History of ISCA

The International Scientific Conference on Albinism – ISCA – was created by the Global Albinism Alliance (GAA) in 2022. It is the first component of a future GAA program dedicated to improving the health of persons with albinism around the world.

ISCA 2022 builds on the momentum created by the EDA (European Days of Albinism) conference series, which was held every two years from 2012-2020.The EDA conferences were traditionally co-organized by Albinism Europe (the network of European associations of persons with albinism) and one of the national albinism associations from Europe.

At the 5EDA in 2020, there was a significant increase in the number of participants, an increased number of non-European countries represented and an overall consensus that research on a rare health condition such as albinism is best addressed at the global level. It became clear at that point that the EDA conference series should no longer be just a European event. The decision was then made to move to an international conference and to have this new event be organized by the Global Albinism Alliance.

The EDA conference series was created in 2012 by Genespoir, the French association for persons with albinism, with the support of the following scientists:

• Robert Aquaron, Marseille, France
• Benoît Arveiler, Bordeaux, France
• Glen Jeffery, London, UK
• Barbara Käsmann-Kellner, Homburg, Germany
• Lluis Montoliu, Madrid, Spain
• Maria-Vittoria Schiaffino, Milan, Italy
• Alain Taïeb, Bordeaux, France

List of EDA conferences (in reverse chronological order)