Mourning in the world of Sicilian medicine. Professor Luigi Pagliaro, great hepatologist and luminary of Sicilian medicine, researcher and didactic enthusiast, died.
Engaged in the social sector and in the battles for the democratization of health, he pioneered the birth of Ismett. The professor, who was also the head of the regional bioethics committee, died at 89.
A pupil of Aldo Turchetti at the University of Palermo, he remained at the Policlinico hospital until 1973. In the mid-seventies he was called by the medical director of the Cervello hospital, Sebastiano D’Agostino, together with other professionals such as the cardiologist Geraci, the hematologist Caronia and the gynecologist Cittadini.
D’Agostino transformed the Cervello from a sanatorium to a highly specialized hospital and Luigi Pagliaro was appointed head of internal medicine. After a year, the university called him back, entrusting him with the chair of medical semeiotics (which deals with the study of the symptoms of diseases, ed).
But Professor Pagliaro managed to combine his commitment at the university with that in the ward of the Cervello hospital, always refusing private activity. And so he remained a university professor in convention. He climbed his entire university career, arriving, after medical semeiotics, in pathology and then in the medical clinic. He was also director of the graduate school in gastroenterology, researcher in the field of liver diseases and especially of liver cirrhosis B and C.
In the mid-1980s he pioneered the birth of the center of excellence for transplants, Ismett. It was he who knocked on the door of politicians and councilors to set up a transplant center in Sicily and curb the journeys of hope for patients suffering from liver cirrhosis. He was supported by Ugo Palazzo and Ignazio Marino, taking up the challenge of the then governor Giuseppe Provenzano. Thus, in 1997, Ismett was born.
“A great master of medicine who taught many graduates to be a doctor – recalls Alberto Maringhini, head of internal medicine at the Civico and disciple of Professor Pagliaro – He spoke to his patients in Sicilian to put them at ease”.
Married to Enza Nicosia, senior executive at the Regional Health Department, and father of two children, Luigi Pagliaro retired in 2001. He continued to do teaching by participating in conferences, university lectures and conferences. He remained at the Brain as professor emeritus. The funeral home will be set up at the Steri on Wednesday from 9, the commemoration at 18 on the same day.
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How sad. I’m happy to read that he led a long, fulfilling life, but losing a titan in health care (even once retired) during a pandemic cuts deep. My condolences.