If you are excited and fascinated by bioactive lipids and eicosanoids (prostaglandins, leukotrienes, lipoxins, and the EETs) and the proresolving mediators, then you’ve landed in the right place. This is the Web site for the Eicosanoid Research Foundation, which was originally founded by Professors Ken Honn and Larry Marnett at Wayne State with his interest in the role of prostaglandins in cancer. This is the Web site for the Eicosanoid Research Foundation, which was originally founded by Professors Ken Honn and Larry Marnett at Wayne State with his interest in the role of prostaglandins in cancer. Prof. Bengt Samuelsson and Prof. Rodolfo Paoletti organized the original international eicosanoid meetings every four years that were held in Florence, Italy. The meetings of the Eicosanoid Research Foundation were the first to focus on cancer and prostaglandins. Dr. Santosh Nigam worked with Drs. Honn and Marnett to host the Berlin meeting, where Santosh’s interest in cancer mechanisms was further embellished with Dr. Honn’s experience in prostaglandin biosynthesis and pharmacology. Drs. Nigam, Honn, and Marnett had a vision that topics in inflammation should be included in the Eicosanoid Research Foundation meetings. My focus is on initiation and resolution in the acute inflammatory response.

Drs. Honn, Nigam, and Marnett persuaded me to become a board member of the Eicosanoid Research Foundation in the late 1990’s and to host and organize the Boston meeting in 1999. That was indeed an exciting meeting because two Nobel laureates spoke, Prof. Samuelsson and Prof. E.J. Corey. Prof. Corey gave his presentation on overheads using a marker, which still resonates with me as an exciting presentation. The meeting also featured lectures from several National Academy members including Dr. Judah Folkman, Dr. Michael Gimbrone, and Dr. K. Frank Austen. The meeting was very memorable with high-quality science and set the stage for the inclusion of inflammation and cancer with topics of eicosanoids and bioactive lipids including sphingolipids and lysophospholipids and the enzymes such as the phospholipases, with Dr. Ed Dennis championing their important role in signaling the production of lipid mediators and bioactive lipids.

With the passing of Dr. Honn, to keep the momentum and look forward to our future, I was elected and have taken the position of President and CEO of the Eicosanoid Research Foundation, implementing smaller symposia that are highly focused in specific areas, such as the 2024 Symposium on the Resolution of Inflammation in Medicine and Surgery held in Boston at Harvard Medical School and MGB (Mass General Brigham), which featured an international group of speakers and proved to be a resounding success. In our vision for the future, I’ve advocated for increasing our breadth to include more bioactive lipids in addition to our origins with the classic eicosanoids, prostaglandins and leukotrienes. Therefore, in 2025 the ERF has taken the step to join with the Winter Eicosanoid Conference, which has been held in Baltimore under the leadership of Dr. Ken Wu initially, Dr. Jorge Capdevila, and Dr. Jack McGiff, and more recently Dr. Darryl Zeldin has taken the leadership role.

We will now have the 1st joint meeting of the ERF and the Winter Eicosanoid Conference that will be held in October 2025 on the main campus of the National Institutes of Health. I hope you will join us there and join us in our mission of elucidating the important roles of lipid mediators and bioactive lipids in human health and disease. We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming meeting.

Sincerely, and Best Wishes for 2025,

Charles N. Serhan, Ph.D., D.Sc.

President and CEO Eicosanoid Research Foundation

(Anchored at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI)