- Email: [email protected]
Celebrating public health lives: Éric Dewailly, MD, PhD
p u b l i c h e a l t h x x x ( 2 0 1 6 ) 1 e2
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Public Health journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/puhe
Celebrating public health lives: Eric Dewailly, MD, PhD Eric Dewailly was born in Lille in Northern France on February union in the Indian 3, 1957 and died in a tragic accident in La Re Ocean on June 17, 2014, aged 59. On a family outing to a popular picnic spot a rockslide killed Eric and another family member and injured his wife and several family members. Eric graduated in 1982 as a medical doctor from the University of Lille. He moved to Canada in 1983 where he completed a residency in community medicine and obtained a MSc in epidemiology in 1987. He returned to Lille for his PhD in bec which he made his toxicology (1990) and came back to Que bec's Health and home. He eventually became director of Que Environment Service and professor of Environmental Health at Laval University. In the 1980s Eric was looking for a reference population for bec studies of contaminants in the general population of Que bec who, it and he chose the Inuit of Nunavik in Northern Que was believed, lived far from all sources of pollution. But they turned out to have very high levels of certain organic pollut ants (PCBs) in breast milk and Eric's curiosity was raised. This was to be at the core of his scientific contributions for many years to come. However, Eric did not stop at this but took a keen interest in public health policy and practice and collaborated closely with Inuit leaders and public health authorities in Nunavik. From 1998 he headed the Public Health Research bec from Unit at the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Que where he conducted major studies in Nunavik, Northern bec. He was, among other things, PI for Nasivvik e Centre Que for Inuit Health and Changing Environments. He also conducted studies in the Caribbean, French Polynesia and subSaharan Africa. In the following paragraphs, each of us would like to share some personal thoughts about and memories of Eric with the readers of the journal. Peter Bjerregaard: Eric was an inspiring researcher but he was much more than that. His captivating personality and friendship actually made me remain a member of the AMAP HHAG (Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme e Human Health Assessment Group) for more than 20 years despite my lack of enthusiasm for Persistent Organic Pollut ants and similar stuff. Getting together with Eric on a regular basis, planning the Inuit health surveys, discussing his ideas of a wider network of Ocean Health and mobile laboratories all made it worthwhile e and it was impossible to quit. In 1990, during one of the AMAP meetings, at a restaurant in Thorshavn in the Faroe Islands, the idea of a circumpolar Inuit
Health in Transition Study was sketched on a napkin. It was at that time an impossible dream but for Eric nothing was impossible and a few years later we shared a cabin on the research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen on the first leg of its journey around the coast of Nunavik collecting data for the bec part of the IHIT (Fig. 1). Many meetings, many beers Que and many culinary experiences had predated this and would postdate it. Yes, Eric, despite being French, never drank wine but was a great connoisseur of beer. To this day whenever I am given the choice among several brands of beer I mentally refer to Eric for guidance. The electronic media ensure that those who passed away are still with us. I have a couple of unan swered emails from Eric in my inbox regarding the scientific history of the discovery of n-3 fatty acids and their effect on health and about a cohort meeting that should have taken place in Greenland the summer he passed away. Bermuda was close to Eric's heart and a couple of sabbaticals were spent at Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences. He also managed to arrange several AMAP meetings there, correctly arguing that Bermuda is conveniently situated midway between arctic North America and Europe. We were many who enjoyed this. Kue Young: I first came across Eric in person in some scientific review committee meeting, when I was struck by the encyclopedic knowledge of some French guy who was able to cite papers at the drop of a hat. This was in the days when people did not bring their laptops to meetings and do PubMed searches on the spot. Eric had the tendency to organise Arctic health meetings in tropical locales. When I told him I would have trouble getting approval from my university superiors would shake who would consider such proposals dubious, Eric his head and say, ‘you puritan English Canadians’. Peter Bjerregaard referred to the Inuit Health in Transition Study and I shall also add that the three of us were often referred to as ‘the three amigos’ [though not ‘the three tenors’] as we were trying to garner support for the project. Before the icebreaker-research vessel was a reality, Eric had dreams of using a sailing ship for the research, with him as captain of course. We shall all miss his larger-than-life presence in Arctic epidemiology and public health. The large cadre of his former trainees and the body of scientific knowledge he developed are his legacy. Torkjel M Sandanger: We all miss Eric greatly and he still plays an essential role in our scientific discussions. Eric has inspired and influenced us all by his amazing character, great insights and unstoppable enthusiasm and jokes. I first got to
Please cite this article in press as: Bjerregaard P, Celebrating public health lives: Eric Dewailly, MD, PhD, Public Health (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2016.04.007
2
p u b l i c h e a l t h x x x ( 2 0 1 6 ) 1 e2
With the untimely demise of Eric, the circumpolar health research community has lost one of its torch bearers. He can never be replaced but we can all continue our work in Eric's spirit of collaboration and intellectual curiosity.
Funding None.
Competing interests None declared. Fig. 1 e Eric Dewailly (right) and Peter Bjerregaard on the aft deck of CCGS Amundsen with the Atlantis mobile laboratory.
know Eric through the AMAP human health group meetings, where he undoubtedly made them a lot more interesting and entertaining for an inexperienced researcher. He kept us chemists on our toes by continuously requiring new analytical methods and lower detection limits. Moreover, today a new project is underway, pursuing emerging contaminants in the blood of inhabitants of the Arctic because of Eric who during one of his last AMAP meetings stood up and said ‘I would like to address the boringness of our report’. Eric never believed in science being boring, and he pursued his ideas that would by many be referred to as impossible, something that has inspired many of us. The mobile Atlantis laboratory and the Icebreaker Amundsen are just two examples of such ideas that only Eric could see all the way through. He was an extremely generous man and as a senior researcher in his field, he always made sure to involve young researchers and help their research careers. When my wife and I were without accommodation for a month, at the end of my postdoc period bec, Eric in Que just handed us the keys to his house and said he was going sailing with his family that month. Maybe one day we will all go sailing on the large sailing ship dedicated to science and the memory of Eric.
Ethical approval Not required.
P. Bjerregaard* National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark Greenland Centre for Health Research, University of Greenland, Nuuk, Greenland K. Young School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada T.M. Sandanger Department of Community Medicine, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway NILU, Fram Research Centre, Tromsø, Norway *Corresponding author. National Institute of Public Health, Øster Farimagsgade 5A, 2nd floor, 1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark. E-mail address: [email protected] 19 March 2016 Available online xxx http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2016.04.007 0033-3506/© 2016 The Royal Society for Public Health. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article in press as: Bjerregaard P, Celebrating public health lives: Eric Dewailly, MD, PhD, Public Health (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2016.04.007
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Public Health journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/puhe
Celebrating public health lives: Eric Dewailly, MD, PhD Eric Dewailly was born in Lille in Northern France on February union in the Indian 3, 1957 and died in a tragic accident in La Re Ocean on June 17, 2014, aged 59. On a family outing to a popular picnic spot a rockslide killed Eric and another family member and injured his wife and several family members. Eric graduated in 1982 as a medical doctor from the University of Lille. He moved to Canada in 1983 where he completed a residency in community medicine and obtained a MSc in epidemiology in 1987. He returned to Lille for his PhD in bec which he made his toxicology (1990) and came back to Que bec's Health and home. He eventually became director of Que Environment Service and professor of Environmental Health at Laval University. In the 1980s Eric was looking for a reference population for bec studies of contaminants in the general population of Que bec who, it and he chose the Inuit of Nunavik in Northern Que was believed, lived far from all sources of pollution. But they turned out to have very high levels of certain organic pollut ants (PCBs) in breast milk and Eric's curiosity was raised. This was to be at the core of his scientific contributions for many years to come. However, Eric did not stop at this but took a keen interest in public health policy and practice and collaborated closely with Inuit leaders and public health authorities in Nunavik. From 1998 he headed the Public Health Research bec from Unit at the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Que where he conducted major studies in Nunavik, Northern bec. He was, among other things, PI for Nasivvik e Centre Que for Inuit Health and Changing Environments. He also conducted studies in the Caribbean, French Polynesia and subSaharan Africa. In the following paragraphs, each of us would like to share some personal thoughts about and memories of Eric with the readers of the journal. Peter Bjerregaard: Eric was an inspiring researcher but he was much more than that. His captivating personality and friendship actually made me remain a member of the AMAP HHAG (Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme e Human Health Assessment Group) for more than 20 years despite my lack of enthusiasm for Persistent Organic Pollut ants and similar stuff. Getting together with Eric on a regular basis, planning the Inuit health surveys, discussing his ideas of a wider network of Ocean Health and mobile laboratories all made it worthwhile e and it was impossible to quit. In 1990, during one of the AMAP meetings, at a restaurant in Thorshavn in the Faroe Islands, the idea of a circumpolar Inuit
Health in Transition Study was sketched on a napkin. It was at that time an impossible dream but for Eric nothing was impossible and a few years later we shared a cabin on the research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen on the first leg of its journey around the coast of Nunavik collecting data for the bec part of the IHIT (Fig. 1). Many meetings, many beers Que and many culinary experiences had predated this and would postdate it. Yes, Eric, despite being French, never drank wine but was a great connoisseur of beer. To this day whenever I am given the choice among several brands of beer I mentally refer to Eric for guidance. The electronic media ensure that those who passed away are still with us. I have a couple of unan swered emails from Eric in my inbox regarding the scientific history of the discovery of n-3 fatty acids and their effect on health and about a cohort meeting that should have taken place in Greenland the summer he passed away. Bermuda was close to Eric's heart and a couple of sabbaticals were spent at Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences. He also managed to arrange several AMAP meetings there, correctly arguing that Bermuda is conveniently situated midway between arctic North America and Europe. We were many who enjoyed this. Kue Young: I first came across Eric in person in some scientific review committee meeting, when I was struck by the encyclopedic knowledge of some French guy who was able to cite papers at the drop of a hat. This was in the days when people did not bring their laptops to meetings and do PubMed searches on the spot. Eric had the tendency to organise Arctic health meetings in tropical locales. When I told him I would have trouble getting approval from my university superiors would shake who would consider such proposals dubious, Eric his head and say, ‘you puritan English Canadians’. Peter Bjerregaard referred to the Inuit Health in Transition Study and I shall also add that the three of us were often referred to as ‘the three amigos’ [though not ‘the three tenors’] as we were trying to garner support for the project. Before the icebreaker-research vessel was a reality, Eric had dreams of using a sailing ship for the research, with him as captain of course. We shall all miss his larger-than-life presence in Arctic epidemiology and public health. The large cadre of his former trainees and the body of scientific knowledge he developed are his legacy. Torkjel M Sandanger: We all miss Eric greatly and he still plays an essential role in our scientific discussions. Eric has inspired and influenced us all by his amazing character, great insights and unstoppable enthusiasm and jokes. I first got to
Please cite this article in press as: Bjerregaard P, Celebrating public health lives: Eric Dewailly, MD, PhD, Public Health (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2016.04.007
2
p u b l i c h e a l t h x x x ( 2 0 1 6 ) 1 e2
With the untimely demise of Eric, the circumpolar health research community has lost one of its torch bearers. He can never be replaced but we can all continue our work in Eric's spirit of collaboration and intellectual curiosity.
Funding None.
Competing interests None declared. Fig. 1 e Eric Dewailly (right) and Peter Bjerregaard on the aft deck of CCGS Amundsen with the Atlantis mobile laboratory.
know Eric through the AMAP human health group meetings, where he undoubtedly made them a lot more interesting and entertaining for an inexperienced researcher. He kept us chemists on our toes by continuously requiring new analytical methods and lower detection limits. Moreover, today a new project is underway, pursuing emerging contaminants in the blood of inhabitants of the Arctic because of Eric who during one of his last AMAP meetings stood up and said ‘I would like to address the boringness of our report’. Eric never believed in science being boring, and he pursued his ideas that would by many be referred to as impossible, something that has inspired many of us. The mobile Atlantis laboratory and the Icebreaker Amundsen are just two examples of such ideas that only Eric could see all the way through. He was an extremely generous man and as a senior researcher in his field, he always made sure to involve young researchers and help their research careers. When my wife and I were without accommodation for a month, at the end of my postdoc period bec, Eric in Que just handed us the keys to his house and said he was going sailing with his family that month. Maybe one day we will all go sailing on the large sailing ship dedicated to science and the memory of Eric.
Ethical approval Not required.
P. Bjerregaard* National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark Greenland Centre for Health Research, University of Greenland, Nuuk, Greenland K. Young School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada T.M. Sandanger Department of Community Medicine, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway NILU, Fram Research Centre, Tromsø, Norway *Corresponding author. National Institute of Public Health, Øster Farimagsgade 5A, 2nd floor, 1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark. E-mail address: [email protected] 19 March 2016 Available online xxx http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2016.04.007 0033-3506/© 2016 The Royal Society for Public Health. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article in press as: Bjerregaard P, Celebrating public health lives: Eric Dewailly, MD, PhD, Public Health (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2016.04.007