The Foundation
On March 14, 1983, the Ferrata-Storti Foundation was created through the efforts of the heirs of Prof. Adolfo Ferrata, of Prof. Edoardo Storti and of several noted teachers from the Ferrata school of thought. The newly formed Foundation began its activity in 1984. Adolfo Ferrata was the founder of Italian hematology, the branch of medicine that studies diseases of the blood. The building which houses the Department fo Internal Medicine of the University of Pavia bears his name, as do many of the fundamental discoveries regarding our knowledge of hematology. His numerous pupils continue his work today. Edoardo Storti, one of the direct students of Prof. Ferrata, was Chairman of the Dept. of Clinical Medicine of the University of Pavia, like his mentor before him, from 1971 to 1979, and was President of the Italian Hematology Society from 1973-1976, Director of the journal Haematologica and author of a prestigious book on diseases of the blood.The Foundation is a non-profit organization and is not involved in commercial activities. Its legal status as a private foundation was recognized trough a decree of the President of the Lombardy region (n. 11-R-83; law passed February 2, 1984). The aim of the Foundation is to stimulate and promote the study of and research on diseases of the blood and their treatment by means of:
- supporting and expanding the journal Haematologica, which was established in 1920 by Adolfo Ferrata and today is the oldest Italian journal dealing with diseases of the blood. This journal is published in English and is the official organ of the Italian Hematology Society, the Italian Society of Experimental Hematology and the Spanish Association of Hematology and Hemotherapy. Following a rigorous screening, the research work of the most noted Italian and foreign scientists appears in this journal. Haematologica strives to be a forum for the rapid exchange of ideas among clinicians and researchers on the most recent advances in the field of hematology and in the cure of diseases of the blood;
- by organizing continuing medical education courses, symposia and workshops on the most current topics of hematology and oncohematology, and by publishing the relative proceedings of these meetings (as an example, see the Erythropoietin Symposium, 1992);
- by setting up grants for young Italian researchers who plan to study blood diseases in the foremost research centers in Italy and abroad;
- by funding research in the field of hematology.
- through the earnings provided by its capital investments
- with the aid of endowments from public organizations and private contributions.
Ferrata-Storti Foundation: editorial activity
First and foremost, the efforts of the Foundation are directed towards continually perfecting and expanding Haematologica, which has taken its place among the most important international hematology journals. Indeed, Haematologica is available today in Current Contents, a weekly magazine with very broad distribution throughout the international scientific community that publishes the index of the major medical and biological journals in the world.The fact that Haematologica has been included in Current Contents, a privilege granted by the American Institute for Scientific Information only after a long period of careful observation in order to evaluate the scientific merit of the journal in question, is a source of great pride for the Editorial Board and represents an objective testimonial to the international stature Haematologica has achieved. Moreover, the presence of our journal's index in Current Contents informs the international scientific community of the articles published each issue in Haematologica, thus affording worldwide exposure for Italian scientific contributions.Toward the end of 1994 it was decided to begin a sister publication, entitled Haematologica Reports, which will contain a wide variety of volumes, in particular scientific congress proceedings and those of national and international meetings, all of course in the field of hematology. The first volume in this series was written in English by Professor Jan Waldenström, one of the most prestigious names in medicine and hematology in the last 50 years, and was dedicated to his introspections on his lifetime of experience as a physician and as a scientist.In addition to its journal activities, the Foundation has for several years borne the considerable financial burden of publishing the proceedings of the meetings of the individual sections of the Italian Society of Hematology as well as the reports of the Italian Society of Experimental Hematology. The Foundation has always had and continues to enjoy a very close relationship with both these Societies. This can be seen by the fact that their respective Presidents are among the administrative council of the Ferrata-Storti Foundation and that the Director and Secretary of Haematologica are on the steering committees of these two Societies. The proceedings of the sectional hematology meetings are especially useful for young hematologists, who are able to utilize these regional gatherings as the first sounding board for discussing and comparing their respective scientific results.