A Eulogy and Tribute to Andrea Luigi Tranquilli
Professor Andréa Tranquilli died 12th January 2014 and Italy has lost an outstanding obstetrician/Gynecologist, brilliant, teacher, mentor, and exceptional researcher. Simultaneously the International Society for the Study of Hypertension (ISSHP) lost its current president, a visionary leader, while we lost a dear friend, virtually a brother whom each of us have known for over 25 years. This tribute celebrates Andrea’s life and achievements, taking this moment to acknowledge the remarkable contributions he has made to Obstetrics and Gynecology in general and Hypertension in Pregnancy in particular.
Born in Rome, Italy in 1955. He earned his medical degree (Magna cum Laude) from the Catholic University in Rome in 1979, and was certified as Obstetrician Gynecologist in 1983, at the Catholic University. He then moved to Ancona with Professor Carlo Romanini. He remained at that universities Clinica Obstetrica e Gynecologica , thereafter, starting as an assistant professor and becoming Director and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2009 until his death. His career was marked by research and publications that included basic, translational, and clinically important findings. These include over 170 publications that range from probing gestational sodium metabolism, understanding sodium metabolism. They range from basic studies of enzymes involved in cation transport during pregnancy in both animal models as well as normal and hypertensive human gestation, studies of pressor responses and their alterations during antihypertensive therapy, and clinical studies most relating to detection and management of preeclampsia. He was also a member of Editorial Board and a refereed for several prestigious scientific journals. More recently, he was the Co-Editor in Chief of the ISSHP Journal, Pregnancy Hypertension, an International Journal of Women’s Cardiovascular Health.
As Chairman, he cultivated and enhanced the department’s educational quality, research productivity, and reputation with equal vigor. He recruited bright, young, and energetic clinicians and researchers helping and encouraging them to advance and establishing a program recognized as one of the best in Italy. As a teacher and mentor, Dr. Tranquilli demonstrated a high level of dedication and commitment to academic excellence, earning him enormous awe and respect of his residents, residents, fellows in training, and colleagues in the medical school and community. His trainee’s research has been consistently presented at national and International scientific meetings and published in peer review journals, many of these trainees are now prominent members of the obstetric community throughout Italy, building upon the commitment to excellence and dedication that characterized all of his qualities. He was also an accomplished speaker who presented at a myriad of regional, national, and international meetings, particularly at the Bi-annual meetings of the ISSHP.
In 1982, he became a member of the ISSHP, and thereafter since then he dedicated significant time and effort to promote the educational and research mission of the Society in Italy. He also was very keen on expanding the membership of the Society and in promoting the development of common international guidelines for diagnosis and management of hypertension in pregnancy with emphasis on considering the resources in developing countries. During the last international meeting in Geneva, he insisted on developing universal guidelines and encouraged key leaders from various organizations to work together to achieve this goal. During that meeting of the society in Melbourne in July 2010, he was elected as the President Elect of the ISSHP. In July, 2012 he became the president of the ISSHP. In addition to being a dynamic leader, Andrea had a magnetic personality and was one of the nicest people to know that made it difficult for anyone to say no to. He was a charming person and an enthusiast organizer of scientific meetings. Andrea always valued friendship. And he was the friend you reach to when you need help because you can count on him. He used his friendly demeanor to attract speakers from different Italian regions and different areas of the world.
There are events in every life that test ones courage, commitment and resolve. Andrea rose to his challenge with exemplary dignity and strength during the good times and bad times. His integrity as a leader and his relentless drive set a standard that should be an example to all of us. While we celebrate the extraordinary accomplishments of his career the whole scientific community in Italy will miss a leader, and the membership of the ISSHP will miss their President. Thank you Andrea for always being there with us, we will miss a dear friend and a brother
Baha M. Sibai , M.D
Herbert Valensise , M.D
In Memory of a Patient’s Advocate
Prof. Andrea Tranquilli
12 January 2014
The women of the world, not just of Italy, lost a fine physician, scientist and – most personally – advocate, this month. Professor Andrea Tranquilli, 58 years old, taken from us far too soon, enthusiastically believed in the power and importance of patient advocates. If we ever get a Global Preeclampsia Awareness Day — still a dream for many – it will be in no small part because of his urging, as only a spirited Italian can offer! He loved what we at the Preeclampsia Foundation were doing and never wasted an opportunity to encourage and motivate us. In his beloved Italy, he served as the medical advisor to Sulle Ali di un Angelo, a patient advocacy organization begun in 2005. I will leave it to his scientific colleagues to remark upon his professional and research contributions to the field, but speaking on behalf of the women of the world who have suffered from preeclampsia, we are very grateful for his directed and relentless focus on this life-threatening disorder of pregnancy, and especially for remembering and encouraging those of us at the center of the issue – the families who have endured preeclampsia.
