Dear EBMT members, friends and colleagues,
I hope you had a good summer holiday with your families and friends; some disconnection is always necessary after a year of hard work.
This has been a memorable summer for EBMT. After 11 years of struggle and effort, the new EBMT Registry has seen the light of day; "day 1" being the 24 August 2023. Previously, we witnessed the "sunset" of ProMISe and Castor, which ceased to be operational; data cannot be included, but data can be extracted for further use. I am incredibly proud to be able to announce as EBMT President, that the society has a new Registry based within a modern, agile and user-friendly platform which will undoubtedly facilitate the work of all centres that report data on patients treated with cell therapy strategies and will certainly favour data reporting from new centres interested in the project.
The manifestation of the new EBMT Registry is a clear example of firstly, a dream coming into reality, and secondly, many years of tireless teamwork, especially in recent months. I would like to give my sincere thanks to the current team and all the professionals involved in this project since its inception. I want to make a special mention to the previous EBMT Presidents: Alejandro Madrigal, Mohamad Mohty and Nicolaus Kröger, for having believed in and worked on this project. To our former Executive Director, Andreu Gusi, and the current one, Mirjam Steinbuch, for their leadership and direction, to Per Ljungman, who took on the responsibility for the coordination of the project in the last months, to Annemiek Markslag, Annelot van Amerongen and the rest of the registry team for their professionalism, enthusiasm and dedication.
We are only at the beginning of the process; we have a long way to go, since implementing new strategies is never easy. Establishing good communication channels between EBMT and the different stakeholders who use and need the EBMT Registry is essential. We are aware of the many questions and doubts that this transition has raised and have implemented a series of communication strategies that we hope will be fast and effective enough to make this transition easier. Thank you to all centres and national registries for your willingness to cooperate and your understanding; with everyone's efforts, the EBMT Registry will become an indispensable tool in the field of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation and cell therapy.
I wish you a good “back to school” after the summer break; I remain at your disposal for any questions you may have, and even though the EBMT Registry project is currently monopolising the attention of our society, I do not want to say goodbye without reminding you of all the different scientific and educational activities at your disposal during the upcoming months.
Anna Sureda
EBMT President