6
The Official ERA-EDTA Newsletter Year 8 Issue 16 A Mid-Term Report from Our President From Raymond Vanholder, ERA-EDTA President It is a great honor for me to have been gi- ven the opportunity to be President of ERA- EDTA. Since I now am halfway my term, this might be the right moment to look back at what was accomplished. Due to space restraints, I will focus only on a few items which are most renovating. In the table, you will find a more complete list of all accomplishments, although also this is still restrictive compared to all that is actual- ly happening. ERA-EDTA is a quickly growing Society. Whereas we had 5,620 members 1st of Ja- nuary 2010 and 5,794 and 5,885 1st of Janua- ry 2011and 2012, we now are at 6,635 (18% rise). To encourage broader scientific networks, our Association launched the ERA-EDTA Research Program to favor nephrologic re- search collaboration throughout Europe. In 2011 three extended research projects were accepted, covering the broad field of nephrology: 1. STARMEN; 2. LUST; 3. The EuroCYST Initiative. A total amount of EUR 2,495,500.00 was invested. In 2011 the ERA-EDTA supported the acti- vities of 4 work groups: 1. IWG - the Immu- nonephrology group; 2. EURECA-m, which deals with the link between chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease; 3. the EUDIAL work group on hemodialysis; and 4. the WGiKD group on rare and inherited kidney disorders. Recently, a fifth work group was added to this list: DESCARTES, on transplantation. All ERA-EDTA members are stimulated to take part in these Work Groups. During the last few years, ERA-EDTA extended its international activities. Our collaboration with the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) was consolidated. A permanent commitment was made to spon- sor two long-term or four short-term fel- lowships from disadvantaged countries in the European area. It now also has become possible for clinicians from outside Europe and the Mediterranean to receive support for clinical training periods in Europe. In ad- dition, ERA-EDTA sponsors together with ISN a number of common CME courses in the ERA-EDTA area. The first two CMEs outside the European area are held in Octo- ber 2012, respectively in Bukavu in the De- mocratic Republic Congo and in Douala in Cameroun. Furthermore, contacts are also running with the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), the Chinese Society of Nephrology (CSN), the American Society of Interventio- nal Nephrology and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). The yearly meeting with the Presidents of national societies was given a new impulse. The congress in Istanbul will include ses- sions that are specifically devoted to countri- es that usually do not get the opportunity to present their accomplishments at our mee- tings. ERA-EDTA is strengthening contacts with the European Community, its administra- tors and politicians, to make renal diseases and their consequences more visible, with as final aim that more European support is offered for kidney related initiatives. To help nephrologists from low income countries, our Society offers reduced mem- bership fees, not only for colleagues from the European and Mediterranean area but now also from all other countries. The Council decided to involve more ac- tively the group of young nephrologists and young researchers in nephrology in its activities. To allow this, a “Young Nephrologist Platform” has been crea- ted. ERA-EDTA is currently working on a structural outline of this body and its duties. By the end of 2012, a first group of members will be confirmed by the ERA- EDTA Council and will elect its first exe- cutive board. Hence, the Society is very active in many areas, and propagates scientific and cli- nical progress and visibility of European nephrology. I will not spend many words on how we will evolve further. I think that it will be an enormous task to keep the current ini- tiatives running smoothly. Nevertheless, we are open to any new suggestions and initiatives, thus if you have any, please send them to us. Finally our next 2013 Congress in Istan- bul (Turkey), will celebrate the 50th an- niversary of the Association, and has for that reason been extended by a num- ber of social and informative initiatives commemorating the history of the ERA- EDTA, but also the scientific part has been extended. I therefore would be delighted to welcome you in Istanbul, but also would like to encourage you to take part in any of the initiatives mentio- ned above. Raymond Vanholder Main activities of the ERA-EDTA - Growing membership: 5,794 in 2011, 5,885 in 2012 - Yearly congresses with growing participation: 2011: 7,826 participants 2012: 8,531 participants - Continuing medical education (CMEs) - Scientific support Accepted fellowships 2011: 19 2012: 17 (evaluation of the Sept. 2012 to be completed) Research Programme (support to broad European research networks) Total: EUR 5,154,310.00 - Work Groups - Collaboration with other societies - Contacts with European Community European Kidney Health Alliance (EKHA) European Chronic Disease Alliance (ECDA) Biomed Alliance - Initiatives in favor of young nephrologists and nephrologists from low income countries Young Nephrologist Platform Travel support Junior membership fee Extremely low congress registration for local students - ERA-EDTA Awards - Journals Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation Clinical Kidney Journal - NDT-Educational - Registry - European Renal Best Practice (ERBP)

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Page 1: A Mid-Term Report from Our President - ERA-EDTA...The Official ERA-EDTA Newsletter Year 8 Issue 16 A Mid-Term Report from Our President From Raymond Vanholder, ERA-EDTA President It

The Official ERA-EDTA Newsletter Year 8 Issue 16

A Mid-Term Report from Our PresidentFrom Raymond Vanholder, ERA-EDTA President

It is a great honor for me to have been gi-ven the opportunity to be President of ERA-EDTA. Since I now am halfway my term, this might be the right moment to look back at what was accomplished.Due to space restraints, I will focus only on a few items which are most renovating. In the table, you will find a more complete list of all accomplishments, although also this is still restrictive compared to all that is actual-ly happening.ERA-EDTA is a quickly growing Society. Whereas we had 5,620 members 1st of Ja-nuary 2010 and 5,794 and 5,885 1st of Janua-ry 2011and 2012, we now are at 6,635 (18% rise).To encourage broader scientific networks, our Association launched the ERA-EDTA Research Program to favor nephrologic re-search collaboration throughout Europe. In 2011 three extended research projects were accepted, covering the broad field of nephrology: 1. STARMEN; 2. LUST; 3. The EuroCYST Initiative. A total amount of EUR 2,495,500.00 was invested. In 2011 the ERA-EDTA supported the acti-vities of 4 work groups: 1. IWG - the Immu-nonephrology group; 2. EURECA-m, which deals with the link between chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease; 3. the EUDIAL work group on hemodialysis; and 4. the WGiKD group on rare and inherited kidney disorders. Recently, a fifth work group was added to this list: DESCARTES, on transplantation. All ERA-EDTA members are stimulated to take part in these Work Groups.During the last few years, ERA-EDTA extended its international activities. Our collaboration with the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) was consolidated. A permanent commitment was made to spon-sor two long-term or four short-term fel-lowships from disadvantaged countries in the European area. It now also has become possible for clinicians from outside Europe and the Mediterranean to receive support for clinical training periods in Europe. In ad-dition, ERA-EDTA sponsors together with ISN a number of common CME courses in the ERA-EDTA area. The first two CMEs outside the European area are held in Octo-ber 2012, respectively in Bukavu in the De-mocratic Republic Congo and in Douala in Cameroun.

Furthermore, contacts are also running with the American Society of Nephrology (ASN), the Chinese Society of Nephrology (CSN), the American Society of Interventio-nal Nephrology and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).The yearly meeting with the Presidents of national societies was given a new impulse. The congress in Istanbul will include ses-sions that are specifically devoted to countri-es that usually do not get the opportunity to present their accomplishments at our mee-tings.ERA-EDTA is strengthening contacts with the European Community, its administra-tors and politicians, to make renal diseases and their consequences more visible, with as final aim that more European support is offered for kidney related initiatives.To help nephrologists from low income countries, our Society offers reduced mem-bership fees, not only for colleagues from the European and Mediterranean area but now also from all other countries. The Council decided to involve more ac-tively the group of young nephrologists and young researchers in nephrology in its activities. To allow this, a “Young Nephrologist Platform” has been crea-ted. ERA-EDTA is currently working on a structural outline of this body and its duties. By the end of 2012, a first group of members will be confirmed by the ERA-EDTA Council and will elect its first exe-cutive board. Hence, the Society is very active in many areas, and propagates scientific and cli-nical progress and visibility of European nephrology. I will not spend many words on how we will evolve further. I think that it will be an enormous task to keep the current ini-tiatives running smoothly. Nevertheless, we are open to any new suggestions and initiatives, thus if you have any, please send them to us. Finally our next 2013 Congress in Istan-bul (Turkey), will celebrate the 50th an-niversary of the Association, and has for that reason been extended by a num-ber of social and informative initiatives commemorating the history of the ERA-EDTA, but also the scientific part has been extended. I therefore would be delighted to welcome you in Istanbul,

but also would like to encourage you to take part in any of the initiatives mentio-ned above.

Raymond Vanholder

Main activities of the ERA-EDTA- Growing membership: 5,794 in 2011, 5,885 in 2012- Yearly congresses with growing participation: � 2011: 7,826 participants � 2012: 8,531 participants- Continuing medical education (CMEs)- Scientific support � Accepted fellowships 2011: 19 2012: 17 (evaluation of the Sept. 2012 to be completed) � Research Programme (support to broad European research networks) Total: EUR 5,154,310.00- Work Groups- Collaboration with other societies- Contacts with European Community � European Kidney Health Alliance (EKHA) � European Chronic Disease Alliance (ECDA) � Biomed Alliance- Initiatives in favor of young nephrologists and nephrologists from low income countries � Young Nephrologist Platform � Travel support � Junior membership fee � Extremely low congress registration for local students- ERA-EDTA Awards- Journals � Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation � Clinical Kidney Journal- NDT-Educational- Registry- European Renal Best Practice (ERBP)

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PresidentRaymond Vanholder, Belgium

Secretary-TreasurerAndrzej Wiecek, Poland

Chairperson of Administrative OfficesMarkus Ketteler, Germany(Chair of the Paper Selection Committee)

Editor-in-Chief of “Nephrology Dialy-sis Transplantation”Carmine Zoccali, Italy

Chairperson of the RegistryChristoph Wanner, Germany

Ordinary Council MembersPeter Blankestijn, NetherlandsDenis Fouque, FranceJonathan Fox, UKLoreto Gesualdo, ItalyMarian Klinger, PolandZiad Massy, FranceMehmet Sukru Sever, TurkeyVladimir Tesar, Czech Republic

President of the 50th Congress (Istanbul 2013)Gültekin Süleymanlar, Turkey

Chairperson of the Scientific Committee of the 50th Congress (Istanbul 2013)Rosanna Coppo, Italy

Editor-in-Chief of “Follow us”Andrzej Wiecek, Poland

Co-Editor of “Follow us”Mehmet Sukru Sever, Turkey

ERA-EDTA websitewww.era-edta.org

50th Congress website (Istanbul 2013)www.era-edta2013.org

51st Congress website (Amsterdam 2014)www.era-edta2014.org

NDT-Educational websitewww.ndt-educational.org

ERA-EDTA Registry websitewww.era-edta-reg.org

The Young Nephrologist Platform: Last Steps before Start-up

We are only few days away from the final step of installing the ERA-EDTA Young Nephrologist Platform – the election of the Board. At the Autumn Council Meeting the ERA-EDTA Council approved 86 members of YNP. The largest number of applications came from: Italy (10), Germany (7), Turkey (7), and United Kingdom (6). 37% are women, 63% men, 8 of the new members are from outside of Europe. There are 16 candidates to the YNP Board, which will be elected by all YNP members in an electronic voting. The members can access the candidates CVs and lists of publica-tions. The candidates to the YNP Board are:

• Davide Bolignano (Italy)• Pasquale Esposito (Italy)• Ana Carina Ferreira (Portugal)• Aleksandar Jankovic (Serbia)• Lars Kihm (Germany)• Jon Jin Kim (United Kingdom)• Mariusz Kusztal (Poland)• Maria Majernikova (Slovakia)• Patricia Matias (Portugal)• Shona Methven (United Kingdom)• Miklos Zsolt Molnar (Hungary)• Evi Nagler (Belgium)• Kyrill S. Rogacev (Germany)• Andreas Schneider (Germany)• Sarah Seiler (Germany)• Andrew Smyth (Ireland)• Kultigin Turkmen (Turkey)

After the election of the Chairman and 5 board members the Board will be extended by 3 Ex-officio members winners of “ERA-EDTA Young Nephrologist Award”. The first Ex-officio member is Giovana Seno Di Marco – winner of the “ERA-EDTA Young Nephrolo-gist Award” in 2012.

After the election the YNP Board will take over the further steps of launching YNP like creating the logo, website, future activities as well as organizing YNP meeting during the ERA-EDTA Congress in Istanbul.

From Andrzej Wiecek, ERA-EDTA Secretary-Treasurer

Andrzej Wiecek

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The SAB is composed of 15 Medical Scientists of high reputation, including a Chair (the ERA-EDTA Presi-dent), a Secretary-Coordinator and a Co-Chair. Six months before the SAB mandate expiration a call for candidacy is posted in the ERA-EDTA website and sent by e-mail to the ERA-EDTA members. The mem-bers are then chosen by the Council according to SAB regulations. In March 2012 the Board was renewed for six of its members; the new entries have been: Hans -Joachim Anders, Jorge B. Cannata-Andia, Erik Ilso Christensen, Raymond T. Krediet, Bo Feldt-Rasmus-sen, Francesca Mallamaci who joined the “old” mem-bers: Juergen Floege, Heini Murer, Pierre Ronco, Peter Stenvinkel, Vladimir Tesar, Andrzej Wiecek, Carmine Zoccali.The mission of the Board is to advise the ERA-EDTA Council to achieve its scientific goals and to enhance kidney research in particular basic research, in the ERA-EDTA geographical area. This aim is pursued through the following activities: Fellowship Pro-gramme, Research Programme, collaboration with ex-isting research bodies, look for potential research col-

From Heini Murer, SAB Co-Chair and Giovanni Cancarini, SAB Secretary-Coordinator

SAB: Advisors in Science and Research

Next deadline to apply is February 1, 2013. All information, as well as the regulation to apply, is available on the ERA-EDTA website www.era-edta.org, under the “Fellowship Programme” section.In oder to simplify the contacts between

ERA-EDTA Fellowship Programme

laborations, the contribution to the annual congress scientific program and any other kind of scientific matters upon the Council request.The ERA-EDTA Fellowship Programme was launched in 2006 (two calls per year are scheduled). The task of the SAB is to rank the applications and to send the scores to the Council for the final approval. Starting from 2006, the Association has been budget-ing 500,000.00 EUR per year for the initiative; till now 244 applications were received and 118 granted for a total expense of about 2.500.000,00 EUR.The ERA-EDTA Reasearch Programme was launched in 2009; till now two calls have been done. The ap-plications are ranked by those SAB members not involved in any application who also benefit of the help of some appointed external reviewers in order to grant the most objective evaluation. Another task of the SAB is to suggest topics for the future Research Programme Calls. Till now 46 applications were re-ceived and 6 granted for a scheduled investment of 5,154,310.00 EUR.

A Fellow’s Experience: Juan Jesus Carrero-RoigAfter completing my thesis in Spain I was put to the difficult test of what’s next. Should I do a postdoc abroad? Should I change research fields? It felt like a life-time decision with unpredictable conse-quences. I was lucky to be awarded with the first long-term ERA-EDTA postdoc-toral fellowship, and dared leaving home to do my training at Karolinska Institutet. I knew it would not be easy and take a while to get adjusted. After all, I was in a new country, culture and a completely different discipline. My knowledge of Sweden was stereotyped, and I found to my surprise that there is also daylight and good weather. I started from scratch in the area of renal epidemiology and biostatis-tics. I was impatient and wanted results

quickly, which of course was not the case.Little did I know how much this experi-ence would impact on my career. I found in Stockholm inspiring colleagues that encouraged me to think by myself and to solve problems creatively. My time as a postdoc taught me how much more I had left to learn, transitioning from follow-ing directions to leading my own way. I learned that research skills alone cannot take you far. Successful scientists need strong communication skills, be able to collaborate effectively and function well as leaders and managers. Research is dynamic, requiring patience, flexibility, grasping opportunities and frequently reevaluating career plans. With the ERA-EDTA fellowship I could mature profes-

sionally by exposure to a different research environment and to the European Nephrol-ogy community, where I have found friends, mentors and colleagues with whom to con-tinue learning. After my postdoc I decided to establish my-self in Sweden and continue working at the Department of Renal Medicine at Karolinska Institutet. I am open to new opportunities and the chance to return to Spain may arise. After all, life is a matter of grasping opportunities, as the opportunity that ERA-EDTA gave me for which I am truly thankful. If you are in-terested in pursuing and academic/research carrier and are now debating on making a postdoc, I cannot think of a more eye-opening experience and encourage you to take the challenge.

Heini Murer

Giovanni Cancarini

Juan Jesus Carrero-Roig

the applicants and the hosting centres, the ERA-EDTA has created two lists of Clini-cal and Research Centres that wish to re-ceive fellows.The Call for the European Clinical and Research Centres interested in receiving

fellows is currently open; you can find all the necessary information to apply by checking the “Fellowship Programme” section of our website and/or by contacting [email protected].

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The 50th ERA-EDTA Congress will be held in Istanbul between May 18-21, 2013. Is-tanbul also hosted the 42th (2005) and 15th ERA-EDTA Congresses (1978).Istanbul is a city located in northwestern Turkey on two continents. Asia and Eu-rope are separated from each other by the magnificent Bosphorus; one of the world’s busiest waterways between the Marmara and the Black Seas. Istanbul’s commercial and historical center lies in Europe, while a third of its population lives in Asia.

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country’s economic, cul-tural, and historical heart, with a popula-tion of 13.5 million. The city forms one of the largest urban agglomerations and is among the largest cities in the world by population within city limits. Seven million foreign visitors arrived in Istanbul in 2010, when it was named a Eu-ropean Capital of Culture, making the city the world’s tenth-most-popular tourist destination. The city has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Istanbul is a mixture of old and new, and an exciting combination of the many cultures, where east meets west.

The HistoryIstanbul was founded on the Sarayburnu promontory around 660 BC as Byzantium, and afterwards developed to become one of the most significant cities in history. For nearly sixteen centuries following its rees-tablishment as Constantinople in 330 AD, it served as the capital of four empires: the Roman Empire (330–395), the Byzantine Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Lat-in Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). It was instrumental in the advancement of Christianity during Roman and Byzantine times, before the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453 and transformed it into an Islamic stronghold and the seat of the last caliphate.

A City of Various Cultures – A City of HarmonyThe cultural diversity of Istanbul is an ex-ample of exaggeration. A Roman city con-verted into Christianity, which was also the seat of Islamic caliphate that preserved the patriarchate of Christian orthodoxy. It has been a refuge for Jews fleeing Spain in the XV Century and for those seeking asy-lum from Nazis in 1930. People belonging to 3 different major religions, speaking 10 different languages, and 26 ethnic groups live in Istanbul in harmony.

Entertainment and ShoppingIstanbul is one of those metropoles that never sleep. Thousands of restaurants, bars, discos and nightclubs offer an in-credible variety of entertainment.Istanbul is the shoppers’ paradise for car-pets, leather goods, gold bargains and fashion. The Grand Bazaar, in operation since 1461, is among the world’s oldest and largest covered markets; 4,000 shops under one roof make this fascinating cov-ered bazaar an irresistible location for ea-ger shoppers, while the modern shopping malls, many of which are very close to the Congress Center, make life easier for those on a tight schedule. Prices in Istanbul, whether for shopping, dining or accom-modation, are internationally competitive and attractive for all congress participants regardless of their nationality. Istanbul is a metropolitan city with an ad-vanced security planning and experience. The city has an astonishingly low record of crime according to Interpol statistics.

Access to IstanbulThere are direct flights from more than 110 international cities by Turkish Air-lines and more than 150 direct flights by different airlines; hence Istanbul has a daily air access from more than 250 desti-nations around the globe.

Accommodation FacilitiesIstanbul has more than 40,000 hotel rooms, some 15,000 of them built during the last 10 years. The majority of the hotels are operated by international chains. The hotels and the city itself contain a huge variety of first class restaurants and eater-ies serving the delights of the Turkish and Ottoman dinner table with its rich blend of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Fla-vors (especially delicious Kebaps) as well as top class international cuisine.

Sites and AttractionsThere are numerous magnificent places to be visited in Istanbul. The Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, The Topkapi Palace, Ba-silica Cistern, Hippodrome, Dolmabahce Palace, Turkish and Islamic Art Museum, Museum of Kariye, Whirling Dervish Hall, Rumeli Fortress, Beylerbeyi Palace and Grand Bazaar are at the top of the list.

Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC) - The Congress ValleyThe congress will be held in the Istan-bul Convention and Exhibition Center (ICEC), Turkey’s largest congress facility, which is located in the main business dis-trict of the city. ICEC forms the “heart” of the “Conference Valley” of Istanbul; the Lutfi Kirdar Cngress Center, which is ad-jacent to ICEC will be used as well.

The 50th ERA-EDTA Congress will be a unique and an unforgettable event.

The 50th ERA-EDTA Congress in Istanbul: Let’s Meet where the Continents and the Cultures Meet

From Mehmet Sukru Sever, ERA-EDTA Council Member

Istanbul, the Bosphorus, Black, Marmara and the Aegean Seas

A view from the Bosphorus. The land on the right side belongs to Asia, while left is Europe; there are two intercontinental bridges over the Bosphorus. (Photo Courtesy of Simin Mutlu)

Mehmet Sukru Sever

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The ERA-EDTA Committee for CME Ac-tivities was appointed by the ERA-EDTA Council in 2009, under the chairmanship of Prof. Gérard London and Prof. Rosanna Coppo, Chairperson of the administrative offices and coordinator of educational meetings supported by the Association until the Committee’s creation. Since then the Committee evaluated more than 80 proposals for courses to be held through-out Europe.

The 2012 educational programme is now coming to an end having taken into con-sideration both innovation and tradition: hands on seminars, introductory courses, annual Schools and Academies of Neph-rology with over ten-year traditions have always been offering high standards of education and scientific updates sum-moning up international audience of young nephrologists. Great importance has been given to travel grant, great opportunities for 35 years old (and younger) nephrologists. Each CME course, independently of its length, was given an amount of EUR 1,000 for trav-el grants.

We are now proud to announce that in 2013, 24 CMEs courses will be organ-ised in 16 different countries in Europe and the Mediterranean Area. CME courses, with a general attendance from 20 to 200 participants per meet-ing, will cover a wide spectrum of hot topics, new or debated issues, review recent advancements in renal diseases and dialysis care. The courses are ei-ther monothematic, specialised for advanced researchers or a combined multitopic, more general nephrological

ERA-EDTA for Education. European but not just for Europe

From Goce Spasovski, Chair of the ERA-EDTA Committee for CME Activities

courses. Nevertheless, a great importance is given to modern learning techniques, interaction between speakers and audi-ence as well as to ‘meet the expert ses-sions’ where young nephrologists can ask and discuss for clinical advice to re-nowned scientists and experts in the field. The 2013 educational programme is also enriched by the involvement of the ERA-EDTA Working Groups whose education-al activity will focus on different aspects of nephrology such as cardiovascular medicine, immunonephrology, inherited kidney diseases and transplantation. In addition, we will also have the first CME organised by guideline group of ERBP on topic Hyponatremia with 3 workshops initially based on a case presentation.

Since 2003 the ERA-EDTA Registry has organised Introductory Courses on Epi-demiology in collaboration with National Societies of Nephrology and local medi-cal associations, and those courses were always highly valued by the member-ship. The Registry is also organising an “NDT course for Reviewers-to-be”, a real hands-on meeting in which participants will learn how to become a good paper reviewer.

The ERA-EDTA has always been support-ing valuable educational events in collab-oration with ISN. Starting from 2012, both Societies are also supporting educational courses that are held outside the area of interest of our Association, thus in devel-oping countries where clinical advise and up-dates are very much needed.

In order to meet the demands of ERA-EDTA members and to enrich our educa-

tional offer, we are developing an interac-tive, online learning programme. We are, therefore, pleased to announce the up-coming release of a first e-learning course on Nephrotic Syndrome. This first mod-ule will be accessible to the greater neph-rological community and being a member is not mandatory. The project was based on the assessment of the educational needs of practitioners, nephrologists, in-ternists, students and other professionals in the fields of interest of the society and the module designed accordingly by the ERA-EDTA. We are convinced that clini-cians want access to high-quality online Continuing Medical Education (CME). Consequently, this and subsequent cours-es will be submitted to the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS) for CME accreditation and upon successful course completion, all learners may ob-tain 1 European CME credit (ECMEC).

I would like to thank Ms. Valentina Cocchi (ERA-EDTA HQs) for her sec-retarial assistance, as well as Ms. Anna Maria Manara (ERA-EDTA General Man-ager) and Mrs. Monica Fontana Faughnan (Manager of the ERA-EDTA Membership Office) for their constant support and ad-vice over these years of working together. The recent changes and improvements in the CME Committee’s activity would not have been possible without the contri-bution of Prof. Coppo and Prof. Zoccali who stepped down after the ERA-EDTA Congress in Paris. I would like to thank both of them on behalf of the ERA-EDTA Council.

The ERA-EDTA Committee for CME Ac-tivities warmly invites all ERA-EDTA Full members, who are also potential CME

organisers, to submit proposals for the organisation of educational meet-ings. The new regulations (recently approved by ERA-EDTA Council fol-lowing a proposal done by the Com-mittee), the application form and in-formation are posted on ERA-EDTA website under the section “educa-tion”.

ERA-EDTA Committee for CME Ac-tivitiesChairman: Goce SpasovskiSecretary: Ivan RychlikMembers: Meguid El Nahas, Jorge Cannata-Andia, and Loreto Gesualdo.

Goce Spasovski

ERA-EDTA CME Courses 2013

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Editor-in-Chief: Andrzej WiecekCo-Editor: Mehmet Sukru SeverManaging Editor: Silvia MenoniGraphic design: PierLuigi Franchi

ERA-EDTAc/o ERA-EDTA Administrative OfficeVia Spolverini 243126 Parma - Italy

Follow usThe official ERA-EDTA [email protected]/followus.htmTo be distributed free of charge to all ERA-EDTA members www.era-edta.org

www.era-edta2013.org

EDTA Istanbul 2013 man.indd 1 8-05-2012 18:41:58

You are probably aware that the ERA-EDTA has an educational Website with scientific content cover-ing all the fields related to Nephrology, Dialysis and Hypertension: NDT-Educational (www.ndt-edu-cational.org). This internet tool was launched on September 26, 2002. It was created by Prof Carmine Zoccali to help young clinicians, busy nephrologists and renal scientists to keep updated in this era of information overflow. The huge success of this free electronic enterprise, now sent to more that 11,000 registered users, can be shown by seeing the median number of readers of last year, which was more than 36,000 per month (more than 100,000 web pages downloaded!). We know that NDT-E is read in many countries where the opportunity of free access to medical literature is limited and therefore our colleagues in those countries particularly appreciate our efforts.

As Editor-in-Chief it is my great pleasure to announce the new layout of NDT-E as well as a serie of new initiatives, which I hope will be as much appreciated by the readers as the existing literature updates, CME slides forum, surveys, case studies and full paper reviews. To begin with we were thinking of starting a nutritional blog, moderated by Juan Jesus Carrero. From now on, therefore, if you have any questions or suggestions regarding the nutritional treatment of your CKD patient this will be a new forum that you will be able to use and from which you can receive ideas and input from the rest of the renal community interested in nutritonal problems. NDT-E also plans to post educational videos to help young nephrologists learn about techniques applied within nephrology. In addition, NDT-E will post short videos in which the new ERA-EDTA Council mem-bers will get the opportunity to present themselves and their visions on how to promote ERA-EDTA. In collaboration with NDT and the Global Kidney Academy nephrology educational portal (OLA), NDT-E will also launch a new electronic initiative that will access selected articles from NDT for discussion and on-line comments. We hope that this initiative will create opportunities for more education and interaction within the renal community and that CME lectures presented in NDT-E will have a forum for discussion.

In NDT-E you will also find a link to the NephroTox database, kindly provided by Prof. Michael Mihatsch, Basel, Switzerland. We think that this new site will increase awareness and knowledge within the interested medical community, especially pathologists and nephrologists, concerning drug related side effects.

NDT-E has a long tradition in publishing surveys in order to “feel the pulse” of the renal community and ask about their opinion on various important matters discussed in nephrology. Recent polls on calcimimetics, calcific uremic arteriolopathy, home dialysis treatment and nutritional treatment have shown interesting results. To prepare for the upcoming NDT Supplement on ”Obesity, overweight and CKD”, NDT-E will, during the autumn of 2012, publish a two-part obesity survey (knowledge part plus practice pattern part). The results of this survey could be very interesting for the renal community.

The success of this endeavor is due to the generous, continuous contribution of our Subject Consultants, all highly reputed European nephrologists/investigators with heavy academic and clinical duties. If you have any comments and/or suggestions on how to develop and improve NDT-E do not hesitate to contact the NDT-Educational Managing Editor Francesca Trebelli (e-mail: [email protected]).

NDT-Educational 10 Years: New Layout and Initiatives

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Piet Mondrian, Molen: The Winkel Mill in Sunlight, 1908© 2012 Mondrian/Holtzman Trust c/o HCR International USA

Peter Stenvinkel

From Peter Stenvinkel, Editor-in-Chief of NDT-Educational

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www.ndt-educational.org