Welcome and Rationale

Dear Colleagues,

The European Federation of Williams Syndrome (FEWS) organises in cooperation with the Hungarian Williams Syndrome Association (HWSA) a European Conference on Williams-Beuren Syndrome to raise the awareness on this rare disease, make the stakeholder groups more interactive and establish international cooperation on expert field.

The previous European Williams Syndrome Conference was organized in Paris in 2008. The member associations of FEWS realized this long gap which makes necessary to organize a meeting again, as the development of science is rapid in the area of Williams Syndrome (WS) as well. The most recognised speakers of Europe will exchange ideas with not only the experts of European Countries, but also with the families, coming mainly from the new EU member states.

The focus is to share good practices and knowledge on the disease between European Countries with a good expertise and other European Countries with less experience on the syndrome. The ultimate goal of the Conference is to help patients with WS have a better life by promoting or improving better care, including those elements which may integrate with the EU policy on rare diseases.

The Conference targets professionals in different areas from different countries, who, by their professional position, have an impact on spreading the awareness and knowledge about Williams syndrome. We would like to establish a network with the leader European experts of the area with high international reputation as well.   

Participants of the Conference will be relevant stakeholders, i.e. representatives of healthcare professionals and caregivers, politicians, patient organisations, researchers and academics, national authorities, medical societies, health industry, media, etc. We especially target professionals in countries with rather limited knowledge about the syndrome to spread awareness.

The Conference language is English. 

The Conference starts on Friday evening 21st and ends on Sunday 23rd November, 2014. The venue is Hotel Benczur in Budapest, Hungary. 

The following topics are presented during the Congress: paediatrics, cardiology, genetics, education, dental care, psychology, psychiatry, linguistics, music therapy, pharma research, sleeping problems, etc.

A Poster Session is also planned. 

We hope that this Conference will provide edification for all participants in the interested fields.