An international childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)working group was formed during the 27th annual meeting of the International Society of Pediatric Oncology in 1995. Since then, 10 workshops have been held to address many issues that help advance treatment outcome of childhood ALL but require international collaboration (Table 1). The group was fondly named after 'Ponte di Legno,' a place in Lombardy, Italy, because the first major workshop was held there. In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the first major meeting, the group returned to Ponte di Legno on 6 and 7 May 2009 for its 11th meeting (Figure 1). During the meeting, Professor Giuseppe Masera was honored for his vision and contributions to further develop the International-BFM study group and to co-found the Ponte di Legno working group. The meeting began with greetings by Professor Andrea Biondi. This report summarizes the data presented and the discussion in the meeting.