Meeting Overview

We are excited to host a Histio Patient and Family Regional Meeting on Saturday, January 18th in Houston, Texas.  

The agenda includes talks covering all histiocytic disorders, reserach updates and information on clinical trials and registries.  

Open to all impacted by a histiocytic disorder. Medical professionals are welcome to attend all talks.

You’ll learn directly from leaders in histiocytosis care and research on each of the histiocytic disorders in both children and adults, including:

• Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) 
• Hemophagocytic syndromes (HLH/MAS) 
• Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) 
• Rosai Dorfman disease (RDD) 
• Xanthogranuloma (JXG/XG)

It's FREE to attend however registration is required for each participant. 

(**Once registration is completed you will receive information and directions to the meeting location). 

Guest Speakers

Here are the experts you'll be learning from: 

SPEAKER BIOS

Dr. Carl Allen is the Milton and Allene Nirken Chair in Pediatric Oncology at Texas Children's Hospital and co-director of the Texas Children’s Cancer Center Histiocytosis and Lymphoma Programs, where he leads a team of over 30 clinicians and scientists dedicated to improving the outcomes of children and adults with histiocytic disorders, lymphoma and lymphoproliferative disorders.

Dr. Allen completed his fellowship in pediatric hematology and oncology at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine. It was during this fellowship at Texas Children’s that Dr. Allen developed his clinical and research interests in rare pediatric blood disorders. The Histiocytosis Program is dedicated to care of patients with Langerhans cell histiocytosis, hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis and the more rare histiocytic disorders (Rosai-Dorfman disease, Erdheim Chester disease, juvenile xanthogranuloma).

Dr. Allen holds leadership positions in the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Histiocyte Society, the American Society for Hematology and the Children’s Oncology Group. He is co-founder and co-director of the North American Consortium for Histiocytosis (NACHO). Most recently, he was appointed to lead the Research Division for Texas Children’s Global Hematology and Oncology Pediatric Excellence program, which is developing pediatric hematology and oncology services with partners in Uganda, Malawi and Botswana.

His clinical special interests include: Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH), hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), lymphoma, lymphoproliferative disorders, stem cell transplantation and global pediatric hematology and oncology.

Dr. Kenneth McClain received his M.D. and Ph. D. from the University of Chicago, completed pediatric residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and post-doctoral research training in the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Child Health Institute, National Institutes of Health. He has dedicated his clinical and research efforts on the histiocytic diseases for over 45 years beginning with his hematology/oncology fellowship at the University of Minnesota. Since 1986 he has been at the Texas Children’s Cancer Center in Houston where he is a Professor of Pediatrics.

In 2001 he organized a Histiocytosis Center there and was joined by Dr. Carl Allen in 2006.  Together they have developed a robust clinical program which has attracted many patients from around the world.  Because of the large number of specimens collected from patients enrolled on research studies they have developed successful translational research studies with collaborators from several other institutions. LCH patients with neurologic dysfunction have been a special research interest leading to innovative therapies and new biologic understanding of this problem.

Dr. McClain has cared for adult patients with histiocytic diseases for nearly 30 years. He is a past president of the Histiocyte Society and been a member of the education and scientific committees as well as worked with the Adult, HLH, LCH, and Rare Disease committees.

Dr. Olive Eckstein is a clinical expert with extensive experience in the evaluation and care of pediatric and adult patients with histiocytic disorders, lymphomas, and rare lymphoproliferative and immune disorders.

As a physician in one of the largest Histiocytosis and Lymphoma programs in the United States, Dr. Eckstein consults on patients from across the nation and around the world. She works with other pediatric subspecialists in the departments of Critical Care, Rheumatology, Immunology, and Infectious Disease at Texas Children's Hospital to improve our understanding of the biologic and genetic mechanisms of this disease, as well as to enroll patients on clinical trials targeting these mechanisms.

Dr. Eckstein is the Study Chair of LCH REASON, a Phase 3, multi-site clinical trial for upfront treatment of Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH); the Study Vice-Chair of NACHO-Cobimetinib, a Phase 2, multi-site clinical trial for histiocytic disorders; and Vice-Chair of APEC1621E, a Phase 2 subprotocol of the Children's Oncology Group (COG) Pediatric MATCH trial.

She has also been involved with multiple investigative clinical trials and critically analyzes historical clinical and biologic data for patients with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, histiocytic disorders, and pediatric lymphomas.

Dr. Nader Kim El-Mallawany is a member of the Lymphoma and Histiocytosis Teams at the Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center with special interests in mature B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL), Epstein-Barr virus-associated lymphomas/lymphoproliferative disorders, as well as the rare NHL of childhood and adolescence. Over the years, his clinical research in lymphoma has focused on the role of viruses in the pathogenesis of lymphomas, as well as the development of chemoimmunotherapy protocols for mature B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas.

With over ten years of experience caring for children and adolescents with cancer, Dr. Nader Kim El-Mallawany’s clinical niche is rooted in lymphomas/lymphoproliferative disorders, HIV-related malignancies (particularly Kaposi sarcoma), and the treatment of childhood cancer in low-income countries.

Dr. Zachary Prudowsky is a new member of the Lymphoma/Histiocytosis clinical and research team at Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center, with special interests in histiocytic disorders, Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, and supportive clinical care. In particular, Dr. Prudowsky has developed research interests in Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) and similar hyperinflammatory syndromes, and how to optimize outcomes for patients who require bone marrow transplant in order to cure their disease.     

Dr. Prudowsky graduated from the Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center's Hematology/Oncology fellowship program in 2021 and served three years as clinical faculty for the Hematology/Oncology inpatient service before joining as a full time member of the Lymphoma/Histiocytosis team in 2024. He is board certified in General Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology by the American Board of Pediatrics.

Dr. Prudowsky is happy to serve children and families affected by histiocytic disorders - it takes a huge movement of people to better understand the biology of these rare diseases, and to create and implement treatments and cures, and this is an exciting time to be a part of the movement 

**** If you run into any challenges with registering for the event, please email us at outreach@histio.org for assistance. We look forward to seeing you in Houston!