Dear Friends and Colleagues,

It is our great pleasure to invite you to the 8th International Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease (cGvHD) Symposium that will be organized in Dubrovnik, Croatia, May 22nd – 23rd 2026. The symposium will be organized as a hybrid meeting.

The first six meetings were organized in Zagreb, Croatia, mainly by the Croatian Cooperative Group for Hematologic Diseases KroHem, co-chaired with professor Pavletic from NCI/NIH, Bethesda, US, and with other distinguish international experts in the field of the cGvHD. In 2024, the 7th International cGvHD Symposium was for the first time held outside of Europe, in Vancouver, Canada, being hosted by Cell Therapy Transplant Canada with support from the KroHem as a partner organization.

The 8th International cGvHD Symposium will be organized again in Croatia, this time in the beautiful city of Dubrovnik.

Please find enclosed the preliminary program of the meeting which includes exciting topics and prominent experts in the field of cGvHD from Europe, United States of America, Canada, and other regions of the world. Additional details are available on the Symposium’s web page.

The Symposium is divided in several sections: 1) Preclinical research – advances in biology of cGvHD, 2) Unmet needs in cGvHD, 3) Atypical manifestations of cGvHD, 4) NIH cGvHD consensus update, 5) New drugs for cGvHD, 6) Nurses/midlevel providers session, 7) Patient advocacy session, 8) Cellular therapy and late effects, 9) Global perspective – allotransplant and GvHD in resource-limited settings, 10) Debate pro et contra on key controversies, 11) Research highlights – best oral abstracts session. Also, we invite fellows, trainees and all who would like to present an oral presentation to submit an abstract for consideration by the Scientific Committee.

The goal of the meeting is to disseminate the most current knowledge regarding cGvHD, and to provide a venue for networking and establishing contacts for future collaborations in addressing cGvHD. This event is expected to create a critical mass of investigators and colleagues who will carry this field into the future. It is dedicated to clinicians and scientists who are engaged in management, research, and advancing care of alloHSCT patients.

With plans to continue an alternating Europe – North America every other year schedule, the 9th International cGvHD symposium is planned for fall 2027 in Montreal, Canada.

It is with delight that we invite you to attend and be part of this unique advanced continuing education experience.

With warm regards,

Dražen Pulanić (Zagreb, Croatia)
Steven Z. Pavletic (Bethesda, USA)
Radovan Vrhovac (Zagreb, Croatia)
Lana Desnica (Zagreb, Croatia)
Daniel Wolff (Regensburg, Germany)
Stephanie Lee (Seattle, USA)
Hildegard Greinix (Graz, Austria)
Sylvie Lachance (Montreal, Canada)
Kirk R. Schultz (Vancouver, Canada)