The 2021 Year’s Best

While we are all knee-deep in the depressing and challenging news of the day, it's a good time to reflect on successes, and that's what this issue of The Hematologist should hopefully convey. In a time of stunning global difficulties, we have turned the focus onto some of the victories in the battles against acute leukemias, sickle cell disease, and clotting disorders, as well as publications that illuminate in new ways fundamental workings of the stem cell. I invite readers to dig into the analyses in these pages and discover what's being learned about the new disease called VEXAS syndrome, about the ways in which the population of Iceland is teaching us about myeloma, and the unique difficulties of being a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia during a pandemic.

I would be remiss if I didn't also spend a little time talking about the successes of this year's hybrid ASH annual meeting. Despite a few hiccups (it was tough having local presenters and remote moderators), the meeting was lauded by most attendees — virtual and in person — as an operational and scientific success. For those of us who went in person, the rejuvenation of seeing colleagues and friends face-to-face, the chance to interact with science in real time, and the sheer joy of personal interaction was evident with every hello in the hallway or at the hotel coffee shop.

So, a thanks to the organizers, to the scientists, and most of all to you — the membership of ASH for keeping this meeting going and, most importantly, keeping the science going. It seems to me that adaptation, collegiality, and ingenuity are what will get us through these trying times. In the meantime, we can focus on success and progress for 2022 and beyond.