Andrés Blei in memoriam

✍ Scribed by John Fung; Jorge Rakela

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 63 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1527-6465
• DOI: 10.1002/lt.21733

✦ Synopsis

The Team of Liver Transplantation joins our colleagues and scientific organizations in honoring and mourning the loss of Andre ´s (Andy) Blei, MD, a distinguished hepatologist and clinical researcher in liver diseases. In spite of his heavy work load and chronic illness, he was a great supporter of Liver Transplantation. Andy was an active member on the Editorial Board of Liver Transplantation; he submitted and published many important papers in this journal and also participated in the peer-review process of manuscripts. The current Editorial Team overlapped with Andy in his role as Editor of Hepatology for two years. Andy truly believed that the complement of the respective sister journals, Hepatology and Liver Transplantation, was in the best interest of the growing community of liver disease specialists.

Andy was always thoughtful, collegial and generous in his personal and professional interactions. Shortly before his death, he reflected on his role as Editor, in a letter he sent to the current Editors of Liver Transplantation: "Once your editorship is over, you will be able to reflect on a rich period of professional activity. And you will feel good about it."

At the 2008 Annual meeting of the AASLD, the liver community recognized his contributions by way of the acknowledgements that AASLD afforded in his memory, as well as the many expressions of sorrow and loss amongst his colleagues and friends. Andy will always remain among us; we are reminded of him when we come across his many contributions in the study of liver diseases; we are reminded of him when we pick up Hepatology and Liver Transplantation and realize his impact on the publication process; and we are reminded of him when we recall his wonderful smile and laugh.