These proposals were framed into the QUEST initiative, which stands for Quality European STudies, a name that also means “….an expedition undertaken in medieval romance by a knight in order to perform a prescribed feat”. Thanks to the enthusiastic backing of two Presidents, Professors Francesco Locatelli and Jorge B. Cannata-Andía, and the strong, unanimous support of all council members, the initiative was funded by our society. A critical point at that time was that of secure funding also beyond the realm of the ERA-EDTA.
With the fundamental backing and collaboration of national and regional registries, the Registry prepared a research proposal for creating an electronic data collection system aimed at feeding continuous quality improvement programs at regional and national level. In 2006 the proposal was awarded by the EU.

This NephroQUEST project that is now being carried out is a big challenge, but if successful, as I believe it will be, it may prove to be a turning point for epidemiology research in Europe and allow investigators interested in epidemiology and outcome research the access to a rich, powerful database. The standardization of clinical performance indicators will prove useful to many parties from patients and doctors to health financing bodies. As to education on epidemiology, this may strengthen the Registry’s network and produce returns in terms of participation and data sharing, a vital stimulus for a registry purely based on scientific interest and volunteerism like the ERA-EDTA Registry. In the past years the Registry organized 10 introductory courses on epidemiology in Europe and about 300 nephrologists received education in this discipline. The talent for teaching of Registry staff members and of Friedo Dekker, a senior epidemiologist at the University of Leiden, made these courses very successful.
Another lingering issue the Registry considered in the last few years was that of offering coordination for the creation of stage 4 CKD registries in Europe. These registries are now formally recommended by the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) initiative. Formulating shared recommendations for regions that plan to start these registries may serve to prevent the problems of standardization that the ERA-EDTA Registry had in the past and still has.

In concluding my mandate, I can only say that for me the Registry has been a great opportunity for interacting with many outstanding colleagues and a very enriching experience. I learned a lot and truly enjoyed being part of a marvellous team.
For this reason I wish to express my gratitude and friendship to the Amsterdam team and to representatives of national and regional registries. I heartily wish the Registry and the new chairman Christoph Wanner all success with their projects.

From Carmine Zoccali, ERA-EDTA Registry Chairman