Written by Jean Henri Bourhis, Stem Cell Transplantation Program, Department of Hematology, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France
Dr José Luis Pico (1940-2022) left us on July 30, 2022 surrounded by all his loved ones.
José Luis was originally from Uruguay, where his Italian family had immigrated in the 19th century. After brilliant studies of Medicine in Montevideo, he had benefited in 1973 from a scholarship awarded to the valedictorian. His specialized training in Hematology-Oncology took place in the Hematology Department of Prof. Georges Mathé at Paul Brousse Hospital, AP-HP Villejuif, France. The change in the political situation in his country had pushed José Luis and his family to choose France for their future life.
In 1982, Dr. Pico created the bone marrow transplant service and program in Hematology at the Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, which he directed until 2000. José Luis Pico was one of the pioneers of transplantation in within the SFGM-TC and the EBMT (CIC666) constantly developing new treatments in cell therapy despite the initial difficulties. He had contributed to the links with medical oncology in his institution by developing an intensification program in certain germ-cell tumors, a nationwide program still in force to this day; he had also advocated for the establishment of a cell therapy center at the IGR in 1999, developing new CD34+ selection techniques in partnership with EBMT centers.
Perfectly multilingual, Dr. Pico has contributed to more than 200 national and international publications and trained many hematologist-transplanters around the world. In 2000, José Luis Pico joined the firm Amgen where he continued his career as international medical director. He had not forgotten his country, Uruguay, which he helped throughout his life by promoting the activity of Hematology and Transplantation at Maciel Hospital in Montevideo.
A final tribute in the presence of his family and loved ones was paid to him on August 5 in Nice, the city where he had been living since the end of his professional activities. Pr Didier Blaise, Institut Paoli Calmette, Marseille, and Dr Jean Henri Bourhis, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, represented the EBMT at this final ceremony.
The EBMT and all its members offer their sincere condolences to his wife Maria, his two children Daniella and Fernando, his three grandchildren and to his entire family. Dr. José Luis Pico will remain in our memory the image of a hematologist of excellence, very close to his patients, endowed with a warm and flawless humanism that should inspire new generations of our specialty of hematology-transplantation.