European Federation for Immunogenetics

Besides the Executive Committee, EFI currently has 7 committees installed to execute the activities per the purpose of the Association. You can find more information about the committees on the committees page:

Committees page

Mission and goals

It is the mission and goal of EFI:

1. To support the development of Immunogenetics in Europe as a discipline in medicine and promote research and training in this field.
2. To provide a forum for exchange of scientific information and to reinforce the skills and knowlegde of young scientists and others working in the field.
3. To create a formal organisation of workers in the field of immunogenetics, histocompatiblity testing and transplantation.
4. To develop recommendations for standardisation of techniques, quality control and criteria for accreditation and to support their implementation.
5. To promote the organisation and use of immunogenetic databases.
6. To develop relations with organisations with similar aims.

The association shall abstain from any type of political activity. 

European Federation for Immunogenetics (EFI) recognises the value of having a diverse group of people with a diversity of thinking and perspectives involved in EFI and wishes to use the differences that people bring with them as an important resource in furthering our important mission and objectives.

Equality, diversity & inclusion policy

President's page

From the EFI President -  EFI Newsletter, issue 108, January 2026

Dear EFI Members,

It is a pleasure to reach out to you

once again through our periodic

Newsletter. I hope this message finds

you well, while as usual, being daily

engaged in your work in our field of

Immunogenetics. I would like to initiate

my communication expressing a huge

thank to Sebastiaan Heidt, for serving

as Editor-in-Chief of the EFI Newsletter

throughout these many years, using his

great expertise and skill. In the name of

all the EFI Members, I would really like

to let Sebastiaan know how much we

all appreciated his commitment for this

relevant EFI duty. As well, I would like

to thank Neema Mayor for agreeing

to take his place, giving continuity

to the publication of EFI Newsletter.

No doubt that Neema, based on

her great knowledge in science and

in particular in the field of H&I will

maintain the same high quality level of

the periodic EFI Newsletter. To Neema,

congratulations and best wishes on

her new service in EFI! Thanks also to

Gurvinder Kaur, who kindly serves as

proofreader for all EFI Newsletters.

I would also like to extend my sincere

gratitude and appreciation to the

Chairs and all Members of the various

EFI Committees. Their diligence, expert

advice, and dedication are the pillars

upon which the success and high

standards of our Federation rest. In

particular, I would like to remind all of

you that after the hard work of the EFI

Standards Committee, chaired by Katy

Latham, the new version 9.0 has been

reviewed. I hope that very soon, after

collecting the suggestions of the EFI

Membership and a formal approval of

the Accreditation Committee, chaired

by Blanka Vidan-Jeras, this new version

of the Standards will become official.

The whole document went through a

very extensive revision, improving the

strength and explicitness of each single

standard that will help the daily activity

of the colleagues in the Labs, of the

Inspectors and of the Commissioners.

My warmest congratulations go to

Zorana Andric, Head of Tissue Typing

Department, Blood Transfusion

Institute of Serbia, in Belgrade, for

successfully organizing the recent

Annual EFI Region 8 & Balkan EPT

meeting, which was held in Belgrade

on October 25th, 2025. The event

offered an exceptional program

and a wonderful environment for

networking and scientific exchange.

The dedication of the entire local

organizing committee made it a truly

valuable occasion. After the fantastic

EFI Conference we participated last

May in Prague, so well organized by

Tony Slavčev and Gottfried Fischer,

we need to mark our calendars for

the 39th European Immunogenetics

& Histocompatibility conference that

will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland,

from the 21st to the 24th of April, 2026.

David Turner and Ann-Margaret Little

are eagerly awaiting our arrival and

are putting together a scientifically rich

and socially appealing program in the

beautiful and historic city of Edinburgh.

No doubt that the Conference is

going to be an event we cannot miss!

Looking further ahead, I am pleased

to announce that the International

Summer School of 2026 will be held

from the 11th to the 14th of November

on the beautiful island of Crete,

organized by our colleague Katarina

Tarassi, in conjunction with the Sister

Scientific Societies. This intensive

course is an invaluable educational

opportunity for our younger members

and those seeking advanced training,

dedicated to young EFI Colleagues.

I also have an administrative improvement

to announce of the migration of

the old EFI website to a new platform.

Redkiwi is taking care of this with the

supervision of Eric Spierings and of

Ingrid Abelman and Margriet van Rijn

from the EFI Office, for which we all

are very grateful. We hope that the

new EFI website will be available for

the first weeks of the New Year, and

I ask for your patience during this

transitional period, if we need to make

any additional adjustments as it goes

live. This move is essential to provide

our members with a more modern,

efficient, and user-friendly digital

resource. We will keep you updated on

its full launch. I would like to point out

that among other news, the CPDMe

tool will be easier to reach out in the

new platform. As you know, it has

been designed to upload and record

professional activities and scientific

contributions, which is vital for both

demonstrating the breadth of our

work and for supporting accreditation

processes. I strongly invite everyone

to use the CPDMe tool that would be

made available by EFI.

We are delighted to underline

our strong collaboration with our

international partners, in particular

with ASHI. This partnership is crucial

for many different scientific aspects,

but in particular, we are working

on a program aimed to harmonize

new standards that we are planning

to write in conjunction with the EFI

Standard Committee, on educational

programs, sharing a few specific

Webinars and on Research, solidifying

our joint commitment to advancing

the field of Histocompatibility and

Immunogenetics worldwide. Let me

thank again Deborah Sage, Chair

of the EFI Educational Committee,

for having organized three fantastic

Webinars this year, provided by John

Trowsdale, Neema Mayor and Alicia

Sanchez-Mazas which were very well

participated and appreciated by the EFI

Members. I know that Deb is already

working on this year’s program that will

comprise a few Webinars proposed by

both the EFI Young and the Scientific

Committees. Please do not forget

that for those who did not have the

possibility to follow the live Webinars,

it is possible to download the recorded

versions of each of them, located

under the section e-learning of the EFI

Website. Please, be aware that in the

same section, the recorded teaching

lessons held during the different EFI

Conferences are also available.

Finally, I would like to express my

profound thanks to the entire EFI

team. Many are the activities that daily

David Roelen and Kay Poulton take

care of as EFI Secretary and Deputy-

Secretary, as well as the EFI Treasurer,

Jean Villard and the Deputy Treasurer,

Nicolas Vince. Your excellent work,

professionalism, and tireless support

are crucial to the smooth operation

of the Federation. Thank you for

making everything run so efficiently.

In addition, of course I cannot forget

to thank Sonja Geelhoed, Margriet van

Rijn and Ingrid Abelman for the great

work that they provide every single

day, sitting in the Leiden Office, for all

the EFI Members. I also would like to

take the opportunity with this report of

mine to thank Professor Steven Marsh,

Editor in Chief of the HLA journal, for

providing the access free of costs for

the EFI Members to the high-level

scientific contents of the HLA Journal.

I look forward to our continued

collaboration, hoping to see many of

you in Edinburgh!

Sincerely,

Marco, EFI President

The past Presidents are:

Obituary. In memory of Frans H.J. Claas (1951-2025).

Frans Claas, a towering figure in histocompatibility and immunogenetics, passed away on Sunday, February 2, 2025, at the age of 73.

Obituary. In memory of Frans H.J. Claas (1951-2025

Tribute to Frans Claas - Transplantation Journal

Obituary. In memory of Erik Thorsby (1938-2021)

With sadness, we received the message that our good friend and colleague Erik Thorsby has passed away. Erik was one of the pioneers who made several important contributions to histocompatibility and immunogenetics.

Obituary. In memory of Erik Thorsby (1938-2021).

Obituary: Prof. Dr. Johannes Joseph (Jon) van Rood (1926-2017)

Prof. Dr. Jon J. van Rood, a distinguished member of our scientific community, passed away on 21 July 2017 at 91 years of age. In light of his scientific legacy, we wish to commemorate some of his most significant achievements and contributions.

Obituary: Prof. Dr. Johannes Joseph (Jon) van Rood (1926-2017)

EFI Constitution

The organization was founded on March 6, 1985, under the name European Foundation for Immunogenetics, abbreviated as EFI. It is governed by articles 21-79 of the local civil law and by its current articles. The organization is registered in the Register of Associations at the Tribunal d'Instance de Strasbourg under No XXXXVIII No 70. The name was changed to the European Federation for Immunogenetics on June 11, 1996, and officially recorded in the Register of Associations on January 17, 1997. The current articles were adopted by the General Assembly (the EFI membership) on April 28, 2023, and subsequently approved by the French Court.

French Legal Statutes - 28 April 2023

English Translation - 28 April 2023

Overview of the European Immunogenetics and Histocompatibility Conference

EFI sponsors several awards to recognise scientific accomplishments and contributions to the fields of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics and to service to society:

• Ceppellini Lecture
• Julia Bodmer Award
• EFI Medal
• Best Abstract Award / Jon van Rood Award
• Best Poster Award

For more information on the above award, please click here.

EFI is located in the historical "Poortgebouw" building of the LUMC (Leiden University Medical Center) in Leiden, the Netherlands. The contact details are:

EFI Office
Poortgebouw
Noordzijde, Room N00-002
Rijnsburgerweg 10
2333 ZA Leiden
The Netherlands

+31(0) 71 - 526 51 11
efioffice@lumc.nl