Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on November 11, 2006
Rheumatology 2007 46(1):180-181; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kel371
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OBITUARY |
Josep Font (1953–2006)
Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Clínic, University of Barcelona, Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pí I Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Villarroel 170, 08036-Barcelona, Spain
Dr Josep Font died on 26 July 2006 at the age of 53. His friends, students and colleagues remain profoundly affected by this premature and sudden loss, but wish to pay tribute to his memory and the immense human and professional legacy that he leaves.
Josep Font was born on 5 March 1953 in Barcelona, a city which remained his lifelong home and workplace. Like all Catalans, he loved and felt proud of his city, which he knew like few others. He studied medicine in the Medical Faculty of the University of Barcelona, a stone's throw from his home in the centre of the Eixample district, and graduated with honours in 1976.
While still a student, Josep was admitted as a pupil to the Internal Medicine Service of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, at that time headed by Dr Joan Vivancos and coming under the auspices of the Chair of Internal Medicine, Prof. Alfons Balcells-Gorina. During this period he acquired most of the personal and professional characteristics that would mould his life and made lifelong friendships with teachers and fellow students including the aforementioned Dr Vivancos and Dr Bartomeu Cabrer. This time also saw the awakening of his interest in systemic lupus erythematosus and autoimmune diseases, which would constitute his life's work. Between 1978 and 1982, Dr Font completed his specialization in the Internal Medicine Department, then headed by Dr Miguel Ingelmo, and became a full-time staff physician, a position he would hold until 1995.
This year was crucial in both his professional life and the history of the Hospital Clinic, as it saw the creation, together with Dr Miguel Ingelmo and Dr Ricard Cervera, of the Systemic Autoimmune Diseases Service, a pioneering unit in Europe, which combined treatment, research, teaching and raising awareness of this group of diseases. In 2002, Dr Font was named Head of Service. One of the most vital and fruitful aspects of this centre has been the collaboration with the world-renowned Lupus Research Unit of St Thomas's Hospital in London. A period spent working at this unit in 1996 saw the beginning of a close friendship with Dr Graham Hughes and Dr Munther Khamashta, whose scientific results are best represented by the annual Ten Topics in Autoimmune Diseases and Rheumatology meeting, now in its ninth year. Like Dr Hughes and Dr Khamashta, Josep Font was able to instil a sense of importance of group collaboration in the sometimes competitive and demanding environment of a teaching hospital. As a result, the Systemic Autoimmune Diseases Service has become, in a little less than 10 yrs, a national and international reference centre and has created a model for countless other services, units and centres of a similar nature, especially in Spain and Latin America, many led by doctors who trained under him and benefited not only from his scientific knowledge but also from his personal kindness.
The research output of Dr Font and his group has been prodigious, with a total of over 500 scientific articles published. These include the characterization of silent lupus nephropathy, valvular involvement and the long-term evolution of systemic lupus erythematosus and the initial descriptions of the primary and catastrophic variants of antiphospholipid syndrome and the autoimmune manifestations associated with hepatitis C virus infections. His last major article, a review on Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibodies, published in the Lancet on 29 July 2006 [1], will undoubtedly serve as a posthumous tribute to his scientific output. In 2004, Dr Font was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and in 2005, jointly with Dr Yehuda Shoenfeld, Dr Pier Luigi Meroni and Dr Ricard Cervera, received the prestigious prize of the European League against Rheumatism for research into the infectious origin of the antiphospholipid syndrome.
Dr Font participated actively in many medical organizations. He was instrumental in founding the European Working Party on Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and HISPAMEC (Hispano-American group for the study of extrahepatic manifestations of hepatitis C virus infection). He was also a past President of the Catalan-Balearics Society of Internal Medicine (1996–2004) and a Board Member of the Spanish Internal Medicine Society (1996–2004). He played a substantial part in the life and organization of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona as a member of various commissions and working groups and, perhaps most importantly in this respect, was a firm defender of physician's rights as a member of the hospital's medical association.
His published works include a dozen monographic books, most notably the Guides of Clinical Practice for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases, now in its third edition. He will also be remembered as the organizer of the VI International Conference on Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (Barcelona, 2001) and the V Meeting of the European Forum on Antiphospholipid Antibodies (Barcelona, 2005), as well as the annual Ten Topics meetings in Barcelona and London.
Until the end, Josep continued to see patients in his overcrowded out-patients clinic and, with unfailing good cheer, also received those many, often elderly, patients who managed to negotiate the labyrinth of the Hospital Clinic to his office unofficially. He was the main promoter of the Catalan Lupus Patients’ Association and gave his time unstintingly to similar groups.
Outside the hospital, Dr Font had many interests. His love for Barcelona was only matched by his love for books and it was not unusual to meet him coming or going to a book shop, fair or auction. His knowledge of antique medical books and medical instruments was considerable.
Josep Font died peacefully ‘at home’ in the Hospital Clinic, when accompanied by his family, friends, colleagues and students, from pancreatic cancer which he himself had diagnosed some 3 months previously. He fought tenaciously against the disease, but also provided an example to all by continuing with a full work load until 5 days before his death, sustained by his faith and never yielding to despair. As his great friend, Munther Khamashta, emotively stated at his funeral in a brief but heartfelt intervention, Josep died like a soldier ‘with his boots on’. His life and the manner of his death will remain a lasting memory to all who had the great fortune to know him.
References
- Bosch X, Guilabert A, Font J. (2006) Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies. Lancet 368:404–18.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]
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