IN MEMORIAM

Biographical Sketch of Dr. Liliana Rosa Grinfeld

SEMBLANZA DE LA DRA. LILIANA ROSA GRINFELD

Dr. Hernán Doval, Director of our Journal, assigned me the honorable yet painful task of saying goodbye to one of the dearest human beings I have ever met. I cannot deny the ambivalent feelings arising in me; on the one hand, the sharp pain of materializing her departure from this world, which, on the other hand, will not be mitigated with the feeling of satisfaction that comes to me as I am writing these words to pay the fitting tribute she deserves.

I know I cannot summarize in a few lines what Liliana’s passage through this world has meant; also, I am afraid I cannot be original, since many other friends of hers could also express the same with great affection for her friendship.

Reviewing aspects of her life, Dr. Grinfeld was born on February 1, 1944, in the city of La Plata, province of Buenos Aires. Following in the footsteps of her father, whom she admired, Liliana attended medical school at the National University of La Plata, graduating in 1968. A year later, she traveled to the United States for further training at the Cleveland Clinic, where Dr. René Favaloro was gaining experience with coronary bypass. She began her residency program in Clinical Cardiology, and then continued her training in the Interventional Cardiology Unit at the Cleveland Clinic, led by Dr. Mason Sones, who was a pioneer in coronary angiography and provided the necessary framework for its clinical application. It was Dr. Mason Sones who, on several occasions, offered Liliana to continue her career in his unit, given her outstanding performance; in fact, until her death, she participated as International Cardiology Consultant at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Upon her return to Argentina in 1971, she became part of the Department of Interventional Cardiology at Sanatorio Güemes, led by Dr. Luis de la Fuente, where Dr. René Favaloro was in charge of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, which later became the Favaloro Foundation. A few years later, Liliana and other colleagues built the Interventional Cardiology Unit at Sanatorio Antártida, where she performed the first balloon angioplasty in Argentina in 1980. She continued her career as Chief of Interventional Cardiology at Hospital Italiano; she was also Chief of Interventional Cardiology at Clínica San Camilo and at Instituto de Diagnóstico de Afecciones Cardiovasculares (IAYTAC) of La Plata. She also worked as physician and consultant of the Cardiology Unit at Hospital Español de La Plata, and was Chief at the Instituto Cardiovascular Atlántico in Mar del Plata.

Liliana was the first and only female President of the Argentine Society of Cardiology, after occupying the most important positions in the institution; some years later, she was also appointed President of the Argentine Cardiology Foundation. On both occasions, I had the opportunity to work with her institutionally; I can assure she left her outstanding yet humble mark with her work, doing her best to ensure that her Society and her Foundation (as she used to call them) achieved the highest standards at national and international levels, matching the most important cardiology societies in the world. In the mid-1990s, she was also in charge of the Argentine College of Interventional Cardiologists (CACI). Once she finished her terms as president of these institutions, Dr. Grinfeld continued collaborating with absolute selflessness; her contributions helped us solve many national and international issues thanks to what she meant for cardiology worldwide.

In 2006, Liliana was granted the Outstanding Women in Health Award by the National Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

I’m surely forgetting many of the awards Liliana received, but I know that, given her simplicity, she would not attach importance to them.

She was an excellent physician, endowed with all the qualities that made of her a respected professional both in Argentina and outside the country, not only for her extraordinary scientific expertise and outstanding commitment to work, but also for her moral integrity and humanistic attitude in exercising the medical profession.

Dear Lili, it falls to me to say goodbye to you. From a personal standpoint, a few tears come to my eyes when remembering our more than 40 years of friendship in which we shared our families, our summers on the beach with Robert, Norberto, Hilda, Silvina, and the rest of our friends. The birthday parties you used to organize for Norbe, the early gatherings at your house in Mar del Plata planning the Argentine Congress of Cardiology that you presided, our inevitable meetings in all the congresses around the world, our weekend barbecues at Highland with Albert and his family... that is, an entire life. In addition to those happy moments we shared, I am well aware –and will never forget– that whenever I was through difficult situations, you were always at my side, showing me your integrity, telling me Sergini, I’m with you. A few days ago, I watched a tribute video for you at the CACI, and a very good friend of yours, José Navia (Cacho) said, paraphrasing another colleague “Liliana did what she wanted and loved what she did”. A fitting definition of what you were in life. Lili, you will always be with us; I’m sure that by realizing your dreams, you fulfilled your mission in all the aspects of your life, as a daughter, sister, mom, wife, and friend. All your achievements have left an indelible stamp on our lives, and we would like to follow that legacy in the hope of seeing you again.

Dr. Sergio D. Varini, MD^MTSAC

 

Liliana Rosa Grinfeld, MD

 

A few weeks ago the cardiology community lost one of the most prestigious and productive physicians that interventional cardiology in Argentina has ever had. It is extremely difficult for me to say goodbye to a friend and fellow professional. That was Liliana to me.

To review her extensive career would be endless. Graduated in La Plata, a city she never left, Liliana completed a fellowship in cardiology and a training program on interventional cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, where we first met back in 1975. While I myself was training, she used to visit me after her fellowship. She was a familiar figure there, and since the beginning, everyone talked of her with great admiration.

Back in Argentina, and from different workplaces, we teamed up in the 1980s to perform the first angioplasties in our country. Dr. Grinfeld was the pioneer of interventional cardiology in Argentina. She did everything: she was involved in each of the chapters of our specialty performing coronary angiography, balloon angioplasty, conventional, and drug-eluting stent angioplasty, and developing percutaneous aortic valve implantation.

From the very beginning, Liliana managed to generate a spirit of restless professionalism. She was a true fighter in all the areas in which she was involved; her working capacity and her ability to go beyond boundaries made of her the first female president of the Argentine Society of Cardiology (SAC), and later on, of the Argentine Cardiologic Foundation and the Argentine College of Interventional Cardiologists. She performed her medical practice from a leading role at the Sanatorio Güemes, Sanatorio Antártida, Hospital Español in La Plata, and Hospital Italiano in Buenos Aires. She actively participated in clinical research and in many national and international clinical trials, developing her Trials Argentina Group Organization Coordinating Center (TANGO CC), an organization dedicated to furthering clinical research.

From the everyday aspect, family and friends agreed that her sense of responsibility extended to every aspect of her life, and reached all those close to her, making us feel that we were unique friends. Liliana had everything, underwent everything. And she endured her illness with the great fortitude and strength that only a few people have.

I am proud of having shared the last 40 years of cardiology with you.

Dr. Liliana Grinfeld, Dr. Grinfeld, The Doctor, Liliana, La Negra, La Flaca, you were everything you wanted to be... What a beautiful life you had! Now I hope that the joy of shared moments will prevail over the grief of your loss.

Farewell, Liliana.

Jorge A. Belardi, MD^MTSAC