Professor Mongi Ben Hamida (1928–2003)
2003; Elsevier BV; Volume: 13; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/j.nmd.2003.10.001
ISSN1873-2364
Autores Tópico(s)Neurology and Historical Studies
ResumoTunisian neurology lost its father and founder when Professor Mongi Ben Hamida died on 4 May 2003 from the effect of a recurrent cerebral meningioma. He left a legacy in the form of a school of neurology in clinical care, teaching and research.Mongi Ben Hamida was born on 28 February 1928 and grew up in Kelibia, Tunisia. After obtaining his baccalaureate at Sadiki College in Tunis, he attended Besançon and then medical school in Paris. He was trained in neurology as ‘interne des hôpitaux’ at the Salpêtriere Hospital in Paris. His MD thesis was on the ‘Somatotopic relationship between the dentate nucleus and the contralateral inferior olive’. He became chef de clinique in the Department of Neurology headed by Professor Raymond Garcin from 1965 to 1967 and held the same position in the Department of Professor Boudin in 1967–1968. In 1967, he married Christiane Forestier, a French neuroscience researcher. This was the start of both a wonderful family with three sons and an important scientific partnership in research. Mongi was nominated ‘Chef de Service des Hôpitaux de Tunis’ in 1967 and Associate Professor of Neurology at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis in 1970. From 1969 to 1970, he spent one year as Associate Professor in Robert Terry's department at the Albert Einstein College in New York. He was elected Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis from 1970 to 1973 and founded the National Institute of Neurology in 1973 where he was appointed Head of the Department of Neurology from 1973 to 1995. He remained active as a consultant in the Department of Neurology at the National Institute of Neurology of Tunis until he died. He was nominated as the first President of the National Research Consultative Commission in 2001, a position he held until his death.As the first neurologist, Professor Ben Hamida is the father of neurology in Tunisia and the Maghrebian countries. He built up a multidisciplinary team in various branches of neurology and in research into neurosciences in Tunisia, and created an internationally renowned and respected school of neurology in the country. Upon its foundation, the Department of Neurology at the National Institute of Neurology of Tunis was harnessed as a first department of neurology in Tunisia and North Africa, to research into the epidemiologic profiles of various neurological diseases in this country, to develop research tools to study the most frequent and specific disorders encountered in this region of the world, and to train the medical students and residents in neurology. The Department of Neurology at the National Institute of Neurology of Tunis was the training centre for the majority of the specialists in neurology in the country. Also, he trained actual French professors of neurology.Professor Mongi Ben Hamida's contributions in the field of hereditary neuromuscular disorders have been very important. He first drew attention to the high frequency of some particular forms of autosomal recessive neurogenetic disorders in Tunisia and the Arab world. He introduced a new concept to epidemiological study of these hereditary diseases in 1978 in the form of a genetic epidemiological survey adapted for Tunisian social and cultural conditions. He described various forms of specific neuromuscular disorders which contributed to the progress of the research in the fields of muscular dystrophies, autosomal recessive Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and hereditary ataxias. Ben Hamida's publications on severe autosomal recessive muscular dystrophies (SCARMD) between 1977 and 1983 came to provide the definitive clinical description of the disease and served as the starting point of the molecular study of this disease which led on to the description of all the sarcoglycanopathies. His name is also linked to the original descriptions of juvenile amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, to a particular Tunisian form of giant axonal neuropathy and to clinical and pathological forms of autosomal recessive Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. He drew attention to the complexity of the clinical classification of the forms of autosomal recessive hereditary ataxias encountered in Tunisia.He understood very early on the importance of modern molecular biology, and with perseverance built a neurogenetic research group in his department. He also established a large international research collaboration network in neurogenetics. His group contributed to the mapping and identification of the gene of at least 13 neuromuscular diseases (such as Tunisian severe Duchenne-like muscular dystrophy (LGMD 2C), juvenile amyotrophic lateral sclerosis 2 and 4, giant axonal neuropathy, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 4A, and 4 B2, autosomal recessive spastic paraplegia and ataxia with vitamin E deficiency(. In particular this group was the first to describe the clinical, neurophysiological, pathological and genetic features of ataxia with vitamin E deficiency, and confirmed the effect of vitamin E supplementation in stopping the course of this disease. Professor Ben Hamida was very proud of his group's contribution to the study of ataxia with vitamin E deficiency and the direct effect of his research on many patients that he had followed for so many years.Professor Ben Hamida was one of the founders and past presidents of the Pan Arab Association of Neurological Sciences, the Pan African Association of Neurological Sciences, the Tunisian Society of Neurology and the Tunisian Association for the Development of Neurosciences. He was the Vice President of the World Federation of Neurology (1989–1993), and organized several international congresses (Pan African Congress of Neurology 1987, Pan Arab Congress of Neurology 1993, World Muscle Society Meeting 1997) and several international workshops in Tunisia. He published over 350 scientific articles and was on the editorial board of many journals.Besides his scientific record in neurology, Professor Ben Hamida also made an important political contribution in Tunisia. He was Minister of Health (1977–1978), mayor of his native city Kelibia for 15 years, had many political responsibilities during his life and obtained the most prestigious national decorations.To all of us, Professor Mongi Ben Hamida's death remains an immeasurable loss. I, his student, friend and collaborator, along with his friends throughout the world, students and patients, extend my hand to his wife Professor Christiane Ben Hamida and their three sons. My only consolation is having had the opportunity to have known him for a long time and to have learnt from him the real sense of responsibility, perseverance and friendship. From his example I have also come to know that a person's sense of life can be measured not only by what he accomplishes for himself but also what he does for his country and for others. Tunisian neurology lost its father and founder when Professor Mongi Ben Hamida died on 4 May 2003 from the effect of a recurrent cerebral meningioma. He left a legacy in the form of a school of neurology in clinical care, teaching and research. Mongi Ben Hamida was born on 28 February 1928 and grew up in Kelibia, Tunisia. After obtaining his baccalaureate at Sadiki College in Tunis, he attended Besançon and then medical school in Paris. He was trained in neurology as ‘interne des hôpitaux’ at the Salpêtriere Hospital in Paris. His MD thesis was on the ‘Somatotopic relationship between the dentate nucleus and the contralateral inferior olive’. He became chef de clinique in the Department of Neurology headed by Professor Raymond Garcin from 1965 to 1967 and held the same position in the Department of Professor Boudin in 1967–1968. In 1967, he married Christiane Forestier, a French neuroscience researcher. This was the start of both a wonderful family with three sons and an important scientific partnership in research. Mongi was nominated ‘Chef de Service des Hôpitaux de Tunis’ in 1967 and Associate Professor of Neurology at the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis in 1970. From 1969 to 1970, he spent one year as Associate Professor in Robert Terry's department at the Albert Einstein College in New York. He was elected Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis from 1970 to 1973 and founded the National Institute of Neurology in 1973 where he was appointed Head of the Department of Neurology from 1973 to 1995. He remained active as a consultant in the Department of Neurology at the National Institute of Neurology of Tunis until he died. He was nominated as the first President of the National Research Consultative Commission in 2001, a position he held until his death. As the first neurologist, Professor Ben Hamida is the father of neurology in Tunisia and the Maghrebian countries. He built up a multidisciplinary team in various branches of neurology and in research into neurosciences in Tunisia, and created an internationally renowned and respected school of neurology in the country. Upon its foundation, the Department of Neurology at the National Institute of Neurology of Tunis was harnessed as a first department of neurology in Tunisia and North Africa, to research into the epidemiologic profiles of various neurological diseases in this country, to develop research tools to study the most frequent and specific disorders encountered in this region of the world, and to train the medical students and residents in neurology. The Department of Neurology at the National Institute of Neurology of Tunis was the training centre for the majority of the specialists in neurology in the country. Also, he trained actual French professors of neurology. Professor Mongi Ben Hamida's contributions in the field of hereditary neuromuscular disorders have been very important. He first drew attention to the high frequency of some particular forms of autosomal recessive neurogenetic disorders in Tunisia and the Arab world. He introduced a new concept to epidemiological study of these hereditary diseases in 1978 in the form of a genetic epidemiological survey adapted for Tunisian social and cultural conditions. He described various forms of specific neuromuscular disorders which contributed to the progress of the research in the fields of muscular dystrophies, autosomal recessive Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and hereditary ataxias. Ben Hamida's publications on severe autosomal recessive muscular dystrophies (SCARMD) between 1977 and 1983 came to provide the definitive clinical description of the disease and served as the starting point of the molecular study of this disease which led on to the description of all the sarcoglycanopathies. His name is also linked to the original descriptions of juvenile amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, to a particular Tunisian form of giant axonal neuropathy and to clinical and pathological forms of autosomal recessive Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. He drew attention to the complexity of the clinical classification of the forms of autosomal recessive hereditary ataxias encountered in Tunisia. He understood very early on the importance of modern molecular biology, and with perseverance built a neurogenetic research group in his department. He also established a large international research collaboration network in neurogenetics. His group contributed to the mapping and identification of the gene of at least 13 neuromuscular diseases (such as Tunisian severe Duchenne-like muscular dystrophy (LGMD 2C), juvenile amyotrophic lateral sclerosis 2 and 4, giant axonal neuropathy, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 4A, and 4 B2, autosomal recessive spastic paraplegia and ataxia with vitamin E deficiency(. In particular this group was the first to describe the clinical, neurophysiological, pathological and genetic features of ataxia with vitamin E deficiency, and confirmed the effect of vitamin E supplementation in stopping the course of this disease. Professor Ben Hamida was very proud of his group's contribution to the study of ataxia with vitamin E deficiency and the direct effect of his research on many patients that he had followed for so many years. Professor Ben Hamida was one of the founders and past presidents of the Pan Arab Association of Neurological Sciences, the Pan African Association of Neurological Sciences, the Tunisian Society of Neurology and the Tunisian Association for the Development of Neurosciences. He was the Vice President of the World Federation of Neurology (1989–1993), and organized several international congresses (Pan African Congress of Neurology 1987, Pan Arab Congress of Neurology 1993, World Muscle Society Meeting 1997) and several international workshops in Tunisia. He published over 350 scientific articles and was on the editorial board of many journals. Besides his scientific record in neurology, Professor Ben Hamida also made an important political contribution in Tunisia. He was Minister of Health (1977–1978), mayor of his native city Kelibia for 15 years, had many political responsibilities during his life and obtained the most prestigious national decorations. To all of us, Professor Mongi Ben Hamida's death remains an immeasurable loss. I, his student, friend and collaborator, along with his friends throughout the world, students and patients, extend my hand to his wife Professor Christiane Ben Hamida and their three sons. My only consolation is having had the opportunity to have known him for a long time and to have learnt from him the real sense of responsibility, perseverance and friendship. From his example I have also come to know that a person's sense of life can be measured not only by what he accomplishes for himself but also what he does for his country and for others.
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