On 4 March 2011, King's Health Partners Hosted a National Event on Psychological Adjustment & Survivorship After Stem-Cell Transplantation. Click here to view the event programme.

In association with the British Psychological Society's Faculty of Oncology & Palliative Care (SIGOPAC), and the sponsorship of the Elimination of Leukaemia Fund, King's Health Partners hosted the special educational event on long-term psychological adjustment following stem-cell transplantation for haematological conditions such as leukaemia, lymphoma & myeloma.

The invited keynote from Prof. Karen Syrjala, Director of Biobehavioural Sciences at Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Centre, gave the audience a through & extensive update on the longitudinal clinical data on biopsychosocial recovery following transplantation. Earlier, Dr Tony Pagliuca, Consultant Haematologist at King's College Hospital and recent Chair of the British Society for Bone and Marrow Transplantation (BSBMT) introduced the audience of around 50 specialist clinical and counselling psychologists in cancer care, specialist nurses, social workers and academic researchers, to the medical challenges and new frontiers of stem-cell transplantation.

Mark Davies Markham, a playwright and leukaemia transplant patient 13 years ago, gave a visceral and captivating account of his personal journey of adjustment. Other presentations focused on an online patient resource development program (Penny Wright, University of Leeds) best practice guidelines for psychological care (Alex King, Guy's Hospital) and the routine monitoring of quality of life in clinical follow-up (Michelle Kenyon, King's College Hospital). A parallel study group of psychologists in paediatric transplantation was convened by Dr Penny Titman, Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Great Ormond Street.

On behalf of the convening team, Dr Alex King, Clinical Psychologist in Cancer Care at Guy's & St Thomas' Hospitals, said: 'This event was an extraordinary opportunity for specialist cancer psychologists in the UK to benefit from the exceptional scholarship and decades of clinical expertise of Prof Syrjala and her team in Seattle, an international centre of excellence. We had excellent multidisciplinary attendance from across the UK, with plenty of stimulating networking, and we are much obliged to ELF for their support. We hope to continue to promote psychological care in stem-cell transplantation through future events and collaborations.'

This is the second 'Psychology in Stem-Cell Transplantation' event, with BPS SIGOPAC and KHP first collaborating to present the inaugural event in Leeds in November 2009.

The Elimination of Leukaemia Fund has been helping to advance the cure and treatment of blood cancers since 1977 and is a leading blood cancer charity concentrating on patient centred work.

The Faculty of Oncology & Palliative Care  was founded in 1996 as a special interest group with the British Psychological Society, aimed at linking, educating and supporting applied psychologists working in oncology & palliative care.

Convenors:

Dr Alex King, Clinical Psychologist at Guy's & St Thomas' Hospitals, London. Contact: 020 7188 5918.

Dr Jane Clark, Clinical Psychologist at St James' Institute of Oncology, Leeds Anne Crook, Counsellor in Haemato-Oncology at King's College Hospital, London

Presentations:

Prof. Karen Syrjala

Dr Tony Pagliuca

Dr Alex King