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
Wee Joo Chng, MD — Chairperson of the AMN Executive Committee
Dr. Wee Joo Chng has been a Senior Consultant at the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore, part of the National University Health System, for almost two decades. He is an esteemed researcher in genomics, therapeutics and hematologic malignancies, with extensive experience in clinical practice, administration, and leadership. Dr. Chng is currently the Yong Loo Lin Professor in Medical Oncology, Vice President (Biomedical Sciences Research), and Senior Principal Investigator of the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, at the National University of Singapore.
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.
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).
Wen-Ming Chen, PhD
James Chim, MD
Priscilla B. Caguioa, MD
Le Phuoc Dam, MD
Hiroshi Handa, MD, PhD
Jae-Hoon Lee, MD
Jeffrey Huang, MD
Jian Hou, MD
Shinsuke Iida, MD
Sen Mui Tan, MD
Chandramouli Nagarajan, MD
Daryl Tan, MD
Kihyun Kim, MD
Teeraya Puavilai, MD
Kazuyuki Shimizu, MD
Daryl Tan, MD
Zen Mui Tan, MD
Rosalio P. Torres, MD
Executive Staff
Daniel Navid
Lisa Paik
