The global COVID-19 death toll stands at more than 1·3 million. Among the lives lost have been those of health-care workers, who have had crucial roles throughout the response and continue to serve at the front lines. At the outset of the pandemic, doctors warned of the potential implications of the virus. As the virus spread, many doctors provided treatment for a disease they little understood, while others contributed to accelerated research on potential treatments and vaccines. And as the COVID-19 pandemic worsened worldwide, health professionals worked tirelessly to provide care for patients—some even emerged from retirement to provide assistance. It is not possible to honour all of the health workers who have died from COVID-19, but in telling the stories of a few of the health professionals from different specialties and various countries who lost their lives to the disease, these short obituaries serve as a tribute to the many other health workers who have died in the pandemic. These lives are also a reminder of the ongoing dedication and service of those who continue to care for patients at a time when COVID-19 cases and deaths are increasing in many countries. Epidemiologist and public health specialist. He was born on Sept 26, 1947, in a village in Yemen's Taiz governorate, and died on June 16, 2020, in Sana'a, Yemen, aged 72 years. Yassin Abdel-Warith was involved in the response to major disease outbreaks across Yemen for nearly 50 years. It was no surprise, then, that WHO brought him in as a consultant to help when COVID-19 emerged in Yemen. Despite the ongoing conflict in the country, Abdel-Warith immediately got to work organising surveillance teams and setting up isolation centres. His death from COVID-19 robbed Yemen not only of a leader in the response, but also of someone with an unparalleled epidemiological understanding of the country. “From the first day he returned to Yemen after he got his medical degree until the last day he died, he dedicated his life for the health of the Yemeni”, said Adel Al-Jasari, the Malaria and Vector Control Officer for the WHO Country Office in Yemen. Abdel-Warith received a degree in medicine and surgery from a Soviet Union university in 1974 and a master's degree in public health and epidemiology from the University of Tehran in Iran in 1978. On his return to Yemen, he was one of the only doctors with a specialisation in public health in the country, Al-Jasari said. After working briefly as the head of a rural health unit in his home region, Taiz, Abdel-Warith joined the Ministry of Health in the capital, Sana'a, where he spent decades working in various roles. “He was really a reference person for all of us”, said Al-Jasari, who worked as the head of the Ministry of Health's malaria control programme in 2004. Although Abdel-Warith was assigned to work as a monitoring and evaluation officer on HIV at the time, “when we called him or asked him to join our team or to support us, he never said no”, said Al-Jasari He also never looked for personal advancement, Al-Jasari said, instead nominating colleagues to speak to the media or to brief superiors on successes. He preferred to stay in the background, coordinating between the ministry and other agencies and quietly lobbying for his preferred strategies. His experience was considered so invaluable that even after he retired from the Ministry of Health in 2010, WHO Yemen regularly recruited him to help coordinate activities following a disease outbreak, including a key role coordinating efforts to respond to a cholera outbreak that began in 2016. “He gave to the people and the country as much as he could”, Al-Jasari said. Epidemiologist who specialised in viral hepatitis. She was born on June 25, 1950, in Armenia, and died on March 27, 2020, in Moscow, Russia, aged 69 years. Arpik Asratyan joined the Department of Epidemiology and Modern Vaccination Technologies at what is now I M Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University at a crucial moment in 1997. An expert in viral hepatitis, her arrival coincided with “a period at the turn of the century when the problem of parenteral viral hepatitis was especially urgent both in Russia and in the world”, said her colleague Elena Gennadievna Simonova, a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Modern Vaccination Technologies. “Professor Asratyan was an extremely popular scientist and teacher who extensively trained scientific personnel. She was instrumental in the prevention of viral hepatitis”, said Simonova. Asratyan developed her interest in epidemiology and infectious diseases during her final years at Yerevan State Medical University in Yerevan, Armenia, according to her son, Airazat Kazaryan, a Professor of Surgery in the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery at Østfold Hospital Trust in Gralum, Norway. When a PhD fellowship position was announced in 1973 at what is now the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, “she applied to it without doubts”, he said. She would remain there for much of her career. Asratyan pursued a doctorate in medical sciences from the Department of Epidemiology of the Russian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education in 1977 and earned her professorship at the First Moscow State Medical University following her 1997 defence of her habilitation thesis. In addition to viral hepatitis, she taught classes on HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, as well as nosocomial infections. Asratyan's research paid “special attention to the study of modern trends in the dynamics of the epidemic processes of [hepatitis] infections”, Simonova said. “In particular, she and her students conducted research aimed at studying combined infectious pathology”, including co-infections with hepatitis B or C virus and with tuberculosis, HIV, or sexually transmitted diseases. She also worked with colleagues to oversee epidemiological education and supervision in some of Russia's specialised infection hospitals. “Professor Asratyan was the soul of any company and team, always positive, with a smile on her beautiful face”, Simonova said. Asratyan's husband, Mishik Kazaryan, a specialist in laser physics and optics, also died of COVID-19. In addition to their son, Airazat, they are survived by a daughter, Serine. Primary care physician. She was born on June 20, 1991, in Ciudad Real, Spain, and died on March 29, 2020, in Alcazar de San Juan, Spain, aged 28 years. There is a tradition at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Valladolid in Spain that when medical students reach the end of their studies they celebrate a last dinner with their professors. Although she had a leg injury as her class's event approached in 2015, Sara Bravo Lopez was determined to take part in the celebration. “She kept dancing all night, happy, because we were finally doctors”, said her classmate Luis Cabezudo Molleda, an internal medicine resident at the Complejo Asistencial Universitario de Palencia. After graduation, Bravo quickly found a position as a primary care doctor at the Centro de Salud de Mota del Cuervo in the province of Cuenca, Spain, and was working there when she became ill with COVID-19. It was part of her job to assess patients that came into the facility. Cheerful and indefatigable, she had a gift for soothing patients. Cabezudo said Bravo possessed that ability even in her medical school days, where she had a knack for calming her classmates before important exams. “She had the exact words that help people relax”, he said. Bravo had taken a colleague's shift and was caring for patients who came into the health centre and were later diagnosed with COVID-19, Cabezudo said. “She died because she loved her work, she did it bravely and she did it always thinking of others”, he said. One of her professors, Ignacio Rosell, an Associate Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the University of Valladolid, said Bravo's fellow students and teachers “remember her as a beautiful person”, at the outset of a promising career, “always ready to collaborate and to help out”. Bravo is survived by her mother, Teresa, and her brother. Endocrinologist. She was born on Oct 12, 1963, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and died on April 8, 2020, in Rio de Janeiro, aged 56 years. Claudia Nogueira Cardoso always made sure to keep extra medical supplies in her car or her bag. As she travelled around Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she lived, she offered help to people in the community. “She was very charitable, a friend and companion who always had a friendly word”, her brother Claumyr Cardoso said. “She must be remembered as a person who liked to help everyone.” Cardoso decided to be a doctor at a young age, her brother remembered, inspired by her own paediatrician. She earned her medical degree at the Souza Marques School of Medicine in Rio de Janeiro before specialising in endocrinology at Santa Casa da Misericórdia, a local hospital. She became interested in the field partly because she had diabetes. After completing her studies, she opened a private practice in Rio de Janeiro, while also working in other clinics around the city. Claumyr Cardoso, who is a dental surgeon, said she was devoted to her patients and agreed to continue providing treatment even as COVID-19 reached the city. In addition to her brother, Cardoso is survived by her husband, João, her parents, and a son, Rodrigo, who is also a physician. Former Director of Epidemiology of the Institute of Public Health, Bolivar state, Venezuela. She was born on Sept 9, 1953, in Puerto de Hierro, Venezuela, and died on July 25, 2020, in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, aged 66 years. Livia Carrion studied medicine at the Universidad de Oriente in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, a school with the motto, “From the town we come and to the town we go”. She would go on to dedicate her career to providing medical services to neglected communities, often in far-flung locations. “Her sublime love and dedication to medicine and to helping the needy encouraged her to study and to work for 35 years in public health, never practising private medicine”, said her daughter Katherine Sulbaran. After receiving her medical degree in 1981, Carrion began her career in Maripa, a remote town in the centre of Venezuela, providing care to the town's residents and nearby rural communities. Her career took her back to Ciudad Bolivar, the capital of Bolivar state, but her colleagues said she remained committed to the rural communities where she spent her early years as a doctor. After she was named Director of Epidemiology of the state's Institute of Public Health in 1994, she mounted a malaria care and treatment campaign among the state's remote, Indigenous populations that served as an example of “how this service should work”, said Frank Morillo, the subdirector of the epidemiology department at Ruiz y Páez University Hospital Complex in Ciudad Bolivar. She joined Morillo at Ruiz y Páez, taking over the epidemiology department in 2002. The hospital was often a centre for regional epidemic responses, including an outbreak of influenza A H1N1 that began in 2009. “Together we faced the management of the H1N1 pandemic in our hospital and we handled the situation successfully. She was tireless”, Morillo said. “She always had a smile and a very good attitude”, said Oriana Urbaez, a nurse at Ruiz y Páez University Hospital Complex. “She was an example of the constant and tireless fighter against every health problem, every disease, every epidemic, every outbreak.” Although Carrion was scheduled to retire 7 years ago, she continued working in the epidemiology department because of a shortage of doctors in the state. She was at the front line of the hospital's COVID-19 response, conducting tests and organising patient admissions. She is survived by her husband, Miguel Sulbaran, and three daughters, Katherine, Nathaly, and Reyna. Internal medicine specialist. He was born on Jan 12, 1945, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and died there on March 26, 2020, aged 75 years. Nino Cassanello Layana taught his medical students what he called the “principle of responsibility”. He believed that students needed to get to know their patients on a personal level and he encouraged them to ask about “not just the medical problems, but what kind of job he does, where he lived, what about his family”, said Cristobal Sanchez Metz, an adult hospitalist specialising in internal medicine in Washington, USA, who studied under Cassanello for 3 years. Cassanello taught at three different medical schools in Guayaquil, Ecuador—the University of Guayaquil, Universidad Catolica de Santiago de Guayaquil, and Universidad de Especialidades Espiritu Santo—and instructed thousands of students over his career, focusing primarily on internal medicine and medical semiology. “Teaching was in his blood and he knew how to transmit knowledge to countless generations of doctors who passed through his classrooms”, said Tomas Alarcon Aviles, a former student, who is now the head of neurology at Hospital Luis Vernaza in Guayaquil. Cassanello was even willing to help teach those who were not enrolled in his programmes. And they regularly sought him out, according to his son, Jerónimo Cassanello, a physician in the intensive care unit of Hospital Luis Vernaza, where his father also worked: “He was a very patient and motivating teacher and a captivating conversationalist.” Nino Cassanello studied medicine at the University of Guayaquil's Faculty of Medicine, one of the universities where he would later teach. He started working at Hospital Luis Vernaza in 1971 and would remain there for more than 40 years, eventually rising to Director of the Internal Medicine Department. His expertise on medical semiology led him to write a textbook on medical history, physical examination, and differential diagnosis. “He was a very observant physician and he trained us to be observant in simple things”, Metz said. Cassanello is survived by his wife, seven children, and six grandchildren. Surgeon and organ transplant specialist. He was born on March 10, 1956, in Atbara, Sudan, and died on March 25, 2020, in London, UK, aged 64 years. As a young doctor working in Sudan, Adil El Tayar became aware of the rising problem of kidney diseases, particularly among young people. Without access to transplant surgery, patients were dependent on regular dialysis, which disrupted their ability to work or study. His mission was to replace the country's largely privatised, fragmented transplant services with a centralised registry and practice. “He wanted to build this service that could breed excellence, whether in diagnostics or on the operative or medical sides”, said his cousin, Hisham El-Khidir, a surgeon working at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital in the UK. Although he settled in the UK in the early 1990s, El Tayar would return to Sudan several times a year to build connections with doctors and officials who might be able to help him establish an improved transplantation service. He completed a master's degree in health service and management at the University of London to prepare himself for the task. In 2011, he returned to Sudan where he worked at Ibn Sina Hospital in Khartoum, while seeking to set up an organ transplant programme. He was able to get a centre started, but struggled amid the country's political uncertainty and the challenges of “a mainly privatised lucrative business where people didn't want to see a change to the service structure”, El-Khidir said. But El Tayar recognised “there was still room to help people on an individual basis”, El-Khidir said, and he would continue to provide medical advice and financial support to patients in Sudan for the rest of his life. “After his death, the family was overwhelmed with condolences from people, explaining how he had helped their families. No one knew this, not even his wife”, El-Khidir said. El Tayar was motivated to pursue medicine during his childhood when his brother died after his family was unable to find him the necessary care. After completing his medical studies at the University of Khartoum and working briefly in Sudan and Saudi Arabia, he moved to the UK in 1996. He studied at the University of West London and then worked at the West London Transplant Unit before moving to St George's Hospital. He would return there as a locum surgeon specialising in kidney transplantation after moving back to the UK from Sudan in 2015. “He was always up to help colleagues and patients, always willing to go the extra mile”, said Abbas Ghazanfar, a consultant transplant surgeon and clinical lead for renal and transplant services at St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. “That's why he actually volunteered to go work during the COVID-19 pandemic.” El Tayar was working at Hereford County Hospital in the Midlands as a locum surgeon when he became ill. He is survived by his wife, Ekhlas, two daughters, Abeer and Ula, and two sons, Osman and Rahama. President of the Philippine Pediatric Society and former Assistant Director of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine at the Philippine Department of Health. Born on Dec 4, 1952, in Manila, Philippines, she died on March 26, 2020, in Manila, aged 67 years. Salvacion Rodriguez Gatchalian, better known as Sally, knew how to disarm people. It was a skill that served her well as a paediatrician, but was even more crucial in the leadership roles she took on, including serving as President of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines from 2014 to 2016 and of the Philippine Pediatric Society, beginning in 2018. “She was whip smart and a really great consensus builder”, said Edsel Salvana, the Director of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the National Institutes of Health at the University of the Philippines (UP) Manila. “She was a great listener, but she was never afraid to speak up on controversial issues, even if it wasn't very popular.” Salvana grew close to Gatchalian during the controversy over the use of the dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia, that erupted in 2017 in the Philippines. Gatchalian, a long-time immunisation advocate and the cofounder of the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination, was among the experts trying to rally support for vaccination, while warning that misinformation about vaccines could lead parents to avoid immunising their children altogether. “We worked together to restore vaccine confidence”, Salvana said. Even as Gatchalian squared off against former associates during the Dengvaxia debate, she was able to rebuild those relationships in its aftermath, said Lulu Bravo, a close friend and Professor Emeritus of Pediatric Infectious and Tropical Diseases at UP Manila. “She was still friendly with everyone. Although she could disagree with you, I don't think she had any enemies.” Gatchalian studied medicine at the UP Manila College of Medicine with a focus on paediatrics, graduating in 1977. She completed an infectious diseases fellowship at the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine, where she would later hold the post of Assistant Director from 2003 to 2006. She also worked as Associate Professor of Pediatrics and attending physician at UP Manila College of Medicine, in addition to consulting as a paediatrician at various hospitals and health centres around Manila. “She treated patients like they were her own children”, Bravo said. In the tightly knit community of doctors working on both paediatrics and infectious diseases, Gatchalian thrived in leadership roles with a down-to-earth style that encouraged camaraderie. She was helping to calibrate the Philippine Pediatric Society's response to the pandemic, when she fell ill with COVID-19. Gatchalian is survived by her husband, Eduardo, a son, Geoffrey, a daughter, Gayle, and their spouses. Surgeon and Vice Chancellor of Nishtar Medical University in Pakistan. He was born on Sept 15, 1959, in Multan, Pakistan, and died there on July 15, 2020, aged 60 years. Mustafa Kamal was in the midst of transforming Nishtar Medical University when he died of COVID-19. Named the first Vice-Chancellor when the university was elevated from a college in 2017, he was working to introduce new programmes at the institution and overseeing the construction of a new 500-bed hospital. “He was very enthusiastic to really improve the medical education and health care in that part of the world”, said Ghulam Qadir, a graduate of Nishtar and now an addiction psychiatry specialist, who is the CEO of Apex Behavioral Health in Dearborn, MI, USA. Qadir started working with Kamal a year ago to improve the psychiatric training at the university. “You would never find another person like him. If he promised something, he delivered.” Kamal's life began at Nishtar; he was born at what is now Nishtar Medical University Hospital, the teaching hospital affiliated with the university. His father, Muhammad Kamal, was a cardiologist and a member of the college's faculty. The son earned his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery there, graduating first in his class in 1984. Kamal moved to the UK, where he would continue his training at several different institutions, including Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, Burnley General Hospital, and North Manchester General Hospital, after passing his primary fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons in 1990. He returned to Pakistan and joined Nishtar as an Assistant Professor of Surgery in 1993 and became a full Professor of Surgery in 2005. “He was keen to learn, to implement and propagate new techniques in teaching and surgery,” said Iftikhar Hussain Khan, the current Principal of Nishtar Medical College. Muhammad Sanaullah, a student of Kamal's in the late 1990s and early 2000s, said he was a professor “who constantly engaged the students”. Kamal also attracted students who wanted to learn laparoscopic surgery from him, a rare skill in the area at that time. “Thousands of trainees will remember him for that”, said Sanaullah, who is Chief Medical Officer of Edmond Medical Center and CEO of Optimum Care Hospitalist Group, a physician-owned health-care organisation in Edmond, OK, USA. Kamal remained a committed physician even after he was named Vice-Chancellor, continuing to conduct rounds. As COVID-19 patients began to arrive, “Kamal volunteered himself. That motivated the whole team”, said Sanaullah, who remained in regular touch with Kamal in his role as the President of the Nishtar Medical University Alumni Association of North America. Kamal is survived by his wife, Shehla, two daughters, Nabiha and Mahnoor, and two sons, Zain and Haris. Consultant surgeon. He was born on Oct 26, 1962, in Tema, Ghana, and died on July 2, 2020, in Accra, Ghana, aged 57 years. As a consultant surgeon at The Trust Hospital in Accra, Ghana, Richard Kisser's colleagues knew they could call him any time for assistance or a consultation, even after he had left work for the day. He was always willing to turn around and come back, said Nii Lante Okunka Blankson, a specialist physician at the hospital. “He never shied away from hard work. He volunteered to do so many procedures.” Kisser cultivated that work ethic from a young age, Blankson said. The two attended the University of Ghana Medical School in Accra together, where Kisser had a reputation as a quiet, serious student. It was only after they started working together at The Trust Hospital that Blankson learned he also had a wicked sense of humour, with interests ranging from football to politics to music. “I would often pop into his consulting room knowing I'd leave laughing because of a joke or wily comment he'd pass”, Blankson said. After receiving a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1991 and surgical training at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Kisser worked as a specialist surgeon at Korle-Bu and then as head of the Surgical Department of Eastern Regional Hospital in Koforidua, before joining The Trust Hospital in 2008. He was named a Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons in 2004. “He was self-motivating, flexible, dynamic, and an excellent team player”, said Francis Ahiaku, the Chief of Medical Staff at The Trust Hospital. “He was a very hard-working surgeon who used his exceptional skills and practices for the betterment of the patients and the medical field.” Always among the first to arrive and the last to leave, Blankson said Kisser set the tone for the institution. “He exuded so much confidence it impacted on any other staff around.” Kisser is survived by his wife and eight children. Pulmonologist and former head of the Department of Medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Science. Born on June 14, 1941, in Shikohabad, India, he died on May 23, 2020, in New Delhi, India, aged 78 years. Although he was a legendary pulmonologist, called upon to treat presidents and Bollywood stars, Jitendra Nath Pande made time for everyone. His office door was open to colleagues, students, and, especially, patients. “He gave a lot of time to patients”, said Abhishek Bhartia, the Director of the Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research in New Delhi, India, where Pande worked later in his career. “He was meticulous and he would never rush patients.” Instead, Pande used to frequently remind his students that patients were their best teachers. Pande was thorough in all aspects of his work. Early in his career on the faculty of the Department of Medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), he was known for being among the first to arrive to the ward each morning, a practice he maintained even after he became the head of the department. And as a professor, he was famous for answering student queries from memory with the page number in the textbook where they could find the information. “Junior doctors used to wait for his ward rounds, which were a treat to attend”, said Amarinder Singh Malhi, Assistant Professor in AIIMS's Department of Cardiovascular Radiology and Endovascular Interventions. Pande earned a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1963 and a Doctor of Medicine in 1966, both from AIIMS. In 1970, he returned to AIIMS as an Assistant Professor, then served as Chief of the Division of Respiratory Diseases and Officer in Charge of the Clinical Epidemiology Unit, before becoming head of the Department of Medicine in 1993. His research interests included high altitude physiology and interstitial lung disease. “He was a role model for many students and junior faculty”, said Randeep Guleria, the Director of AIIMS. “He spent a lot of time in the respiratory laboratory or discussing research methodology with students.” Pande also recognised early the adverse effects of air pollution on people's health and one of his studies was cited in a 1998 Supreme Court order forcing public transportation vehicles to switch from diesel to cleaner compressed natural gas. After retiring from AIIMS in 2003, he joined the Sitaram Bhartia Institute as a senior consultant in general and respiratory medicine. “This was a towering person who could have gone anywhere”, Bhartia said, but Pande selected the institute because he could spend much of his time on research, while still occasionally seeing patients and mentoring students. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, senior officials from the government and institutions sought his expertise as they drafted policies to help contain the spread of the virus and treat patients. Pande is survived by his wife, Yvette, a gynaecologist, and a son, Aman. Expert in infectious diseases. He was born on May 7, 1944, in Naples, Italy, and died there on April 29, 2020, aged 75 years. As the COVID-19 pandemic battered Italy's health system in March and April, doctors around the country came out of retirement to assist. Raffaele Pempinello was no exception. When a friend of his fell ill with COVID-19, Pempinello, an infectious disease specialist who had retired in 2013, offered to help, telling his wife that a doctor could never refuse to treat a patient. A week later, Pempinello tested positive for COVID-19 and died several weeks later. “He was always prone to help people”, said Roberto Monarca, past President and current Scientific Director of Health Without Barriers, a network of European organisations and experts advocating for healthy prison environments, who worked with Pempinello on a prison health project for the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases. “He was really a person who showed kindness, humanity, and solidarity for people. I don't wonder that he was a volunteer in this bad period.” Pempinello studied medicine and surgery at the University of Naples Federico II, Italy, where he graduated in 1968. He carried out clinical activities at the university until he was hired in 1974 by the Domenico Cotugno Hospital as a medical assistant. He rose to become head of the hospital's Infectious Diseases Division by 1996, focusing on treatment of leishmaniasis, on pathologies related to HIV infection, and on infectious diseases among immigrant communities. “He was a passionate doctor who has always placed the patient at the centre of his attention and his choices”, said Evangelista Sagnelli, an honorary professor of infectious diseases at the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli in Naples. Pempinello was also an eager collaborator, willing to lend his expertise to projects he considered important. That included working with Monarca in drafting prison health guidelines. “He always showed a lot of sensitivity and solidarity for the marginalised”, Monarca said. A lover of culture, particularly music, Pempinello served as the doctor for the San Carlo Theatre in Naples. He is survived by his wife, Imma, and two daughters, Annie and Rosa. Paediatrician and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Nelson Mandela University, South Af