In memory of Joan Cordoba

摘要

Joan Cordoba, a staff member of the Hepatology Unit of the University Hospital Vail d'Hebron (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona), sadly passed away on January 27, 2014 at the age of 49, after almost 3 years fighting against a cerebral tumour. He leaves a wife, May, a psychologist at the Alcohol Unit at the Hospital Clinic, Barcelona and two sons, Joan and Valentina. He also leaves many friends, colleagues and disciples in the field of Hepatology in Europe and the rest of the world. Joan belonged to the type of hepatologist that unfortunately is disappearing in Spain. He specialized in General Internal Medicine (1989-1994) at the University Hospital Vail d'Hebron. His Head of Department, Professor Jaime Guardia, had a special interest in liver diseases and succeeded in transmitting this interest to a group of colleagues who constituted the second Liver Unit in Spain. Joan, therefore, became a hepatologist from Internal Medicine and not from Gastroenterology, which probably led him from the beginning to be interested in extra-hepatic consequences of cirrhosis and particularly encephalopathy.