Rate My Professor Harry Iland

Professor Harry Iland AM, MBBS (Hons), FRACP, FRCPA, MHGSA, is a Clinical Professor in the Central Clinical School at the University of Sydney and a Senior Staff Specialist Haematologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He earned his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery with Honours from the University of Sydney in 1976. Professor Iland established one of the earliest molecular diagnostic haematopathology laboratories in Australia, specializing in haematological malignancies, and has led the molecular haematology laboratory at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for over 25 years. He contributed to the establishment of the Sydney Local Health District Institute of Precision Medicine and Bioinformatics. His career spans clinical practice, laboratory research, and education, with a focus on advancing diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in haematology.

Professor Iland's principal research interests lie in molecular abnormalities associated with haematological malignancies, particularly acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL). Since 1997, he has directed the Australasian Leukaemia and Lymphoma Group (ALLG) clinical trial program for APL, pioneering the APML4 regimen that combines all-trans-retinoic acid, idarubicin, and arsenic trioxide. This regimen, detailed in landmark publications including Iland et al. in Blood (2012) and The Lancet Haematology (2015), has proven practice-changing in Australia, the United States, and Canada. He also led the APML3 trial, published in Haematologica (2012). His laboratory has identified novel molecular variants such as the PRKAR1A-RARA fusion in APL, the type J CBFB-MYH11 fusion in core binding factor AML, and an XK gene mutation in McLeod syndrome. Professor Iland chairs the Measurable Residual Disease Reference Committee for the ALLG AMLM26 INTERCEPT study and serves on the European LeukemiaNet expert panel, contributing to APL management guidelines published in Blood (2019). He has delivered invited plenary lectures at the 6th, 7th, and 8th International APL Symposia in Rome (2013, 2017, 2024) and authored a chapter on front-line APL therapy in a definitive textbook. His contributions are recognized by the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) awarded in 2017 and Life Membership of the Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand in 2021.