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

The ELA International Scientific Committee regroups 15 members.

The president, Pr. Florian Eichler (MassGeneral Hospital for Children – Boston, USA), is assisted by a vice-President, Dr. Caroline Sevin (Hôpital Bicêtre, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France).

The members serve for 3 years. A third of the committee will be renewed every year. The Scientific Committee includes international experts of leukodystrophies who meet twice a year and whenever necessary.

The Scientific Committee develops the rules of procedure related to the call for proposals and establishes the content of the call according to the guidelines established by ELA International. The President, in connection with the ELA International Research Department, chooses and updates the list of experts solicited to review the projects submitted to ELA International.

The Scientific Committee evaluates the research projects submitted to ELA International following the annual call for proposals with the help of external reviews, and identify the best projects.
It also evaluates projects outside of the call for proposals.

The Scientific Committee’s mission is also to encourage exchanges between its members.

Florian EICHLER Nationality: American	President of the Scientific Committee MD	Pediatric and Adult Neurology Director of the Leukodystrophy Service Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA, USA
Caroline SEVIN Nationality: French	Vice-presidente MD	Pediatric Neurology Leukodystrophy Reference Center Pediatric Neurology department Bicêtre Hospital Kremelin-Bicètre, France
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
Nathalie CARTIER Nationality: French	MD	Director of research INSERM Institut for Brain and Spine (ICM) La Pitié Salpêtrière Hospital Paris, France
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
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 Programm Director of the Leukodystrophy Center of Excellence The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA, USA
Nicole WOLF Nationality: Dutch	MD, PhD	Pediatric Neurology, Neurosciences Neurology Center for Childhood White Matter Disorders VUmc – VU University Medical Center Amsterdam Amsterdam, The Netherlands