With regard to their involvement in the European Research Area, the presentations of two significant Slovak health research scientists were held during the meeting of the Research Working Party in Brussels on 23 September 2016.

Dr Iveta Nagyova from the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice presented the mission and activities of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA), where she acts as President of the Section of Chronic Diseases.

Professor Michal Novák, Director of the Institute of Neuroimmunology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, presented the results of his 30-year research of Alzheimer's disease that led to the development of a vaccine against this disease. The vaccine is in the second phase of clinical trials on patients.

His publication on this subject was approved following a six-month review process in the most prestigious peer-reviewed journal in the field of neurology LANCET Neurology (impact factor 23.486). It is  for the first time in the magazine`s 100-year-long history that the work of Slovak researchers are published. The members of the Research Working Party were the first audience after the manuscript`s reviewers that became familiar with the principles of this important discovery.

In addition to the mentioned activities, Professor Novák and his team has been successfully involved in the projects of the global research initiative EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.