Obituary

Abstract

Professor Giuseppe Schillaci passed away peacefully on 21 December 2016 at his home in Perugia at the early age of 55, after a four-year battle against lung cancer. Giuseppe was born on 27 September 1961. He was educated at the University of Palermo, Sicily, where he graduated in Medicine and Surgery in year 1985. In year 1990 he was appointed as Specialist in Internal Medicine in that University. In the same year he moved from Sicily to Umbria and joined our staff in the Hospital of Citt a della Pieve in Umbria, Central Italy. Throughout the next ten years Giuseppe worked on several research topics related mostly to hypertension and cardiovascular disease prevention. It was very much fun working with him. Giuseppe actively contributed to build the “Progetto Ipertensione Umbria Monitoraggio Ambulatoriale” (PIUMA), a longitudinal study in initially untreated hypertensive patients who underwent 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. In year 1994, using the PIUMA database, Giuseppe ideated and developed the “Perugia score”, a new electrocardiographic score for diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertensive patients [1]. Several studies conducted in independent laboratories confirmed the ability of the Perugia score to improve the sensitivity of electrocardiography for detection of left ventricular hypertrophy, without depressing specificity. In a subsequent study from our group, the Perugia score showed the highest population attributable risk for major cardiovascular events when compared to traditional electrocardiographic markers of left ventricular hypertrophy [2]. Giuseppe co-authored in the same year the first pivotal study showing the prognostic value of fully automated ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in hypertensive patients [3]. He also authored the first study strongly supporting the prognostic impact of diastolic dysfunction in hypertensive patients [4]. It is impossible to pick the most influential among the many scientific contributions that Giuseppe developed over the last two decades. Our group enormously benefitted from Giuseppe’s enthusiastic, dedicated and extremely dynamic output. He had the ability to hold and finalize multiple research projects with high competence and enthusiasm. In year 1998 Giuseppe moved to the University of Perugia, where he rapidly progressed from Researcher to Associate Professor of Medicine. In year 2011 he was appointed Director of Medicine in Terni. We remained in close contact and it was nice to see his expertise evolving toward other aspects of Cardiovascular Medicine including arterial structure and physiology. Among his numerous engagements, Giuseppe served several scientific societies including the Association for Research into Arterial Structure and Physiology (ARTERY), the Associazione Nazionale Medici Cardiologi Ospedalieri (ANMCO) and the Societ a Italiana dell’Ipertensione Arteriosa (SIIA). Overall, Giuseppe authored or co-authored more than 300 full length papers, achieving a total of 13,560 citations and an H index of 53. He gave numerous lectures nationally and internationally. His temperamental energy was tremendous: only a few days before his death, he had the strength to give a wonderful lecture at a cardiovascular meeting in Perugia, leaving the hospital solely for the purpose of the meeting and returning back to the hospital, where he was hosted as a patient, after the meeting. Giuseppe is survived by his wife Chiara and his wonderful sons Luca, Andrea and Teresa. We all have lost a great man and a brilliant scientist.