Francine Foss, MD

Over the last 10 years I have been a leader in the establishment of an international T cell lymphoma working group. I initiated a T Cell Lymphoma workshop at the International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma 12 years ago and from that workshop, the United States Peripheral T cell Lymphoma group was formed. I subsequently initiated the first T Cell Lymphoma Forum, an international meeting incorporating basic and clinical sciences related to T cell lymphomas. My Co-Chairs for the meeting are Dr Kensei Tobinai from Tokyo and more recently also by Dr. Owen O’Connor from Columbia University. This year was the 8^th annual meeting (www.tcellforum.com). This meeting is now recognized as the pre-eminent international T cell Lymphoma meeting. A number of collaborations have arisen from these meetings and there is now a world-wide effort to coordinate the care of patients with T cell lymphomas.

Another initiative that I undertook was to establish a T Cell Lymphoma Registry. I initiated and am the Principal Investigator for the COMPLETE T cell Registry (www. Clinical trials.gov/COMPLETE REGISTRY). This is a US based registry to determine the frequency of types of T cell lymphoma, physician’s treatment patterns, outcomes with therapy, and prognostic factors associated with common and rare subtypes. Thus far this registry has enrolled 500 patients in its first phase, and the second phase of enrollment is about to begin. I have also been a co-Founder of a European based registry, the TCELL PROJECT (www.TCELLPROJECT.org). This registry is similar to COMPLETE but includes pathologic review and includes many other countries in Asia, South America, and Europe as well as in the US. This registry has enrolled 1000 patients and is ongoing. In a recent initiative, I have collaborated with several countries in Latin American to initiate their own registry which will interface with our existing registries.

I was one of the founders of the United States Cutaneous Lymphoma Consortium. This organization includes oncologists, dermatologists, radiation oncologists, and pathologists and its goal is to develop novel clinical trials and to define clinical approaches for patients with cutaneous lymphomas. I also serve as a Co-Chair of the Registry Committee and have been instrumental in starting a patient registry for both T and B cell cutaneous lymphoma patients. This registry has a research focus. I am now the President of the USCLC.