- Email: [email protected]
Joan Rodés
J M Rué/University of Barcelona
Obituary
Joan Rodés Leading hepatologist. He was born in Barcelona, Spain, on March 11, 1938, and died there of pulmonary disease on Jan 11, 2017, aged 78 years. In the late 1980s, Spanish hepatologist Professor Joan Rodés became increasingly troubled by the gulf between the hospitals in his country and those basic research institutes pursuing work that was ultimately intended for the benefit of medicine. “He wanted a closer relationship between the clinicians in the hospital who knew the problems of the patients and the basic or translational researchers”, says Pere Ginès, Head of the Hepatology Department of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona and Professor of Medicine at the University of Barcelona. Rodés argued his case successfully, and the outcome in 1996 was a new organisation, the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS). Since then, IDIBAPS’s proximity and links to Barcelona’s Hospital Clinic and to its university has been successfully exploited in research projects that range across medicine. It has served as a model for other such organisations in Spain. Appropriately, Rodés was appointed the first Director of IDIBAPS, a position he held until 2008. Even then he remained associated with the organisation, taking on the directorship of its Institute for Health Research. “His brain never stopped”, says Ginès. “He went on generating new ideas.” Another colleague, Jordi Bruix, Head of the Hepatic Oncology (BCLC) Unit in the Hospital Clinic of the University of Barcelona, met Rodés while still a student and describes him as his lifelong mentor. “He was a charismatic 596
leader…He gave everybody the feeling that there were no limits if you were willing to go ahead, to compete and improve. This was the key to his success. He had competitive people side by side, but with everyone feeling that the victory of one was the victory of all.” In an interview some years ago, Rodés said that he went into medicine because one of his grandfathers had been a doctor in a local village. Ginès thinks there was more to it than this, suggesting that Rodés was attracted to medicine not only because of the opportunities it offered to help people, but also because medicine is a science. Rodés graduated from the University of Barcelona in 1962, and soon began taking an interest in the liver. “At the time he was a young doctor there were many patients with liver disease in his department”, says Ginès, “but very few effective treatments, especially for the complications that patients might develop”. This shortfall made a lasting impression on him, Ginès adds. “The majority of his research derived directly from problems that were seen at the bedside.” Liver disease at that time had yet to emerge as a specialty with the standing of, say, cardiology or neurology. There were still relatively few hospitals in Europe with discrete liver units where Rodés could get an advanced training. One was in Paris—and it was at the Hôpital SaintAntoine of the University of Paris that Rodés spent 1964–65 working for gastroenterologist Professor Jacques Caroli. On returning to Spain, Rodés went back to the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, which was to remain his base thereafter. He became head of its hepatology service in 1972, Medical Director of the whole hospital from 1984 to 1986, and its Director of Research from 1997 to 2003. Along with the directorship of IDIBAPS, Rodés also served as the general manager of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona. Speaking in 2003, he argued that the management skills required to operate research institutes and hospitals could be found in the day-by-day running of research projects and clinics: skills which, he insisted, were readily transferable. In 2015, when the Spanish Government was persuaded that something should be done for people with hepatitis C, it was Rodés who was asked to coordinate a national strategic plan. Ginès regards Rodés as one of the greats of European hepatology. “There are four or five big figures in hepatology…The father figures who created it.” Rodés, he believes, was one of them. Rodés’s main clinical interests were in the understanding and treatment of the complications of liver disease, such as ascites, renal failure, bacterial infections, and gastrointestinal bleeding. His research was mainly on the ward, and although he himself had little time for laboratory work, he encouraged others to follow this path. Bruix remembers Rodés as a man who always had time for his colleagues. “He never seemed to be in a hurry. He would always have the time to listen and give advice.” Rodés leaves a wife, Paula, and two daughters.
Geoff Watts www.thelancet.com Vol 389 February 11, 2017
Obituary
Joan Rodés Leading hepatologist. He was born in Barcelona, Spain, on March 11, 1938, and died there of pulmonary disease on Jan 11, 2017, aged 78 years. In the late 1980s, Spanish hepatologist Professor Joan Rodés became increasingly troubled by the gulf between the hospitals in his country and those basic research institutes pursuing work that was ultimately intended for the benefit of medicine. “He wanted a closer relationship between the clinicians in the hospital who knew the problems of the patients and the basic or translational researchers”, says Pere Ginès, Head of the Hepatology Department of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona and Professor of Medicine at the University of Barcelona. Rodés argued his case successfully, and the outcome in 1996 was a new organisation, the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS). Since then, IDIBAPS’s proximity and links to Barcelona’s Hospital Clinic and to its university has been successfully exploited in research projects that range across medicine. It has served as a model for other such organisations in Spain. Appropriately, Rodés was appointed the first Director of IDIBAPS, a position he held until 2008. Even then he remained associated with the organisation, taking on the directorship of its Institute for Health Research. “His brain never stopped”, says Ginès. “He went on generating new ideas.” Another colleague, Jordi Bruix, Head of the Hepatic Oncology (BCLC) Unit in the Hospital Clinic of the University of Barcelona, met Rodés while still a student and describes him as his lifelong mentor. “He was a charismatic 596
leader…He gave everybody the feeling that there were no limits if you were willing to go ahead, to compete and improve. This was the key to his success. He had competitive people side by side, but with everyone feeling that the victory of one was the victory of all.” In an interview some years ago, Rodés said that he went into medicine because one of his grandfathers had been a doctor in a local village. Ginès thinks there was more to it than this, suggesting that Rodés was attracted to medicine not only because of the opportunities it offered to help people, but also because medicine is a science. Rodés graduated from the University of Barcelona in 1962, and soon began taking an interest in the liver. “At the time he was a young doctor there were many patients with liver disease in his department”, says Ginès, “but very few effective treatments, especially for the complications that patients might develop”. This shortfall made a lasting impression on him, Ginès adds. “The majority of his research derived directly from problems that were seen at the bedside.” Liver disease at that time had yet to emerge as a specialty with the standing of, say, cardiology or neurology. There were still relatively few hospitals in Europe with discrete liver units where Rodés could get an advanced training. One was in Paris—and it was at the Hôpital SaintAntoine of the University of Paris that Rodés spent 1964–65 working for gastroenterologist Professor Jacques Caroli. On returning to Spain, Rodés went back to the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, which was to remain his base thereafter. He became head of its hepatology service in 1972, Medical Director of the whole hospital from 1984 to 1986, and its Director of Research from 1997 to 2003. Along with the directorship of IDIBAPS, Rodés also served as the general manager of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona. Speaking in 2003, he argued that the management skills required to operate research institutes and hospitals could be found in the day-by-day running of research projects and clinics: skills which, he insisted, were readily transferable. In 2015, when the Spanish Government was persuaded that something should be done for people with hepatitis C, it was Rodés who was asked to coordinate a national strategic plan. Ginès regards Rodés as one of the greats of European hepatology. “There are four or five big figures in hepatology…The father figures who created it.” Rodés, he believes, was one of them. Rodés’s main clinical interests were in the understanding and treatment of the complications of liver disease, such as ascites, renal failure, bacterial infections, and gastrointestinal bleeding. His research was mainly on the ward, and although he himself had little time for laboratory work, he encouraged others to follow this path. Bruix remembers Rodés as a man who always had time for his colleagues. “He never seemed to be in a hurry. He would always have the time to listen and give advice.” Rodés leaves a wife, Paula, and two daughters.
Geoff Watts www.thelancet.com Vol 389 February 11, 2017