“Development and Application of Liquid Biopsies for the Diagnosis of Aggressive B-cell Lymphoma in People with HIV” and “Barriers to HIV-associated lymphoma diagnosis”

Presenter: Rena Xian, MD

Title: Development and Application of Liquid Biopsies for the Diagnosis of Aggressive B-cell Lymphoma in People with HIV

This presentation will review circulating tumor DNA markers and technologies that may be used to recognize lymphoma in populations with high-risk for developing lymphoma. The talk will also outline recent findings from a fine-needle aspiration study in people with HIV where cell-based and plasma cell-free DNA based tumor markers were compared for diagnostic utility.

Short Bio: Dr. Xian is an Associate Professor of Pathology and Oncology where she directs the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory and oversees the division of Molecular Pathology. Dr. Xian completed her bachelor’s degree at Johns Hopkins before attending medical school at Northwestern. She completed post-graduate training at the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkin and UCLA and was a junior faculty at UCLA until 2018. In 2018, Dr. Xian returned to Hopkins as faculty where she has developed an active translational research program focused on cancer genomics and liquid biopsy approaches to diagnose and monitor aggressive B cell lymphomas. Her research aims to find new diagnostic markers for lymphomas occurring in the setting of HIV and/or EBV. Dr. Xian is a leader in national pathology societies, such as the Association of Molecular Pathology and the College of American Pathologists. She is also an active member in a number of guideline development committees focused on hematologic malignancies and liquid biopsies.

Presenter: Samantha Vogt, MD, MPH

Title: Barriers to HIV-associated lymphoma diagnosis

HIV is associated with an increased risk of aggressive lymphomas. In low-resource settings, fine needle aspiration (FNA) is an important diagnostic modality used in the evaluation of lymphadenopathy to help differentiate between tuberculosis (TB) and lymphoma. This presentation will describe the barriers to lymphoma diagnosis through a fine needle aspiration clinic in South Africa and describe the real-world treatment outcomes for HIV-associated Hodgkin lymphoma.

Bio: Dr. Vogt is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Oncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She is also the Executive Officer for International Programs in the AIDS Malignancy Consortium where she oversees clinical trial development for the international sites in sub-Saharan Africa and LATAM. Dr. Vogt has been based in Johannesburg, South Africa for over eight years where her research is focused on improving the diagnosis and treatment of lymphoma and Kaposi Sarcoma in the African context. Dr. Vogt will describe the barriers to HIV-associated lymphoma diagnosis through a fine needle aspiration clinic at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital and present on the real-world treatment outcomes for HIV-associated Hodgkin lymphoma.

Zoom Registration – https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Un1QJgZhR7e2hdaAeoJ15w