Meet our expert speaker – Dr. Ruben Mesa

Dr. Ruben Mesa is Senior Vice President of Advocate Health and President of the Advocate Health Cancer National Service Line, as well as Executive Director of the NCI-designated Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center. He also serves as Vice Dean for Cancer Programs at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. A leading expert in MPNs, Dr. Mesa has led or co-led the development of six FDA-approved therapies and contributed to over 800 medical publications. His work focuses on MPN biology, innovative treatments, and improving symptom management. He is widely recognized for his contributions to cancer research, health equity, and clinical trial advancement, and is a frequent national and international speaker on MPNs. 

About the session

Join us for an engaging session with Dr. Ruben Mesa exploring the lived experience of individuals with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). This discussion will highlight the real-world symptom burden and quality-of-life challenges faced by patients and caregivers, and the critical role of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in improving care and advancing research.

Attendees will gain insight into common MPN symptoms, the importance of communicating quality-of-life concerns with care teams, and how PRO tools support more personalized, symptom-focused treatment. The session will also introduce key PRO instruments and their use in both clinical practice and the MPN PROGRESSion Registry™, helping track patient experiences and inform future research. 

Key Learning Objectives:

• Explore the full spectrum of quality‑of‑life challenges experienced by MPN patients and caregivers, including fatigue, pruritus, bone and abdominal discomfort, early satiety, cognitive strain, emotional burden, and the chronic nature of disease management. 

• Review the importance of communicating quality‑of‑life concerns with the care team, how under‑reported symptoms can influence treatment choices, and how structured conversations contribute to more personalized, symptom‑targeted care. 

• Gain a detailed understanding of the role and value of patient‑reported outcomes (PROs)—what they measure, how they are scored, how clinicians apply them in practice, and how they support more precise symptom monitoring over time. 

• Learn about key PRO instruments widely used in MPN clinical care and research, including: 
  • MPN‑SAF Total Symptom Score (TSS) 
  • EORTC QLQ‑C30 
  • PHQ‑9 (Modified) 
  • Patient Global Impression of Severity (PGI‑S) 
  • PROMIS Fatigue Survey 

Importantly, we are highlighting these PROs because they are also actively utilized in the MPN PROGRESSion Registry™, where they help capture real‑world patient experience, monitor longitudinal symptom patterns, and inform future research questions. Connecting the session content to the registry framework will help participants understand how these tools drive both individual care and long‑term evidence generation. 

Final Session Reminder

This webinar is the final session in the MPN Pathways: Empowered Voices in Research Certification Program series. We encourage all participants to attend and take a moment to confirm where they stand
in completing the program requirements. Whether you are finishing your final session or still working toward completion, now is the perfect time
to ensure you’ve viewed all webinars and submitted the required evaluations to earn your certification and be recognized for your commitment to MPN research advocacy. To view recordings and complete your certification scroll up to the webinar library and evalutation sections.