Gilles Salles
Gilles Salles is a French haematologist who joined the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York in 2020 after a career as a French University Professor & Medical Doctor in Lyon University Hospitals (France). He is specialized in hematologic malignancies, in particular non-Hodgkin and Hodgkin lymphomas. Education. Salles obtained his master DEA degree in Differentiation, Genetics and Immunology from the Claude Bernard University of Lyon in 1986. In 1989 he continued his university studies and graduated as a Doctor of Medicine, in 1992 he obtained an Advanced Specialised Studies Degree in Cancerology. 1994 he defended his PhD  thesis in Immunology on signals regulating B lymphocytes formation. He completed his post-doctorate fellowship at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute of the Harvard Medical School of Boston in the United States (1990-92). Career. Salles was nominated full professor of Medecine at the Claude Bernard University of Lyon in 1996 (Faculté de Médecine et de Maïeutique Lyon-Sud Charles Mérieux), and he chaired the Departement of Hematology of Lyon University Hospital (Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon Sud Hospital) from 2011 until his departure to MSKCC. In1996, he founded is the research team “Indolent B-cell proliferation” in Lyon University , that examined several aspects of lymphoma biology (ontogeny of B- and T-cell lymphoma, biology of splenic marginal zone, prognostic factors in lymphoma). This research team was successfully affiliated with the Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire de la Cellule (UMR5239 : ENS-Lyon, CNRS, Hospices Civils de Lyon) and then to the Cancer Research Center of Lyon (INSERM, Université Claude Bernard, Centre Léon Bérard). His interest in clinical research led him to Chair the Scientific Committee of the "Groupe d'Etude des Lymphomes de l'Adulte" (1996-2007) and then to become the Chair of the LYSA cooperative group (the Lymphoma Study Association, a  leading cooperative group in lymphoma research). (2012-2020) Previously, he also held the following positions of: Vice-president in charge of Research at the board of Directors of the Hospices Civils de Lyon (2010-2016) ; Head of the Steering Committee of the CALYM consortium (2011-2020); Chair of the Leukaemia Committee of the “Fondation de France” (2005–07) and Chair of the Scientific Programme Committee of the European Hematology Association (EHA) for its 13th Congress (2008); Member of the Editorial Board of Editorial Board of Journal of Clinical Oncology (2010-2013), of Blood (2014-2018). Salles is on secondment of his  position of Professor of Medicine (Haematology) at Université Lyon-1, (1996) and is the Chief of the Lymphoma Service, within the Division of Hematologic Malignancies, Departement of Medecin at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is also Associate Editor at the journal Haematologica. He is also a member of several professional societies, including the American Society of Hematology, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the European Heamatology Association and the French Society of Hematology. He was designated as "Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite" in 2016 and received the Jose Carreras Award from the European Hematology Association in 2020. Research. Salles has  been especially interested in the clinical and biological study of malignant lymphoma – major focuses of his work include the description and validation of prognostic factors as well as clinical trials in indolent lymphomas. He has been involved as a coordinator or co-investigator in many clinical trials and studies within his field. Gilles Salles has directed or contributed to several International studies leading to the approval of several drugs used for the treatment of lymphoma, including rituximab, obinutuzumab, idelalisib, tisagenlecleucel, tafasitamab, tazemetostat. Salles is the author of more than 450 international publications.