In Memory of Prof. Giulio Jori (1939–2014)

Professor Giulio Jori died unexpectedly on 23rd December 2014 at the age of 75 years. His career combined in a unique fashion, exceptional and pioneering achievements in research, education and promotion in the field of photobiology. He was a great visionary in his field.

Giulio Jori graduated in Bio-organic Chemistry from the University of Padova in 1965 and received his PhD in Photobiology after 3 years work at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, working with John Spikes on the photosensitizing properties of porphyrins. In 1987 he was appointed Professor of Bio-organic Chemistry and was head of Photobiology at the Department of Biology at the University in Padua from where he retired in 2013.

He was a founding member and President of the European Society for Photobiology (1985), Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology (1987–1992) and more recently, Co-Editor of the books “Comprehensive Series in Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences”. The European Society for Photobiology has acknowledged his research with an award for excellence in research. He served as director of the Center of Advanced Research of Photobiology (CARP) from 1991.

He was a founding member and secretary of the European Platform for Photodynamic Medicine (EPPM) in 2007 and also served several terms as a Director of the International Photodynamic Association (IPA) and was a member of all respected photobiological societies worldwide.

His research interests focused on basic mechanisms of photodynamic action at a cellular and tissue level, as well as on pre-clinical investigations concerning the application of photodynamic therapy for the treatment of tumors and microbial infections. In particular, his work on the use of photodynamic processes for the disinfection of water against microbial and larval pollution is being developed as a tool for addressing problems of high scientific and social impact. In the last years he focused on the prevention of malaria and other vector-borne diseases and the purification of water by environmentally friendly and sunlight-activated photobiological approaches, programs which were supported by high-level grants. I can still envisage him working in the swamps of Burkina Faso. One of his other great passions was the implementation of boron neutron capture in photodynamic therapy (PDT) by using one chemical compound both as a photosensitizing and radiosensitizing agent for the treatment of highly pigmented tumors. To list all his achievements would be too numerous.

In addition to the many congresses and meetings he organized, the organization of the “Brixen Meeting”, the International Symposium on Photodynamic Therapy and Photodiagnosis in Clinical Practice, was an outstanding contribution to the PDT community, bringing together – in a unique fashion – basic scientists, chemists and physicists with their clinical partners. These meetings were spread over 20 years and attracted students and senior researchers from around the world (up to 53 nations).

At the gala dinner in Brixen in October 2014. Prof. Céline Frochot (left), Prof. Herwig Kostron (middle) and Prof. Giulio Jori (right) handing over the organization of the next “Brixen Meeting” to Prof. Frochot, which will be held in Nancy 2016 (Photo: Alexis Sideroff).

“The PDT community, European and global, owe him an overwhelming vote of thanks, for bringing together scientists and clinicians in such a convivial and stimulating way. The scale of these meetings has been such that there have been plenty of global experts present, but at the same time the number of participants has been kept to a level where nobody has felt too intimidated to ask questions or speak their thoughts”, states Stephen G. Bown.

Prof. Jori (left) together with students at the Brixen Meeting 2012.

In October 2014, at the end of the last and 10th Brixen Meeting we all felt that an era had ended, but now we are confronted with a far greater and sadder end.

The PDT community was shocked by this sad news. It is a great loss of an outstanding academic, a great scientist, a great teacher and a close friend. He was a key element in forming the “photodynamic family” in which he played an essential and irreplaceable part. We will all miss his cheery emails and constructive comments. The PDT community will never be the same again.

Besides being a most respected scientist he was a humanistic and classically educated man. He enjoyed reciting his favorite Latin poems and had a passion for history and religion. He was an active member of his home church, Santo Stefano d’Ungheria in Brusegana-Padua and was strongly involved with developing the relationship between his church in Padua and its mother church in Hungary. It was in his home church that his funeral ceremony was held on the 27th December 2014.

The scientific world lost Giulio Jori, but his wife Paola lost a caring and wonderful husband and his daughter Chiara and son Marco lost an ever-loving father.

His work will live on through his numerous publications and will be continued by his students and many other researchers.

Photobiology will always owe a massive debt of gratitude to Professor Giulio Jori. Thank you Giulio!!