On 10 January the AFM paid tribute to Ketty Schwartz, president of the Scientific Council of the Association, who died on 25 December 2007. Her friends and colleagues gathered in the amphitheatre of the Myology Institute in Paris in order to bear witness to how much Ketty Schwartz had marked not only their work as researchers and physicians, but also their lives, as well as those of patients and their families. Here are some of these accounts.
“Ketty’s qualities lay in her inner strength, her rectitude, her loyalty and determination […] When she was very young she had learned the sense of the word ‘ordeal’ and from it drawn the sense of the word ‘engagement’ […] It is with profound emotion that I’m speaking to you in this place (note: at the Myology Institute) where Ketty had so many roles and so much joy, all the more intense because of the results which followed. She was a person of exception. Follow her example.” Michel Fardeau, medical and scientific director of the Myology Institute from 1996 to 2006.
“Ketty Schwartz’s intelligence was very pure and she showed great lucidity when faced with complex situations. […] She was a person of very vigorous opinions and in her kindness there was no room for indulgence. […] When she became president of the AFM’s Scientific Council, she breathed modernity into it. […] For the AFM she was a symbol. And a symbol is something which lasts.” François Gros, honorary permanent secretary of the Académie des sciences since January 2001, president of the Scientific Council of the AFM from 1986 to 1997.
“Ketty Schwartz was a great lady of muscle and cardiac research. […] She was determined to attain objectives fixed, and committed herself to them body and soul. […] She was a woman with simple tastes […] [and] very open-minded, who loved life and her fellows.” Michel Komajda, researcher at the “Physiopathology, genetics and pharmacology of cardiovascular remodelling” Inserm laboratory (Unit 621).
“During the installation of the research team in the Babinsky Building, Ketty Schwartz knew how to bring together researchers from different horizons. […] She knew how to find the right word on every occasion. […] It’s true, her congratulations were rare, but all the more appreciated for that. […] She was a model as a woman for all the team.” Pascale Guicheney, director of the “Physiopathology and therapy of the striated muscle” joint research unit (UMRS582) at the Myology Institute.
“Ketty Schwartz was my second mother, my mentor. […] She was discreet, patient and always positive. […] Ketty Schwartz, who my foreign colleagues used to call the ‘Queen of the heart,’ fought for women – and when I was pregnant she supported me, both as a woman and a mother.” Lucie Carrier, Institute of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology, University Clinic of Hamburg-Eppendorf.
“Ketty Schwartz was one of those too-rare women to shine in the scientific community. […] She was an angel and, in my case, often a guardian angel.” David Klatzmann, “Biology and Therapeutics of Immune Pathologies” research unit (UPMC-CNRS U7087).
“In the name of the AFM I would like to thank this great lady on behalf of the families and patients; to thank her for her innovative spirit and for having lit our way on the path towards drugs.” Laurence Tiennot Herment, president of the AFM.
