I was never in Ronzano, but I recognize the importance of this courses and this year it is fourth time that I am organizing online course in Medical Genetics at University of Split, School of Medicine, Croatia. First time was in 2008. with NIPD, than in the same year Medical Genetics and Dysmorphology, than in 2010. Medical Genetics and now Medical Genetics together with our Cours named Genetic Counseling in Practice. Our gest this year will be prof. Borut Peterlin (as last year too) and prof. Albert Schinzel. We are pleased to have you at our University oline. The first online Hybrid cours was very succesfull it was 20 gynecologyst from all parts of Croatia. I will send photos later and this year combined programm. Sincerely yours prof.Vida Culic, MD,PhD, pediatrician geneticist from Split, Croatia (town of Diocletian,don Frane Bulic and Goran Ivanisevic too).

I was a student at the European School of Genetic Medicine in its very edition, back in 1988. That experience played an extremely important role in my scientific career. During this first course I met with Dr. Thomas Caskey, a member of the faculty of the School, who offered me the opportunity to move to the States to work at the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston,Texas,where I spent a long, productive and important period of my career. I have been back to teach in these courses several times, and I have always sensed the same positive energy and enthusiasm I felt at that first course in 1988. Each time I learned new and exciting scientific discoveries and met formidable colleagues and brilliant students. I think that the European School of Genetic Medicine has been a great opportunity for student (and faculty!) to receive a broad, thorough and up-to-date overview of Genetic Medicine and to meet with other people in the field. For these reasons, I strongly encourage you all to become members of the Alumni Association of the School. It made a difference for me!

We are six medical geneticists practicing in Israel in six different Genetic Departments throughout the country. In May 2010, we had the privilege to attend in Bologna a course in Medical Genetics at the European School of Genetic Medicine ... At that time, we were all residents in Medical Genetics and the course had a tremendous impact on our training and on our exposure to the field. The course was very well organized in terms of subject selection of the lectures and the workshops. The members of the academic staff who were invited to give the talks are all well known leading experts in their fields and very talented lecturers. In addition, there was a major emphasis on conversation and sharing of views and thoughts, a fact that made this course especially valuable to the students that attended it. Lastly, the social events were an integral part of the course, which encouraged the students from different countries to get acquainted with one another, and with the faculty members enabling them to establish important contacts and communications. For us, this course was a fundamental step in our education in genetics, and had a substantial role in our introduction to the world and community of medical geneticists and researchers. We feel that the proper training of geneticists cannot be achieved by self reading and experience alone. Although a great deal of teaching relies on the staff working at the same department/institution, the ability to be exposed to a course on an excellent level in this setting is extremely important. This experience allows students to be taught by a highly professional team, and gives a better understanding of the complex field of genetics, and the unique interaction that exists between the clinical practice of medical genetics and the research in this field. There is a great significance for collaborations of medical geneticists and researchers throughout the world. Without these collaborations many of the great achievements in this field would not have been accomplished