In memoriam Dimitrios Trichopoulos: an argonaut in search of the golden fleece of medicine (1938-2014).

On December 1, 2014, the epidemiology community bade farewell to one of its most distinguished members. Dimitrios Trichopoulos passed away leaving several colleagues and students in both sides of the Atlantic and all over the world saddened by the loss of a great scientist, mentor and friend. Dimitrios Trichopoulos was Professor of Cancer Prevention and Professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, Member of the Athens Academy and President of the Hellenic Health Foundation in Greece. He had served as director of the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention; chairman of the Epidemiology Departments at the University of Athens and at Harvard; and adjunct professor of medical epidemiology at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. He had published the first study linking passive smoking to lung cancer, had done early work on the association of hepatitis B and C infections and tobacco smoking with hepatocellular carcinoma, and conducted key studies on the role of intrauterine exposures in breast cancer etiology. He received several awards and distinctions, including honorary Doctorates, the Brinker International Award for Breast Cancer Clinical Research, the Julius Richmond Award for the documentation of the role of involuntary smoking in the etiology of lung cancer, and the Medal of Honor of the International Agency for Research on Cancer for his contributions in cancer epidemiology and etiology. He was the teacher and mentor of legions of epidemiologists, medical doctors and other health scientists across the world.