Dear colleagues, dear ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure to invite you to the IX^th International Symposium RECENT ADVANCES IN NEONATAL MEDICINE which is dedicated to my admired academic mentor Prof. Richard B. Johnston Jr., MD, Denver, USA. His basic research focused on the development of innate immunity and host defense mechanisms;  as Medical Director of “March of Dimes” he was instrumental in reducing birth defects with folic acid, and, moreover, he established a huge program into the causes of preterm labor (see laudatio).