Prof. Richard T Silver—Pioneer of MPN 18 January, 1929–17 April, 2026

Prof Richard Silver from Weill-Cornell in New York (Dick for his friends) is known for his work on myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). He started exploring a possible benefit of recombinant interferon α on polycythemia vera (PV) in the late 1980ties [ 1 ], when treatment consisted of phlebotomy and hydroxyurea, and on chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) after developing an evidence-based definition of CML-blast-crisis by 30% blasts in the blood, which is still in use [ 2 ]. His research was supported by the Cancer Research & Treatment Fund, which he farsightedly had founded in 1968 for donations by grateful patients. He became internationally visible when he chaired an expert panel of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) to prepare an evidence-based analysis for treating CML (1999) [ 3 ]. When the professional writer gave notice because of budget reasons, and ASH was about to revoke the project, Dick, with the determination and persistance characteristic of his personality, decided to do the writing himself. In 2001, he started, together with Jerry Spivak from Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, a series of international conferences, initially on MPN and CML, later on MPN, which became highly successful. He convened 16 conferences, the last one in 2024. The first conference in October 2001 was convened only a month after the 9/11 events. Despite many cancellations, the conference took place as expected by those who knew Richard’s personality. The conference became a central opportunity to discuss internationally the tremendous progress made in the MPNs following the detection of molecular markers as therapeutic targets and for monitoring treatment.