Professor Chris T. Bolliger

Abstract

On November 2, 2012, we lost a colleague, mentor, and friend with the untimely passing of Professor Chris Bolliger, undoubtedly one of the most prolific and influential interventional pulmonologist on the global stage.FigureChristoph Thomas Bolliger was born on January 1, 1950, in Olten, Switzerland. He spent his formative years in Basel and Lausanne and completed his medical degree in 1976. Chris came to South Africa in the 1980s as part of an exchange program and trained under the late Professor Attie de Kock (who he often credited as a mentor). In the same decade Chris, fluent in English, German, and French, acted as a medical delegate for the International Committee of the Red Cross in missions in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Namibia, and South Africa where he also met the political prisoner, Nelson Mandela. In 1990 Chris, who often described himself as a late-bloomer, qualified in internal medicine and pulmonology. He rapidly made a name for himself as a clinical researcher at the University Hospital in Basel. Chris returned to his beloved Cape Town (South Africa) in 1999 as a Professor in Pulmonary Medicine, Co-chairman of the Division of Pulmonology, and Director of Respiratory Research at Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Academic Hospital. In the following 13 years, he trained numerous local and international fellows and initiated many clinical research projects, thereby establishing the institution as a premier training and research facility of international standing. During this time, he also supervised numerous PhD candidates. Chris aimed to improve medical care in thoracic oncology. He strived to reduce lung cancer incidence by promoting smoking cessation, established more rapid and efficient diagnostic techniques, pioneered the evidence-based assessment of lung resection candidates, and was a master in nonsurgical treatment techniques. His research enjoyed widespread international recognition. In 2010, his unit was selected as the preferred site for the first ever international clinical study to evaluate the use of real-time technology for tracking lung tumors during radiation delivery. This pioneering work culminated in a landmark publication. Also in 2010, for his achievements in the field of pulmonology, Chris was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Certificate at the World Congress for Bronchology in Budapest, Hungary, where he delivered his honorary lecture on the staging of lung cancer. Chris was a prolific writer and was involved with almost 200 publications, 20 book chapters, and 11 text books. He recently coauthored guidelines on smoking cessation in Africa and the Middle East. He was editor-in-chief of the international journal, Respiration [official journal of the European Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology (EABIP) and the World Association of Bronchoscopy Interventional Pulmonology (WABIP)], and he was editor of a renowned international book series, Progress in Respiratory Research. One of the most recent volumes in this series, Diffuse Parenchymal Lung Disease, received a “Highly Commended” award in the book competition organized by the Library of the British Medical Association, London. He was also a past president of the European Association of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology, held office in the European Respiratory Society (ERS) including Clinical Assembly Head, and was the course director and scientific committee member of many local and international academic meetings. He was the president of the second Congress for the EABIP to be held in Turkey in 2013, actively and enthusiastically promoting interventional pulmonology literally until the day of he died. Chris was a very active member of the Pleural Group of the ERS and was also an elected member of the Global Healthcare Alliance for Treatment of Tobacco Dependence. Chris met his wife, Xandra, in Cape Town in the 1980s and was blessed with 3 daughters, who were his pride and joy. His passing will leave a huge vacuum, both locally and internationally. This is reflected in a statement by Dr Henri Colt, Chairman of WABIP who, in paying tribute to Chris, wrote “we shall greatly miss his honesty, knowledge, forthrightness, technical expertise, intellectual curiosity, energy, and tremendous can-do attitude.” Chris refused to compromise on quality and stood firm in the face of budgetary constraints and administrative obstacles. All who interacted with him will greatly miss his knowledge and expertise. We will most remember him for his expectation of the highest standards of patient care and research, to always strive to remain a respected academic on the international stage and the belief that a single committed person can change the world.