Encomium to Hein JJ Wellens (as he chose to be known)

Excerpt

2020 has brought very sad news. Apart from the COVID-19 situation, the passing of Hein now leaves us with a huge void. I first talked to Hein in 1985. Communication was not as instant as today. No internet, no e-mail. Not even fax was available. I was about to finish my training in cardiology. I had decided to deepen my knowledge on cardiac arrhythmias, choosing Maastricht as the place, and Hein as the role model. I wrote a letter to Franz Wackers, a Dutch cardiologist working in the USA, who knew Hein well, having trained with him in while Hein had still been in Amsterdam. He was short in his answer. “Send the man a letter—he is a very straightforward person!” One year later, I met Hein in Maastricht, and he accepted me as a research fellow. The time I spent in Maastricht had a profound impact on me. I was able to perfect clinical, teaching, and research tools that would serve me forever. A number of Latin American doctors had also made the same sage decision to go to Maastricht, such as Luz-Maria Rodriguez and Pedro Iturralde from Mexico, Diego Vanegas from Bogota, Rodulfo Oyarzun from Santiago de Chile, Enrique Retyk from Buenos Aires, and Mauricio Duque from Medellin. All subsequently established a solid career in clinical electrophysiology. Other Brazilian cardiologists, notably Fernando Cruz, Jacob Atié, Tamer Seixas, and Ayrton Klier Perez, followed my steps. They were also trained by Hein, not at the old and beautiful medieval St. Annadal Hospital, which had been my “home,” but at the brand new University Hospital. …