VASCERN now has its third official Affiliated Partner: Medical University Graz, from Graz, Austria
This center will be represented by Dr. Paolo Gasparella and and Dr. Emir Haxhija, pediatric surgeons from the Department of Paediatric and Adolescent Surgery in their centre, who will be bringing their expertise to the Vascular Anomalies Working Group (VASCA WG). We were very pleased that Dr. Gasparella was able to join us for VASCERN Days 2019 where he was introduced to the other VASCA WG members and their ongoing projects. He was warmly received by the VASCA WG and joined them for their traditional group picture!
As a reminder, the designation of “Affiliated Partner” to the ERN was integrated into the ERN legal framework in order to “achieve the widest possible geographical coverage, exchange of knowledge and best practice throughout Europe.”
Affiliated Partners are named by their national governments.
There are 2 types of Affiliated Partners:
- Associated National Centres (mainly healthcare providers) for those ERNs where an EU Member State is not yet represented by a full member in the respective ERN. It establishes a link with one specific ERN.
- A National Coordination Hub which establishes at once a link with more than one Network in which a given Member State is neither represented by a full member nor by an Associated National Centre. National Coordination Hubs may especially represent a useful solution for those Member States with very small populations that need to establish such links with many ERNs at once.
For all documents related to Affiliated Partners see the ERN Board of Member States (BoMS) page here
See the complete list of VASCERN’s full Healthcare Provider members and Affiliated Partners here