Background
Fokko van der Woude – one of the fathers of Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasm Autoantibodies (ANCA) related research – passed away at the age of 53 on December 4, 2006. He was born in Leeuwarden and completed his medical studies and his clinical education in Groningen, The Netherlands. In 1985, he successfully defended his thesis: Complexes or no complexes. This thesis contained the classic paper from The Lancet describing the close association between the presence of ANCA and Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis that came to change the textbooks on renal vasculitis and autoimmune diseases.
With his ability to get funding from the European Community for a standardization of ANCA detection in 1990 and his continuing support for the later clinical applications of the emerging scientific field of ANCA serology – the European Union supported clinical trials subsequently leading to the formation of the present European Vasculitis Society (EUVAS). Fokko became a driving force behind the basic and clinical research in Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis and other ANCA-related systemic vasculitides. Apart from science, music was his great passion. Together with his wife Riet and their twin daughters Joanne and Diane he enjoyed playing music, especially string quartets. The last part of his life he was a respected professor at Heidelberg University Hospital in Mannheim.
At the 13th International Vasculitis and ANCA Workshop in Cancun, April 26 – 29, 2007, it was decided to establish a Memorial Fund with the aim to secure funding for young researchers to be able to participate in the International Vasculitis and ANCA Workshops in the future based on the selection of best abstract.
Administration and donations
The Fund is administered by the EUVAS and the EUVAS is the legal body for the Fund. All revenue of the Fund is managed through a separate bank account. Donations are gratefully accepted and are managed by the treasurer of the EUVAS, Thomas Hauser.
E-mail: hauser@immunologie-zentrum.ch
Vasculitis & Lupus Research Group
Department of Medicine
Level 5, Box 157
Addenbrookes Hospital
Cambridge CB2 0QQ
United Kingdom
T: +44 (0)1223 748062
E: ke295@cam.ac.uk