In memory of the late Associate Editor of the journal “Pleura and Peritoneum”, Prof. Charles D. Surh

Charles D. Surh, Ph.D., Associate Editor of the Journal “Pleura and Peritoneum”, passed away on 6 October 2017 at the age of 56.

Prof. Surh was a distinguished T-cell immunologist who joined the Editorial board of the Journal Pleura and Peritoneum in 2016 as an Associate Editor.

Born in Seoul, Prof. Suhr moved to the USA at the age of 11 years. After college, he trained at the University of California, San Diego where he received a B.S. degree in chemistry in 1983. He then moved to UC Davis and enrolled in a master’s program in immunology where he received his Ph.D. in 1989 for his research on target antigens for autoantibody formation associated with primary biliary cirrhosis.

Prof. Surh then worked as a postdoc at The Scripps Research Institute on the basic biology of T cells, focusing on the structure and function of the thymus and the physiology and lifespan of mature T cells. Prof. Surh published numerous papers in marquee journals and was promoted full professor in 2008. Throughout this time he became increasingly interested in the issue of how T cells are kept alive through interaction with the microenvironment of the lymphoid tissues and he pioneered the emerging field of lymphocyte homeostasis. Prof. Surh was then called by the Korean government to participate in the World Class University (WCU) program. In 2009, the Korean Institute of Basic Science (IBS) appointed him as director of the Academy of Immunology and Microbiology. Prof. Surh maintained his links with the USA as adjunct professor at the La Jolla Institute of Allergy and Immunology. He published influential papers in Nature on cell death by apoptosis during thymic selection, and recently in Science on the role of food and microbial antigens in stimulating local Treg cell generation.

The Editor-in-Chief, the Editorial team of Pleura and Peritoneum and De Gruyter Publishers extend their most heartfelt sorrow and condolences to the family of Prof. Surh, in particular to his wife Helen and to his children. We will miss Charlie, his council as an experienced author and reviewer and his friendship as a positive, courageous and very human person. His loss will motivate us to pursue our efforts to encourage research and knowledge dissemination in peritoneal onco-immunology.