Dear Colleagues and Friends,

We have now finalized both the scientific and social programs for the 13th European Lupus Meeting 2022, in Stockholm October 5-8. We are grateful for the enthusiastic work by our colleagues and the AIM Group, which has made it possible to present an exceptional program with outstanding speakers and many presentations by young colleagues who are the future lupologists.  We all long for an opportunity to meet each other for lectures, seminars, symposia, poster sessions, discussions and debates, activities with the aim of making us better equipped to encounter the many challenges ahead. The most brilliant ideas appear when we meet each other face to face in a friendly and open atmosphere.

The meeting is planned together with SLEuro, and the venue is Karolinska Institutet, Aula Medica, which is close to Karolinska University Hospital. We invite you to register for the free pre-conference meeting on Wednesday. It is open to everybody and will give an overview of SLE research in Sweden. After the opening ceremony on Wednesday afternoon we are all  invited to Stockholm City Hall, where the Nobel Prize banquet is held every December. On Friday we have a dinner with entertainment at the Vasa Museum, where you will be able to see the impressive and well-preserved Vasa ship, which sank on its maiden voyage in the harbor of Stockholm in 1628. Make sure to stay until Saturday, when several new therapies will be presented.

We know that the Covid-19 pandemic is not over, but we feel confident that we can manage to implement the congress in a secure way. Consequently, we recommend all participants take the Covid-19 vaccination in accordance with national recommendations well before the meeting. Each of us needs to be considerate of our colleagues, friends, and patients, and we urge you to be careful during the meeting. It is encouraging that many large events have been accomplished the last months, including the UEFA European Women’s Football Championship 2022, without major problems.

We wish you all good health and welcome you to an exciting meeting in Stockholm.

Elisabet Svenungsson and Lars Rönnblom
Congress chairs