Jordi Mancebo, a man of science, compassion and friendship.

We lost Jordi Mancebo on August 06, 2022. We lost a colleague, a renowned scientist, a man with passion for transmitting his knowledge, and a friend. Jordi has been present and active in the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine for a very long time taking numerous leadership positions including being a Treasurer for the Society, chair of the Acute Respiratory Failure section, co-founder and co-leader of the Pleural Pressure Working Group (PLUG) and he was awarded as an honorary member of the Society in 2022. He was also Deputy Editor for Intensive Care Medicine.

Jordi was a very active member of the French Society of Intensive Care Medicine (SRLF) and the American Thoracic Society (ATS), as well as the Spanish Society and a long friend of many Scientific Societies in Portugal, Mexico and South-America.

Jordi was eager to understand pathophysiology in human diseases and he made multiple contributions to science especially for patients with acute respiratory failure. He spent two periods of fellowship in Henri Mondor, Creteil, France, back in the 1980s and 1990s, where he became one of the key players discovering the use of noninvasive ventilation to avoid the use of endotracheal intubation. This technique showed enormous benefits for patients and, recently, had still massive implications for the management of patients during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Naturally, Jordi continued to work in this field and several of his recent publications have explored further techniques of noninvasive respiratory support. Jordi has also been known for his scholarly works on prone positioning in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and his randomized clinical trial in ARDS was the first to show a positive signal for the use of this technique.

Jordi was a passionate clinician, leading the intensive care unit (ICU) in Santa Creu i Sant Pau hospital until his very last moments and was greatly appreciated by his colleagues. Some beautiful examples of testimony have been published in the lay press in Catalunia and we give the link below to discover it.

Jordi loved to teach and his passion was remarkable during his numerous lectures and hands on session, being always patient, carefully listening and interacting in the best possible manner in front of a poster, or a simulator or demonstrating the use of the oesophageal catheter. He was always warm and welcoming in his interactions. Many colleagues mentioned this was the first characteristic describing Jordi: how he could make people feel comfortable and welcomed in any group meeting, whatever its size.

Those who have been close to him are deeply saddened and our thoughts are with his family and close friends, especially his daughter Montsita and his son Tito.

We’ll miss him a lot.

Please follow this link to a lovely article that remembers him: https://www-lavanguardia-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20220806/8453680/adios-referente-luchador-sanidad.amp.html

This is an English translation of that article provided by his friend David A. Kaufman: https://icareunintensively.blogspot.com/2022/08/in-memoriam-english-translation-of.html