Editorial

The 18th European Conference for Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation (ESCHM) has been held in Lisbon, Portugal, June 5–8 June, 2016 (www.hemorreologia.com) organized by the Portuguese Society for Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Carlota Saldanha and Prof Dr José Braz Nogueira.

One of the aims of the European Society of Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation is to create an opportunity for delegates from different National Societies to come together, sharing and discussing their research and experiences. The 18th ESCHM Conference counted with 177 international participants not only from Europe but also from America, Asia and Australia. A high level scientific program was produced with excellent scientific contributions contributing to the increase of knowledge of basic and clinical hemorheology and microcirculation. During the fruitful discussions new questions arose and new opportunities of networking initiated.

The program and the abstract book, both posted online, demonstrate several scientific topics from the molecular basis, such as Biomechanics, Biochemistry, Biophysics, Mathematics Modelling, to the evidence based medicine and clinical practical results.

We had the unique opportunity to participate in 12 Lectures (of which 7 are presented in this issue [2, 3, 5–9]) and 15 Symposia including 52 oral communications and 49 posters were presented.

The President of the Lisbon Academic al Medical Centre, Professor Carmo Fonseca, emphasized during the Opening Ceremony the urgent need of translational research also in our field. Highlight of the conference was the attribution of the Fåhraeus Medal Award to Nadia Antonova, emphasizing the fact that it was the first time this prize was awarded to a woman. Tommaso Gori, the President of the European Society of Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation, had the pleasure and honor to present Nadia Antonova with this recognition of her scientific contribution in the field of the Hemorheology [1]. The Council of the Society also decided unanimously to dedicate an ad memoriam Medal to honor the work of the late Prof. Oguz Baskurt.

For the first time, a travel award donated by the Herb and Karin Meiselman Foundation in memory of Oguz Baskurt, was introduced. The winner was Kisung Lee, a PhD student of Alexander Priezzhev and Igor Meglinski, from University of Oulu, Finland and Moscow State University, Russia [4].

Organizing meetings of the Council and The Advisory board of the European Society and of the Editorial Board of the journal Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation have been held and several decisions have been made. Selected Presentations will be published in Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation still this year and, secondly, the next European Conference will take place in Krakow, Poland, organized by Maria Fornal.

We wish to thank Carlota Saldanha and her team for this phantastic conference and all institutions and participants with which cooperation the Conference could be realized.