Foreword: Advances in Hemoglobinopathies.

Starting from 2021, Acta Biomedica Parmensis will dedicate an annual update to the "Advances in Hemoglobinopathies". The section editor of this new editorial initiative is prof. Ashraf T Soliman, Pediatrician and Endocrinologist at Hamad Medical Center (HMC) of Doha. Prof Soliman is a pionier in the study of endocrine complications in hemoglobinopathies and effects of blood transfusions on spermatogenesis. He collaborates strictly with prof. Mohamed Yassin, Hematologist-Oncologist at MCH and the International Network of Clinicians for Endocrinopathies in Thalassemia and Adolescence Medicine (ICET-A). This issue of Acta Biomedica contains three articles on: The different patterns of insulin response during Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) in transfused young patients with β- Thalassemia; Immigration and screening programs for hemoglobinopathies in Italy, Spain and Turkey and The effects of treatment with blood transfusion, iron chelation and hydroxyurea on puberty, growth and spermatogenesis in sickle cell disease,.