In Memoriam: Prof. Dr Andreas Hoeft (1954-2020)

An announcement from the ESAIC Board of Directors and Staff

It is with the greatest sadness that we must inform you that, on November 24, 2020, our much-respected colleague Prof. Dr Andreas Hoeft has passed away after a short illness, aged 66 years. We offer our sincerest and heartfelt condolences to Andreas’ family and friends.

Andreas has contributed huge amounts of his time and energy to ESAIC and its predecessor organisation ESA, including just as ESA was finding its way as a newly merged organisation back in 2005. For both this forthcoming online Euroanaesthesia Congress (November 28-30) and the previous two in Vienna and Copenhagen, Andreas has been the Scientific Chair, working tirelessly with our 19 sub-committees to make sure delegates receive the best and most interesting congress possible. We think you will all agree that he succeeded.

Born in Bielefeld, Germany, in 1954, Andreas completed military service for the German army in the 1970s before completing his medical degree at the University of Műnster. Much of his early career was spent at the University of Göttingen, but he also spent several years as a visiting assistant professor in anaesthesiology at the University of Texas, Health Science Center at Houston in the 1990s. He took up his most recent role, as chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the University of Bonn, Germany, in 1995, completing a quarter of a century of service in this position.

As well as serving as Scientific Chair, Andreas has performed other important roles for ESAIC/ESA, including as ESA Secretary from 2010 to 2013. He also chaired the Research Committee for the last decade, leading to the launch of the successful Clinical Trials Network (CTN) which has led to multiple practice-changing studies, several of which have been published in major medical journals. In the last interview before his passing, Andreas described the CTN as having “created a new spirit in the Society…now many engaged colleagues, who before would rarely have a chance to contribute to science and research, grabbed this chance to become a researcher in addition to their clinical work.”

Andreas had many qualities that made him memorable and special to us: his love for research, learning and knowledge, his passion for his work, his rationality, his energy, his capacity to understand people, to listen, to care. He was critical with just about everyone, and fun with a great sense of humour. He was creative, innovative, and would always say what he thought, no matter what.

Andreas will be dearly missed by our Board, our team at ESAIC headquarters, and by everyone who had the pleasure to meet him at the Euroanaesthesia meeting or in any other forum.

Prof. Kai Zacharowski                              Prof. Stefan De Hert
                                       
ESAIC President                                      ESAIC Past-President

and the ESAIC Board of Directors and Staff