In Memoriam Professor Emeritus Michel Symann
Dear Colleagues,
My dear friend Professor Emeritus Michel Symann passed away on April 23, 2023 at the age of 81.
After graduating from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, in 1967, Michel Symann first specialized in internal medicine in Louvain, then worked in Paris with Professor Jean Bernard, and finally completed his specialization in Boston with Professor F Stohlman.
In 1973, he created the experimental hematology laboratory at UCL in Brussels. His PhD thesis focused on the role of the yolk sac in fetal hematopoiesis
In 1979, he contributed to the launch of the Brussels branch of the "Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research".
He was a member of various Belgian and foreign scientific committees and societies. He notably chaired the “EORTC Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation Study Group”.
The success of the European School of Haematology, founded by Prof Michel Boiron, St. Louis Hospital, Paris, inspired the « two Michels’ » dream of an European society for hematology. Prof Symann became one of the cofounders of the European Hematology Association (EHA) and organized the first EHA meeting in Brussels, in June 1994. He became president of EHA (1994-96) after Michel Boiron.
Prof Michel Symann was a man ahead of his time, a strong personality, passionate about science, and always at the top of scientific literature, he knew how to arouse interest in ambitious projects.
Christian Chatelain
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