Professor Pierre Sizonenko died 13 February, 2023 at his home in Geneva, Switzerland, after a 15-year battle with multiple myeloma. Pierre was born and educated in Paris, followed by a research fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology under Mel Grumbach and Selna Kaplan in 1967-1968. In 1969 he moved to Geneva, where along with his lifelong colleagues Luc Paunier and Pierre Ferrier, he established Geneva as one of the premier centers for Pediatric Endocrinology in Europe. Under his leadership, the University of Geneva and L’Hopital Cantonal de Genève became a referral center for disorders of puberty and growth, and his research provided insight into the mechanisms of both normal and abnormal puberty and normal human development. In collaboration with colleagues at l’Institut de Biochimie Clinique and “La Tulipe”, including Michel Aubert and Jo Arendt, he helped elucidate the processes involved in the control of pubertal onset, and the role of hypothalamic peptides, releasing factors, and melatonin in normal and abnormal pubertal development. He was a gifted clinician, and beloved teacher and mentor to many.
In 1981, while President of the European Society of Pediatric Endocrinology, Pierre organized and coordinated the first international joint congress of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society (PES) and the European Society of Pediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) in Geneva. He was editor and author of one of the first textbooks of pediatric endocrinology, and in 1995 was awarded the Andrea Prader prize from the ESPE. Pierre is survived by his wife of 63 years, Marie-Thérèse, and his three sons Ivan, Stéphane, and Alexandre.