Obituary

Ettore Beghi passed away on October 10, 2022 in Milano after a long disease. He was born on August 15, 1947. His departure deprives the neurological community of a distinguished scientist and many of us of a dear friend.

Ettore completed his training in neurology as postdoctoral clinical fellow in Neurology with specialty graduation at the Neurologic Clinic of the University of Milan in 1976. Thereafter, he joined the epilepsy staff of the Hospital of Monza where he pursued his neurological career directing since the beginning his research interests to neuroepidemiology. I still remember one of his earliest collaborative studies carried out in the context of the so-called Milano Epilepsy Group, the project on the quality of care in epilepsy already showed the soundness of his scientific engagement and his talent in assembling and managing a research team. These qualities were further developed during his stay at the Mayo Clinic of Rochester, Minnesota where he spent a fruitful research period in 1983–1984. Back to Milano, he pursued his research in neuroepidemiology dividing his long working day between the hospital of Monza and the Mario Negri Institute of Milano from which he had obtained his mastership in Pharmacological Sciences Research in 1981 and where he was appointed in 1996 head of the Laboratory of Neurological Disorders.

Ettore Beghi carried out an impressive amount of research activity that was internationally acknowledged in the most authoritative journals, and that led him to be recognized as a leading figure in neuroepidemiology of epilepsy and motor disorders. With his work, he significantly contributed in defining predicting and prognostic factors of many neurological disorders with specific attention to epilepsy, motor disorders, and stroke and in evaluating their burden to the benefit of healthcare providers and regulatory agencies. In recent years, he engaged himself in investigating the risk for neurological complications of COVID building a Neuro-COVID registry and co-chairing the WHO Neuro-COVID follow-up working group.

He greatly contributed to the life of SIN and its journal Neurological Sciences both as author and reviewer. I personally had the chance to prize his contribution when I was editor of Neurological Sciences as he had the rare endowment of combining an unbiased judgment based on scientific merit with the willingness of encouraging the authors to improve their work with constructive criticisms. Among other SIN activities, his chairmanship of the study groups on ALS and Epilepsy deserves to be mentioned.

He was gifted with a special attitude to share his experience with young people and to motivate them to scientific research as it is testified by many students and young colleagues who met him as professor at the Milano University or as team research leader.

The high reputation he enjoyed internationally is testified by a number of recognitions from scientific societies and agencies. He was awarded as Ambassador for Epilepsy by the International League Against Epilepsy, served as chair of the section of Neuroepidemiology of the American Academy of Neurology, as editor of the Cochrane Epilepsy Group, as president of the Italian League Against Epilepsy, as president of the Italian Neuroepidemiological Association, as Co-Chair of the Commission on the Epidemiology of Epilepsy of the International League Against Epilepsy, as Co-Chair of the panel for Neuroepidemiology of the European Academy of Epilepsy, and as member of the Group on Neuroepidemiology of the World Federation of Neurology.

Ettore was a gentle man, strong in scientific matters but also careful about human relationship. His enthusiasm for science was not impaired by the flow of time and it was not driven by any other force than the interest in improving our knowledge to the benefit of people suffering from health-threatening disorders. We join his wife Maria Lidia and his wonderful family in mourning over his death. We will miss him.

Giuliano Avanzini