in 2009. With roughly 90 members and associate members drawn from every field of haematology, the Society works to advance the specialty across the UAE, build links with colleagues regionally and internationally, and improve quality of care for patients with haematological disease. It has run landmark Emirates Haematology forums since 2011, and the GCC Hematology Expert Forum series extends that mission across the Gulf through a virtual platform that removes travel as a barrier to attendance.
Who should attend
Haematologists, haemato-oncologists, haematopathologists, medical oncologists, BMT and cellular therapy teams, clinical pharmacists working in oncology, internal medicine physicians, general practitioners, nurses, residents and fellows, and medical students with an interest in haematological malignancy.
Attendance
Participation is online and free of charge after registration on the official forum website. Attendees join live from anywhere in the Gulf, take part in interactive Q&A, and connect with a faculty that spans the region's major referral centres — King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Mediclinic City Hospital and the Abu Dhabi Stem Cells Center.
