The Eastern Switzerland Symposium on Rare Diseases took place for the first time on November 24, 2022, and attracted a high number of participants from a broad range of disciplines. The motto of the conference, chaired by experts from the Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen and Eastern Switzerland Children’s Hospital, was “Learning from the Rare Diseases for the Common Ones”. The symposium offered the opportunity to learn more about rare diseases from competent speakers and engage in productive discussions. Having the patient perspective in mind, exchanges focused on recent and future development of diagnostics and patient care in patients with rare diseases.