The professor: Shernan Holtan, MD, chief of blood and marrow transplantation and professor of medicine at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center

Session title: Treating Acute GVHD Beyond Ruxolitinib

Date, time and location: Wednesday, Feb 4, 12:15 – 1:15 p.m. MST, Room 258 of the Salt Palace Convention Center

What is the focus of your session?  

“I will focus on building a practical, mechanism-based approach to treating acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) beyond ruxolitinib that minimizes unnecessary immunosuppression, incorporates what we have learned about gastrointestinal damage at the molecular levels and thoughtfully applies clinical- and biomarker-based risk stratification systems.”

How did you become interested in these themes?

“My interest grew from caring for patients who survived acute GVHD but were harmed by cumulative immunosuppression. It also grew from translational work using gastrointestinal RNA sequencing and risk models that revealed different biological responses among patients who had similar clinical appearances.” 

What do you hope attendees will learn from your session?

“I hope attendees leave with a clear, bedside-ready algorithm for managing acute GVHD beyond ruxolitinib that emphasizes immune stewardship, uses gastrointestinal (GI) biology to inform escalation or de-escalation and applies risk-stratification systems critically.”

How will the themes you introduce affect the next generation in your field?

“These themes will encourage the next generation to prevent and treat acute GVHD with a rigorous yet personalized approach, prioritizing the least immunosuppression necessary to achieve control, while maximizing supportive care and tissue resilience. If we are serious about a future with no more deaths from GVHD, we have to move beyond reflexive escalation of immunosuppression and start aligning biology with more rational prevention and treatment approaches.”

What else do you want to share about your Meet-the-Professor session?

“This hour-long session will be interactive and case-based. I will share how translational data and clinical experience have concretely changed my practice. Attendees will leave with tangible tools that they can immediately adapt for use in their own transplant programs.”

Meet-the-Professor is a series of 12 hour-long luncheon sessions in the Scientific Track featuring presentations by esteemed leaders in the transplantation and cellular therapy community. Limited tickets are available for $25 per person, per session, each of which includes a meal. Advance registration is highly recommended and can be made during online registration. In-person ticket sales during the 2026 Tandem Meetings will be available at the registration desk if tickets remain.