The European School of Haematology (ESH) is an non profit institution for continuing education founded by Professor Michel Boiron, in 1986, to promote and facilitate access to state of the art and cutting-edge knowledge in haematology and related disciplines, at the European level. ESH is presided over by Professor Eliane Gluckman, pioneer in the field of haemopoietic stem cell research and transplantation. Many of Europe’s leading haematologists sit on the School’s Executive and Scientific Committees.

At the time it was founded, ESH was the only institution of its kind in the world. Since then, a number of other medical disciplines have adopted a similar model. But ESH remains unique in the field of haematology.

The experience of the School clearly demonstrates how an institution for continuing medical education can promote communication among scientists at the pan-European level, catalyze the creation of new trans-European basic and clinical research networks, and contribute to the education and integration of younger scientists in the active European scientific community. These are the ways in which the School contributes to the international reputation of European science and medicine and to the quality of healthcare for patients with blood disorders many of which have strong socio-economic impact for the European Union.

ESH travels throughout Europe and its Associated states to organise conferences, training courses and laboratory workshops with a faculty of international experts selected for their scientific expertise and didactic skills.

ESH has been supported by the European Commission since 1993. The current Marie Curie Actions contract notably includes 900 scholarships to help scientists and clinicians of all ages and nationalities to further their education by attending ESH.

With headquaters at the Haematology Insitute of the Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris, ESH works in partnership with many other prestigious scientific organizations and institutions. These include the European Haematology Association (EHA), the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Brazilian School of Haematology, to name just a few

ESH tools for continuing education are produced by international experts in the field. They are available to scientists and clinicians free of charge and are used throughout the world to train haematologists. Fifty thousand copies of the ESH-EBMT Handbook on Haemopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation edited by Eliane Gluckman, Jane Apperley, Alois Gratwohl and Enric Carreras are in circulation worldwide. In June 2006, a new Handbook on Disorders of Iron Homeostasis, Erythrocytes and Erythopoiesis was published in academic partnership with the ‘Club du Globule Rouge et du Fer’. Fifteen copies of this handbook edited by Carole Beaumont, Photis Beris, Yves Beuzard and Carlo Brugnara are now available to doctors throughout the world.

Thanks to a grant from the European Commission’s Leonardo da Vinci programme, ESH was a partner of an EHA project to develop an innovating interactive self learning tool derived as a platform to further competence in diagnostic haematology. It is now freely on the ESH website.

ESH and EHA have also worked closely together, with EBMT and the national societies of hematology in Europe, to develop a pan-European system for the accreditation and quality control of continuing medical education in Haematology. This system is based on peer review and on going quality control measures. Its development was supported by the European Commission.

ESH meetings attract the attention and unrestricted educational grants from industrial-partners. Most of the conferences have received the support of corporate partners thus ensuring the ability of the School to provide an environment in keeping with its ambitious training objectives.

ESH has worked for 20 years to improve and harmonize the quality of education in Haematology throughout Europe with the generous support of the world’s most prominent haematologists and haematology organizations.