Dr Willem Kolff may be in his nineties but he seems to find age no barrier to communication. At the 39th ERA-EDTA Congress in Copenhagen in August 2002 he received a standing ovation from a capacity audience of over 450 for his introductory remarks at the Membrana Accord Symposium.
Dr Kolff co-chaired the symposium, on the subject of Oxidative Stress in Dialysis Patients, with Accord Programme Chairman Professor Francesco Locatelli. Before introducing other internationally renowned speakers, Dr Kolff spoke of his own long experience from the dawn of renal dialysis, in a career spanning over 50 years. The warmth and enthusiasm with which his presentation was received left no-one in doubt that this extraordinary inventor and visionary doctor is still held in huge respect - fittingly of course in that without his pioneering work, the ERA-EDTA congress might never have been established.
The Accord Programme is an independent initiative, conceived and supported by Membrana, which explores and seeks to resolve treatment and management issues in haemodialysis to help optimise clinical outcomes for patients. It was particularly appropriate therefore that Dr Kolff, well known for his maxim in relation to medical intervention that 'if it is not enjoyable, it should not be done', should be involved in a programme which seeks to improve quality of life for renal patients.
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