Scientific Committee

Ukraine – ELA Scientific committee statement

“The European Leukodystrophy Association international scientific advisory board wishes to express its concern and sympathy for people and families affected by leukodystrophy and the war in Ukraine. We understand the great difficulty of taking care of children with rare disease, especially without access to proper hospital care or medicines.

Our board members will endeavour to provide direct medical support to refugees as well as hospitals and healthcare providers in the region that can benefit from specialist medical advice on care of leukodystrophy patients.

This is a time of empathy and unity for all people and families affected by leukodystrophy”

The role and procedure of ELA International Scientific Committee

A new scientific committee for ELA

The scientific committee of ELA International has 15 members, experts in leukodystrophies. It is chaired by Pr. Florian Eichler, Medical Neurologist Director of the Department of Leukodystrophies at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children – Boston, USA.
Nicole Wolf, nuropediatrician doctor at the VU University Medical Center of Amsterdam – Amsterdam, The Netherlands, has been appointed Vice President.

The scientific council is renewed. Today Magali Pettazzoni joins the committee, her expertise focuses on hereditary pathologies of metabolism and red blood cell, at CHU Lyon, France, and Alessandra Biffi, Director of the gene therapy program at the Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center – Boston, USA.

The scientific committee continues its mission to support ELA International in its research activities by providing its scientific expertise for the evaluation of projects related to the annual call for proposals.

Florian EICHLER Nationality: American	President MD	Pediatric and Adult Neurology Director of the Leukodystrophy Service Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA, USA
Nicole WOLF Nationality: Dutch	Vice-presidente MD, PhD	Pediatric Neurology, Neurosciences Neurology Center for Childhood White Matter Disorders VUmc – VU University Medical Center Amsterdam Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Elena AMBROSINI Nationality: Italian	PhD	Neurobiology Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience Instituto Superiore di Sanità Rome, Italy
Enrico BERTINI Nationality: Italian	MD	Professor of Pediatric Neurology Head of the Neuromuscular and Neurodegenerative disease unit Laboratory of Molecular Medicine Ospedale Bambino Gesu Research Hospital Rome, Italy
Alessandra BIFFI Nationality: Italian	MLD, Gene Therapy	Professor of Pediatrics Chief, Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant Division Padua University Hospital, Italy
Raul ESTEVEZ Nationality: Spanish	PhD	Professor of Physiology University of Barcelona Barcelona, Spain
Samuel GROESCHEL Nationality: German	MD, PhD	Pediatric Neurology University Children’s Hospital Tuebingen, Germany
David HUNT Nationality: English	MD, PhD	Molecular Biology and Inflammatory Diseases University of Edinburgh Edinburgh, UK
Stephan KEMP Nationality: Dutch	PhD	Academic Medical Center Principal Investigator Genetic Metabolic Diseases Department University of Amsterdam Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Tanja KUHLMANN Nationality: German		Associate Professor and Senior Neuropathology Consultant Institute of Neuropathology University Hospital of Münster Münster, Germany
Wolfgang KOEHLER Nationality: German	MD	Clinical neurology MZEB University Hospital Leipzig Leipzig, Germany
Yann NADJAR Nationality: French	MD, PhD Neurologist	Neuro-Genetics and Metabolism Lysosomal Diseases Reference Center La Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital Paris, France
Magali PETTAZZONI Nationality: Italian		Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology CHU de Lyon HCL - GH Est Lyon, Paris
David ROWITCH Nationality: American	MD, PhD, ScD	Pediatric Neurology Professor and Head of Department University of Cambridge Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics and Neurosurgery, UCSF Cambridge, UK
Adeline VANDERVER Nationality: American	MD	Neurology Program Director of the Leukodystrophy Center of Excellence The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA, USA