In memoriam Professor Aldo Pinchera (1934–2012)

Europe and member of the Board of the International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders, and Member of the European Community Thyroid Experts Panel for the consequences of the Chernobyl accident. Aldo Pinchera had a wide editorial activity. He founded and directed for many years the international Journal of Endocrinological Investigation , the official journal of the Italian Society of Endocrinology, and the national journal l’Endocrinologo . He served in the Editorial Board Professor Aldo Pinchera passed away on 11th October 2012 at the age of 78. Italian endocrinology has lost a great mentor, one of the founders of endocrinology in Italy and one of its greatest ambassadors in the world. Aldo Pinchera graduated from the University of Rome in 1958, obtained the post-graduate degree in Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases from the same university in 1961, and the Doctorate in Endocrinology in 1967. After training in several foreign institutions, such as the University of Marseille, the University of Barcelona, the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he then moved to Pisa, where in 1980 he became Professor of Endocrinology until his retirement in 2009. He was then appointed Emeritus Professor of the University of Pisa. From 1981 to 2009 he directed the Post-Graduate School of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases at the University of Pisa. Among his numerous academic positions, Aldo Pinchera was Vice-President of the National University Council from 1998 to 2008. Throughout his career, he received numerous awards from the most important scientific institutions in the world. The most recent prize was the prestigious Lissitzky Career Award that he received in Pisa during the last annual meeting of the European Thyroid Association. Aldo Pinchera has been President (and Honorary Member) of the European Thyroid Association, President of the Italian Association of the Thyroid, Regional Coordinator for West Central Published online: December 8, 2012