Radu Voiosu passed away on the 26t^h of January 2024, only 3 months before reaching the age of 80. He was one of the most remarkable figures to grace Romanian Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology, an excellent physician, a great tutor, and a warm, but fair person.

Radu Voiosu was born on 26 April 1944 in Calafat, Dolj County. He graduated “Mihai Viteazul” College in Bucharest (1962), the Medical Faculty of the Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy Bucharest (1968), and started his internship in Colentina Clinical Hospital, which remained his home for the duration of his entire fruitful career. He developed in one of the most renowned Romanian schools of Internal Medicine, led by Professor Ioan Bruckner, whom he revered as the model clinical physician and teacher. In 1980, Dr. Radu Voiosu laid the foundation to one of the first digestive endoscopy laboratories in Romania, the core of the future Gastroenterology Department, which he headed for almost two decades (1993-2011).

In 1980, he started giving lectures on digestive disease through which he mentored generations of students and young doctors, passing on his approach of thorough preparation, continuous learning, fairness, a strong work ethic, and an empathic approach to the patient. His dedication to patient care was absolute, no matter the complexity of disease or the social status of the patient and he demanded the same from his staff and trainees, regarding all particulars of patient care.

He researched mainly in the field of pathogenesis and treatment of liver disease, in colonic cancer and in Helicobacter pylori-induced gastric changes.

He rose steadily through the academic ranks, from Assistant (1971), to Lecturer (1992), Associated Professor (1995) and, finally, full Professor of Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology (2000).

He authored many articles and wrote, co-authored, coordinated or contributed to more than 25 books, some of them seminal works for generations of students and doctors in training. He was deputy-editor-in-chief for the Romanian Journal of Internal Medicine for more than two decades.

Tightly linked to his name are the first pilot screening program for colorectal cancer in Romania (2004-2007) and the introduction of confocal laser endomicroscopy (2010), as are his efforts and support for his colleagues in the introduction of new endoscopic techniques such as endoscopic ultrasound, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography or the videocapsule endoscopy. For years he lead training programs in endoscopy, open for gastroenterologists and surgeons, and facilitated exchange programs with other preeminent European centers of endoscopy.

Professor Radu Voiosu helped found several professional societies, including the Romanian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (for whom he was elected as vice-president for 13 years), the Romanian Society of Digestive Endoscopy, and the Romanian Association for Surgical Endoscopy.

As recognition of his achievements he was admitted as a full member of the Medical Sciences Academy and awarded the “Meritul Sanitar” Order, the Special Prize of the Romanian Internal Medicine Society, and the Medal and Certificate of Excellence for special merits for his entire activity awarded by the Bucharest College of Physicians.

Professor Radu Voiosu was incredibly proud of the Colentina Gastroenterology Department, that he built and continued to support through involvement in teaching programs for students and for interns and through continuous advisement on developmental strategy.

An exceptional doctor in perpetual quest for medical knowledge, a superb teacher demanding very high standards for his students, a great human, a model of fairness and professional integrity, Mihail Radu Voiosu will always be remembered and loved by his disciples. The Romanian Medicine had lost a Master, but his legacy will last forever.