Dr Roberto Stasi
The ITP Support Association was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death of Dr Roberto Stasi, a leading international ITP specialist. He was always very happy to help our Association, answer medical questions from our members and see patients with problematic ITP. He gave presentations at our Conventions in 2007 and 2008, and invited a representative from our Association to speak at an international medical meeting last year, even finding the funding to make this possible. The Association is currently funding a research project Dr Stasi initiated at St George's Hospital, and before he became ill he had agreed to report on his early findings at our Convention in April. He was very highly thought of both by his patients and by his colleagues in the medical profession.
Professor Adrian Newland has written the following tribute.
Dr Roberto Stasi 24/08/1961 - 28/01/2014
Sadly, Roberto Stasi was found dead at his home in Rome on the 28th of January. Roberto was one of the leading doctors in the field of Immune Thrombocytopenia. He trained in Rome where he was one of the top students in his class and undertook a higher research degree before carrying on with his training. He worked in Rome in haematology developing research links with myself and my colleague, Drew Provan, in England, Dr Jim Bussel in New York and Professor Francesco Rodeghiero in Vicenza, Italy. He made some of the first observations on the benefits of Rituximab in ITP and did much important work on the thrombopoietin agonists. He was acknowledged as an outstanding scientist and a physician of the highest ethical stature. He was loved by his patients to whom he offered untiring and caring support. We were lucky in the UK when he transferred to St George's Hospital in 2010 and many members of the Association will have benefited from his care. He continued to develop his international standing, publishing extensively and become a leading figure in the European Hematology Association with a large network of clinical friends throughout the world. He became unwell last year and returned to Rome to recuperate where he was slowly recovering. His sudden and tragic death was a shock to the many colleagues who knew and loved him, a major loss to the patients he cared for and to the field of ITP in general. We will honour his name in a more fitting and permanent way in the future and will remember the loyal and affectionate friend we all knew and the first class doctor that he had become.
Professor Adrian Newland
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