EWOPA 2023

Dear colleagues and friends, 

Join us for the 51st EWOPA meeting and connect with your colleagues of the leading psychosocial network for children and adolescents with chronic kidney diseases (CKD)!

EWOPA is a multidisciplinary group interested in the psychosocial care of children and adolescents with CKD. Childhood CKD is a rare condition at the heart of the European Rare Kidney Disease Reference Network (ERKNet). The EWOPA meeting is fully aligned with ERKNet's mission to promote interdisciplinary care and research focused on patients' needs. 

Hence, the 51st EWOPA meeting is organized by the University Hospital Leuven and is endorsed by the ERKNet member centres Leuven, Ghent and Heidelberg, the Belgian Society of Pediatric Nephrologists (BPN) and the European Society for Pediatric Nephrology (ESPN). 

The conference will be held onsite at the University Hospital Leuven from 8 to 10 June 2023. 

 We invite all stakeholders caring for children and adolescents with CKD to participate, both with scientific reports and with presentations of activities, interventions and experiences in everyday clinical practice, with focus on psychosocial issues and multidisciplinary care of children and adolescents with CKD. 

The organizing committee will launch some novelties in this edition:

(1) the patient voice will be included with testimony of adolescents and their parents;
(2) prizes for the best abstracts in order to stimulate research and improvement of care quality in this area; and 
(3) an adapted registration fee for emerging economy nations will be available to facilitate their participations. 

It is not only the EWOPA meeting that makes it worth coming to Leuven. Many visitors are attracted by the charming atmosphere and the historical flair. Besides, Leuven is home to the oldest and largest university in Belgium. 

We are sure that you will enjoy your stay and we look forward to welcoming you in Leuven! 

                                                                                                             Note:
                                                                          Extended deadline for abstract submission:
                                                                          31 March 2023

On behalf of the organizing committee: 

Lore Willem, Pediatric Psychologist, Leuven, Belgium

Djalila Mekahli, Head of the Pediatric Nephrology unit, Leuven, Belgium 

Ann Raes, Head of Pediatric Nephrology unit, Ghent, Belgium and President of Belgian Society of Pediatric Nephrologists

Dirk Bethe, Pediatric Psychologist, Heidelberg, Germany and Coordinator of  EWOPA

Franz Schaefer, Pediatric Nephrologist,  Heidelberg, Germany and Coordinator of ERKNet