In the bi-annual meeting held on 1st April in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), the "http://www.eatris.eu/SitePages/home.aspx" EATRIS Board of National Directors appointed Dr. Marián Hajdúch, director of the Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine in Olomouc (the Czech Republic) as the new Chair. The resigning Chair and director of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR), Dr. Joan Comella, was re-elected as Vice-Chair.EATRIS is governed by the participating member states represented in the Board of Governors and every member state appoints a national scientific director – the national scientific directors work together and form the EATRIS’ Board of National Directors. The national scientific directors represent their country’s translational medicine institutions and are responsible for scientific coordination in their country.More than 70 prominent academic institutions are involved in the new European consortium EATRIS-ERIC, which aims to use close-knit European cooperation in order to provide the infrastructures and the know-how needed to turn the huge progress that has been made in the field of biomedical research into medical innovations with substantial benefit for patients. In Spain, VHIR coordinates together with the ISCIII this new project that will give to the participants opportunities of cross border collaboration with the aim of expediting the sharing of expertise and the faster and more efficient development of new drugs and therapies.