After years of repeated discussions, a group of Canadian leukemia-treating Hematologists (see Founding Board of Directors below) met in Vancouver on 22.09.2019 and agreed in principle to form the CLSG/GCEL as a not-for-profit corporation.

A Certificate of Incorporation (corporation # 1169662-9) under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act was issued on 23.10.2019.

At a subsequent meeting in Orlando on 06.12.2019, the group agreed on CLSG/GCEL By-Laws (finalized 17.12.2019), as well as on CLSG/GCEL membership and governance structure.

It was agreed that the corporation would have a three-tier structure consisting of a Board of Directors which would include four Officers (see below), an Academic Advisory Group (representing cross-country Medical Schools as well as AL programs not affiliated with a Medical School), and a larger General Membership pool. CLSG/GCEL would establish a number of permanent and time-limited working groups, staffed by members from all tiers of membership. The composition of the governing groups and of the working groups would evolve iteratively over time with input and recruitment from the General Membership. Rules governing this process are found in the By-Laws.

CLSG/GCEL will also identify an Executive Director with administrative and business responsibilities.

The structure of CLSG/GCEL is shown schematically as follows:

The general membership is the pool from which the Board of Directors and the Academic Advisory Group are elected, and these groups provide governance to topic-specific working groups.