The European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) was established in 1974 and is a non-profit organisation that aims to promote all aspects associated with the transplantation of haematopoietic stem cells from all donor sources and donor types including basic and clinical research, education, standardisation, quality control, and accreditation for transplant procedures.

The EBMT is made up of a Board, 11 Working Parties, a Nurse’s Group, a Central Registry and 13 Affiliated Registries, 8 Committees, the Local Organising Committee of the Annual Meeting and EBMT members.

Membership

The EBMT offers 4 types of membership; full, associate, individual and corporate. EBMT members are mainly centres active in the transplantation of any kind of haematopoietic stem cells. Membership is also open to other organisations and individuals involved in the care of donors and recipients of haematopoietic stem cells or actively working within the fields of blood and marrow transplantation or haematology. The membership currently lists 3,086 members from 519 centres in 57 countries. Pharmaceutical companies are invited to join as corporate patrons and collaborate closely with the EBMT to further the society’s educational and research activities.

Central registry

The EBMT Registry uses a central data management system to collect transplant data from its members. This mega file currently contains data from over 272,000 transplants. Data can be used for quality control and clinical studies and access to data is one of the benefits of EBMT membership.

Working Parties & Committees

The EBMT coordinates its key scientific and educational activities through 11 Working Parties. The nature of the Working Parties is varied but the majority are disease-based: Acute Leukaemia, Aplastic Anaemia, Autoimmune Diseases, Chronic Leukaemias, Immunobiology, Inborn Errors, Infectious Diseases, Late Effects, Lymphoma, Paediatric Diseases and Solid Tumours. In addition, there are 8 committees focused on developing the society’s activities in the following areas: Accreditation, Education, Prospective Clinical Trials, Outreach, Statistics, Nuclear Accident, Developmental, and Quality Assessment of the HSCT Graft.

Annual meeting

The EBMT organises an annual meeting for scientific exchange between physicians, nurses and data managers. The meeting takes place in a different location every year at the end of March. EBMT 2009 will take place in Göteborg from 29th March –1st April 2009.

For further information about EBMT and forthcoming Meetings please visit: www.ebmt.org