The first European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases (EJP RD) transnational call is officially launched! You can find information about this call on the new website of the EJP RD here, including the call text and the guidelines for applicants. The topic of this first transnational call is Research projects to accelerate …

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VASCERN Spotlights: Dr. Robert Damstra  What is great about the ERNs is that they have given increased recognition to the field of rare diseases. For a very long time it was mainly secondary lymphedema (that is not a rare disease) that had all of the attention and now, thanks to …

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We would like to congratulate Professor Miikka Vikkula, our Vascular Anomalies Working Group (VASCA-WG) Chair, for being awarded the first Generet Award, with a prize of €500,000 for research into rare diseases! The Generet Fund, managed by the King Baudouin Foundation, aims to support rare disease research by awarding an annual …

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The European Commission’s EU Protects campaign (#EUProtects) aims to raise awareness of the various ways in which the EU combats global challenges to protect its citizens and their latest video features the European Reference Networks (ERNs)!  Link to the video here The video features the story of Onni, a Finnish …

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The European Commission has just released a new flyer and video about the European Reference Networks aimed at informing patients and healthcare professionals about how the ERNs work. It introduces how the 24 ERNs convene virtual panels of experts in rare diseases in order to discuss complex clinical cases. This …

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VASCERN continues to expand its participation in the interERN Working Groups (WGs)! We are happy to announce that our representatives in the new interERN and Board of Member States (BoMS) integrated WG on Research will be: HHT-WG Chair, Professor Claire Shovlin (Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK) and VASCA-WG …

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VASCERN Spotlights: Professor Claire Shovlin I hope that across the diseases that VASCERN champions, the wisdom, dedication and experience of the medical doctors can be channeled into further, genuine healthcare improvements for patients and their families. It is with great pleasure that we present this month’s member in the VASCERN …

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