The 48th Annual Meeting of the EBMT had switch to a fully virtual format instead of a hybrid one at the very last minute. This year’s meeting meant that it has been our 3rd consecutive virtual Annual Meeting in a row. Although this last-minute change was absolutely justified because of the unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, none of us could hide our disappointment. we were all looking forward to going to Prague and reconnecting with each other in-person after two long and complicated years due to COVID-19 pandemics.
But, in spite of all these hurdles, I am very proud and happy to say that this edition which took place one month ago was a big success and a clear demonstration of the commitment of all the various individuals involved in making the 48th Annual Meeting of the EBMT, the best in its class. I would also like to give a big thank you to Petr Sedlacek and Pavel Jindra for their enthusiasm, flexibility and continuous dedication to this year’s meeting, to the speakers and chairs for their flexibility and understanding, to the pharmaceutical sponsors for their rapidness in accommodating their educational activities to the virtual format and last, but not least, to the EBMT staff that made it all possible.
There were more than 5,000 attendees signed up this year coming from more than 90 countries and almost 500 speakers and chairs from more than 30 countries were able to deliver more than 700 presentations. The feedback we have received has been excellent so far. Despite the fact that we were not able to see each other, we did get to enjoy a cutting-edge scientific programme in a friendly user technological environment and I hope all of you have enjoyed the event it as much as I have.
Finally, a special thank you from my side goes out to Nicolaus Kröger, Mohamad Mohty, Christian Chabannon and Ibrahim Yacoub-Agha for their excellent work and commitment to EBMT during their mandate and congratulations to Fabio Ciceri, Annalisa Ruggeri and Donal McLornan for being elected as the new EBMT Working Party Chairs of the Acute Leukaemia, Cellular Therapy & Immunobiology and Chronic Malignancies Working Parties. I am looking forward to working with all of you.
I am already looking forward to meeting all of you face-to-face during the 49th Annual Meeting of the EBMT Hybrid in Paris, April 2023. In the meantime, be safe and stay tuned to all the additional EBMT activities happening throughout this year!