Fúlvio Pileggi: An Icon of Brazilian Cardiology

Carlos Eduardo Rochitte

In this special editorial, we would like to pay tribute to an icon of Brazilian Cardiology who was directly responsible for developing one of the greatest cardiology institutions in the world, The Heart Institute (InCor), at the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo (USP). In the words of 3 people who were very close to him (Professors Kalil, Mady, and Protásio da Luz), we shall remember the career and the personality traits that characterized him as an undisputed leader for a generation of cardiologists. As a resident of InCor, I had the honor of meeting and interacting with Professor Pileggi, and he played a fundamental role in my academic career. First, there was apparently an obstacle to getting into a postgraduate program, “To enroll in a postgraduate program, you must have completed an internship abroad.” This, in association with the fact that nearly all scholarships to study abroad required, as a pre-requisite, that the applicant be enrolled in a postgraduate program, seemed to be an insurmountable barrier, which only served to stimulate me to look even harder for alternative ways to surmount it. And, in fact, he was the one who opened all the doors to make it possible for me to complete an internship at Johns Hopkins University. After that, the rest was history. I am eternally indebted to him for his teachings.

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