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Valeer Desmet (1931–2024): A Tribute

2024; Wiley; Volume: 45; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/liv.16216

1478-3231

Francesco Callea,

Pancreatitis Pathology and Treatment

Valeer Desmet, Professor Emeritus at KU Leuven, Belgium, has passed away on March 9, 2024. The world of hepatology has lost a great man and an absolute legend in liver pathology. Valeer was the last surviving original member of the International Liver Pathology Group, the 'Gnomes', a group that forever changed the field of hepatology in 1968 at the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) meeting in Zurich, by presenting the historically significant first classification of chronic hepatitis. The nickname of the group, 'Gnomes', was coined by Dame Sheila Sherlock, president of the International Association for the Study of the Liver (IASL), who received the new classification with some disapproval and commented that the authors were like the 'Gnomes of Zurich', the putative world finance governors, in that they appeared to exercise undue influence on the field of liver disease [1]. Valeer, primus inter pares, was a founding member of the Gnomes and became an international leader in the field of liver pathology. Valeer was also President of the International Association for the Study of the Liver (1984–1986) and member of several international journals of Pathology and Hepatology, a.o. J. Hepatology and Editor in Chief of Liver International, the official Journal of IASL (1986–1991). Many people felt he was the brightest, most inspiring and incredibly humble individual they had met. Valeer was one of the greatest of liver histology 'artists' and for this reason liver pathology students from all over the world spent in Valeer's department, often for months, and even years, of diagnostic training and research activity. No doubt, many of Valeer's skills were innate, but he carefully built upon this foundation through disciplined study and humility. For example, he based his building up of a temple of liver histopathology upon solid scientific foundations, such as embryology, histology, anatomy and general pathology. Of note, his talent and skills led him to become Professor in the University for each of these disciplines. Immediately after his MD graduation (1957), he spent one year in Paris with Prof. Louis Orcel and Prof. Jaques Caroli and a second year in London at the Postgraduate Medical School. The Paris period was a fantastic investment. With Prof. Orcel he published his first article in an international journal [2], and from Prof. Caroli his insights and diagnostic skills grew to the point that, forty years later, his classification of congenital cholangiopathies is still the one we use today [3]. Valeer was equipped with an incredible insight that laid the foundation for many subfields for liver research. For example, his Ph.D. thesis, written in the early sixties, identified 'oval cells' as progenitor epithelial cells capable of differentiating into either hepatocytes or cholangiocytes, thus giving rise to various primary experimental liver tumours [4]. Thirty years later, hepatic progenitor cells are still actively studied as critically important cells for liver repair and for their role in liver cancer development. Nevertheless, Valeer never regretted not publishing these important Ph.D. findings in international journals, and, paraphrasing Frank Sinatra, he said 'after all, I did it my way.', in the Master's Perspective article 'The amazing universe of hepatic microstructure' [4], that is a wonderful summary of his scientific life. Coherently, Valeer did it again his own way and published at age 80 (!) his gigantic work on ductular reactions, as a series in Virchows Archiv [5-7]. With regard to journals, he loved to repeat that good scientific articles are always found in the end, even if published in 'less important journals'. For example, Grimelius's staining method for argyrophilic cells, which was published in the nearly unknown journal, Acta Soc. Med. Ups., is now one of the most highly cited papers in PubMed. Valeer was gifted with illuminated aesthetic and a deeply ethical sense of purpose and living that echoed and was likely nurtured by his classic studies. He used to repeat to his fellows that by publishing new findings, the images did not need to be perfect but should be ideal. Likewise, in front of certain biological phenomena, he declaimed the old adagio by Heraclitus of Hephesus [4], 'panta rhei, ouden menei', 'everything is in flow, nothing remains the same'. He understood the 'Daedalus effect' and its importance in driving the scientific improvement of medicine [8], perfectly aware that when a problem is solved it often raises other problems, and when these in turn are solved they generate additional questions (i.e., the Daedalus effect). Those who knew Valeer recognised in him superior qualities that they themselves tried to emulate: a brilliant diagnostic and teacher and passionate scientist, but above all a kind, humble and compassionate person. He has left much of him in his many teachings and the collective memory of his colleagues, national and international. Perhaps, this is immortality. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.