Executive Board & Advisory Group

The I-BFM Executive Board

Headed by the Chairperson(s), the Executive Board consists of one appointed representative from each participating national study group. The Executive Board is responsible for the overall coordination and for providing strategic guidance to the study group.

The Executive Board of the I-BFM-SG consists of the following distinguished members:

Prof. Dr. Arndt Borkhardt (I-BFM Chairperson)

Prof. Dr. Andrea Biondi (I-BFM Co-Chairperson, representative of Italian study group AIEOP)

Dr. Melina Mescher (I-BFM Scientific Secretary)

Representatives of national study groups:

Argentina	Dr. Monica Makiya (GATLA) Dr. Marisa Felice (SAHOP)
Australia and New Zealand	Dr. Luciano Dalla-Pozza (ANZCHOG) Robyn Strong (ANZCHOG)
Austria	Dr. Michael Dworzak (BFM-A)
Belgium	Dr. Anne Uyttebroeck (BSPHO)
Bulgaria	Professor Dr. Dobrin Konstantinov
Chile	Dr. Myriam Campbell Dr. Julia Palma (PINDA)
Croatia	Prof. Dr. Ernest Bilic
Czech Republic	Prof. Dr. Jan Stary (CPH)
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden	Dr. Goda Elizabeta Vaitkevičienė (NOPHO)
France	Prof. Dr. André Baruchel (SFCE)
Germany	Prof. Dr. Martin Schrappe (BFM-G)
Greece	Dr. Sophia Polychronopoulou (HeSPHO)
Hong Kong	Prof. Dr. Chi-kong Li (HKPHOSG)
Hungary	Prof. Dr. Gábor Kovács (HSPOH)
Israel	Dr. Sarah Elitzur (INS)
Japan	Prof. Dr. Atsushi Manabe (JCCG)
Poland	Prof. Dr. Walentyna Balwierz (PPLSG)
Portugal	Dr. Joaquin Duarte Dr. Manuel Brito
Serbia	Dr. Milos Kuzmanovic
Slovakia	Prof. Dr. Alexandra Kolenova
Slovenia	Dr. Tomaz Prelog
Spain	Dr. Susana Rives (SEHOP)
Switzerland	Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Bourquin (BFM-CH)
The Netherlands	Prof. Dr. Rob Pieters (DCOG)
Turkey	Prof. Dr. Lebriz Yuksel Soycan (TLL-AG)
Ukraine	Dr. Svetlana Donska (GPLU)
United Kingdom	Professor Dr. Ajay Vora (CCLG) Dr. John Moppett (CCLG)
Uruguay	Dr. Luis Castillo

The I-BFM Chairperson

Prof. Dr. med. Arndt Borkhardt

Arndt Borkhardt is MD and head of the Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Clinical Immunology at the University Hospital of the Heinrich-Heine-University in Duesseldorf, Germany.
He is the Vice-Director of the Dusseldorf Biological and Medical Research Center, a core facility for genomics and proteomics.

Arndt Borkhardt is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), the American Society of Hematology (ASH), the European Hematology Association (EHA), SIOP Europe (SIOPE) and several other professional societies.

His research aims for a better understanding of leukemia genetics and basic mechanisms of childhood leukemogenesis in general.
In particular, his research focusses on the impact of infectious triggers and microbiome changes in the pathogenesis of childhood
B-precursor leukemia. He has, amongst others, demonstrated that a large number of healthy newborns (>5%) carry a genetic predisposition without developing leukemia in most cases. Moreover, together with bioinformaticians, he explores novel algorithms to identify causal genetic variations in the context of sporadic and inherited childhood leukemia.

The I-BFM Co-Chairperson

Prof. Andrea Biondi

The I-BFM Administrative Office

The Administrative Office supports the Chairperson(s) and the Executive Board. The Office provides essential support to the community of I-BFM by coordinating management and administrative tasks of the study group.

Current members of the Administrative Office are

Dr. Melina Mescher

IBFM Advisory Group

The I-BFM Advisory Group supports the Chairman by discussing and pre-deciding important topics.

Current members of the I-BFM Advisory Group are:

Prof. Dr. Andishe Attarbaschi

Prof. Dr. André Baruchel

Prof. Dr. Andrea Biondi

Dr. Sarah Elitzur

Prof. Dr. Rob Pieters

Prof. Dr. Kjeld Schmiegelow

Prof. Dr. Martin Schrappe