Asian Myeloma Network

Established by the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) at a meeting in Singapore in 2011, the Asian Myeloma Network (AMN) is the first of its kind in the region and is comprised of myeloma experts from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand. The AMN has taken the lead in projects to assist IMF in providing physician education and patient support throughout Asia. Since its founding, the AMN has: created a unified database to assess the incidence of myeloma in Asian countries as a basis for establishing region-specific treatment management tools and strategies; launched and overseen clinical trials; enabled myeloma patients to gain access to the newest myeloma treatments; developed informational resource materials in local languages, especially for patients and caregivers; and engaged in collaborative studies.

Asian Myeloma Network (AMN) History

On March 17, 2011, the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) established the Asian Myeloma Network (AMN) at a meeting in Singapore. Comprised of myeloma experts from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia,Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand, the IMF Asian Myeloma Network — the first of its kind in the region — has taken the lead in projects to assist IMF in providing physician education and patient support throughout Asia. Myeloma is a growing health problem in Asia, with an incidence that is approaching that in Western countries, but with a much larger population base.

Since its founding, the AMN has:

Created a unified database to assess the incidence of myeloma in Asian countries as a basis for establishing region-specific treatment management tools and strategies.
Launched and overseen clinical trials.
Enabled myeloma patients to gain access to the newest myeloma treatments.
Developed informational resource materials in local languages, especially for patients and caregivers.
Engaged in collaborative studies.

Learn about the latest AMN activities from October 2022.

Executive Committee

Brian G.M. Durie, MD, Founder and Chairman

Dr. Brian G.M.Durie is a Hematologist/Oncologist specializing in multiple myeloma and related disorders at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was former Medical Director of Myeloma Research for the Academic Myeloma Consortium and co-chairman of the myeloma committee for the SWOG Cancer Research Network. Previously, he was a professor at the University of Arizona, College of Medicine, and the Charing Cross and Westminster School of Medicine at the University of London.

Dr. Durie is known for his notable research on multiple myeloma and blood disorders, most especially for developing the Durie-Salmon Staging System which continues to be used worldwide for clinically staging myeloma.

Wee Joo Chng, MD

Dr. Wee Joo Chng is the Director of the National University Cancer Institute of Singapore (NCIS) at the National University Health System, Singapore (NUHS). He is also the Deputy Director and a Senior Principal Investigator at the Cancer Science Institute (CSI), Singapore, National University of Singapore (NUS). Dr. Chng is also a Professor of Medicine at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. He also serves as President of the Singapore Society of Haematology.

Dr. Chng graduated from the University of Leeds Medical School in the United Kingdom. He has a PhD from the National University of Singapore. He has fellowships from the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh; Academy of Medicine, Singapore; and Royal College of Pathologist, UK. His research focuses around multiple myeloma and the biology and therapeutics of hematologic malignancies. He is a member of many international professional committees, such as the American Society of Hematology Scientific Committee on Plasma Cell Neoplasia, the International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG), and the Asian Myeloma Network (AMN).

Within the AMN, Dr. Chng has taken the lead in developing the clinical trial network. This culminated in the first clinical trials using pomalidomide and dexamethasone in patients refractory to lenalidomide and with relapse myeloma after prior exposure to bortezomib.

Jeffrey Huang, MD, PhD

Dr. Jeffrey Huang holds concurrent appointments as Visiting Staff at the Department of Hematology, National Taiwan University Hospital and as a Consultant Hematologist in the Department of Internal Medicine, Provincial Tao-yuan General Hospital. He holds teaching appointments as an Assistant Professor, Faculty of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University.

He is a member of numerous societies of Taiwan, including the Internal Medicine, Hematology, and Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation.

Dr. Huang completed his training in general medicine and a fellowship in hematology at the National Taiwan University Hospital. Then, he obtained his PhD from the Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Taiwan University.

His current research focuses on multiple myeloma and also other low- grade B-cell malignancies, including B-cell CLL and plasmacytoid lymphoma. He has been involved in clinical research studies and trials using thalidomide, bortezomib, arsenic trioxide, HDACi, hypomethylating agents, and stem cell transplantation in a range of lymphoproliferative diseases.

Jae Hoon Lee, MD, PhD

Dr. Jae Hoon Lee is a professor at the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, South Korea. His main research focuses on multi-center clinical trials in multiple myeloma. He graduated from Seoul National University College of Medicine in 1982 and obtained his PhD from Seoul National University in 1991. He finished his residency and fellowship at Seoul National University Hospital and served as an assistant professor until 1994. He then gained a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Arkansas for Medicine and Science (UAMS) from 1993 to 1995. Since 1995, Dr. Lee has been working as a professor at Gachon University Gil Medical Center.

He is a co-founder and also serves as first and second chairman of the Korean Multiple Myeloma Working Party (KMMWP). Currently, he is a Scientific Advisory Board member of the IMF and has been an active member of the IMWG since 2008.

He has co-authored more than 200 original articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Lancet Oncology, JCO, Blood, Leukemia, Cancer, and Br J Hematology.

Dr. Lee is a member of the International Myeloma Society, American Society of Hematology, European Hematology Association, and American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is also a member of the Korean Society of Hematology. He is the current president of the Korean Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (KSBMT).

Kazuyuki Shimizu, MD

Dr. Kazuyuki Shimizu received his MD from the Nagoya University School of Medicine in Nagoya, Japan, in 1972 and completed a fellowship in clinical immunology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, New York. He received his PhD from the Nagoya University Post Graduate School in 1980. He was the director of the Nagoya City Midori General Hospital from 2006 until 2011, where he holds his current position as honorary director. Between 2011 and 2013, he was a professor of the Department of Multimodal Therapy for Multiple Myeloma, Aichi Gakuin University School of Dentistry. Currently, he is a staff physician of the hemato-oncology service at the East Nagoya National Hospital, Nagoya, Japan.

Dr. Shimizu played an important role as the lead investigator for the approval of thalidomide, denosumab, panobinostat, and serum-free light chain assay in Japan.

From 2008 to 2014, Dr. Shimizu was the president of the Japanese Society of Myeloma (JSM) — an organization that has currently around 500 members comprised mostly of physicians specializing in myeloma, of which he is now an honorary member. Dr. Shimizu has played a leading role to publish myeloma management guidelines in collaboration with the members of JSM for the past eight years (the first edition was published in 2004, second in 2008, third in 2012, and the most recent in 2016). He also helped to publish a patient guidebook in collaboration with IMF Japan. In April 2013, he was the president of the successful 14th International Myeloma Workshop held in Kyoto, Japan. He has been a member of the board of directors of the International Myeloma Society (IMS).