Vice President for Biology and Medicine Emeritus

Dr. Pierre M. Galletti, 1927-1997

A memorial service will be held at noon Monday, March 17, in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America to celebrate the life of Pierre M. Galletti, M.D., Ph.D. Galletti, 69, died in Providence, R.I., at 12:15 a.m. Saturday, March 8, 1997, of injuries from a fall. He was the first chief executive officer of Brown's Division of Biology and Medicine and was instrumental in establishing the Brown University School of Medicine. (See obituary in March 9 Providence Journal-Bulletin.

OBITUARY EDITORS: The University memorial service has been scheduled for noon Monday, March 17, in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America. The following information outlines some of Dr. Galletti's contributions to medical education and research at Brown University. For additional information or photographs, please contact the Brown News Bureau.

• Dr. Pierre M. Galletti, M.D., Ph.D., was University Professor, professor emeritus of medical science, and vice president emeritus at Brown University.
  
  
• He was a former director of the Artificial Organ Laboratory at Brown University and former head of its Artificial Organs, Biomaterials and Cellular Technology group, which was elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 1995.
  
  
• Galletti came to Brown in 1967 as professor of medical science and the following year was appointed chairman of the new Division of Biological and Medical Sciences, the institutional incubator for Brown's medical school. In 1972, when Brown and a group of local hospitals committed themselves to a full M.D. program, Galletti became vice president and chief executive officer for the Division of Biology and Medicine. In 1991, he left the vice presidency to devote his time and attention to major research projects in biomaterials and artificial organs and to teaching and consulting appointments here and in Europe.
  
  
• Galletti, a native of Switzerland, earned his M.D. from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) in 1951 and his Ph.D., also from Lausanne, in 1954. His specialty was physiology and biophysics, a field now known as biomedical engineering. After a residency in internal medicine at the University Hospital in Zurich (1954-1957), he joined the research group of Dr. P. Salisbury at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles, which operated one of the earliest programs in clinical hemodialysis and cardiopulmonary bypass for cardiac surgery. He joined the faculty of the Department of Physiology at Emory University in 1958, where he developed a graduate program and research laboratory devoted to physiological aspects of cardiorespiratory assistance and the theory and technology of artificial organs.
  
  
• Galletti was the author of more than 250 works on the science and application of artificial organs and other organ replacement techniques. He was a co-inventor on seven U.S. patents. He was editor of the artificial organs and prostheses section of the Biomedical Engineering Handbook and co-author of its chapters on the artificial lung, kidney, liver and pancreas.
  
  
• He was a former president of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). In 1992, he was named a fellow in the College of Fellows of the AIMBE, an honor bestowed on only 2 percent of individuals active in the medical and biological engineering community.
  
  
• Galletti was president, chief executive officer and chair of the scientific advisory committee of Fondazione per le Biotecnologie of Turin, Italy, a non-profit, public-private foundation dedicated to professional and public education on the use of biotechnology.
  
  
• He was a director of SORIN BIOMEDICA, of Torino, Italy, and former chairman of its board and former director of its scientific advisory committee. He was also a director of SORIN BIOMEDICAL Inc., of Irvine, Calif. He was a member of the scientific advisory committee of I-STAT Inc., of Princeton, N.J., and CARDIOPULMONICS Inc. of Salt Lake City. He was chairman of the board of directors of INCStar Inc., Stillwater, Minn. He helped found CytoTherapeutics Inc. of Providence, R.I., and chaired its scientific advisory board.
  
  
• Galletti served on several advisory groups for the National Institutes of Health, exploring issues involving artificial hearts, artificial kidneys and biomaterials.
  
  
• He was outspoken about the need for public policy that would ensure availability of medical devices and implants for critically ill patients.
  
  
• Galletti was a former president of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs. He was a trustee of the International Society for Artificial Organs and was president of the organizing committee for its 11th annual world congress to be held in June in Providence.
  
  
• He was a former editor of the journal Cardiology and the Journal of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs. He served on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Artificial Organs, Clinical Biomaterials and Medical Engineering and Physics.
  
  
• He was a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, foreign correspondent of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Brussels, an Honorary Foreign Associate of the Medical Academy of Turin and a corresponding member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences.
  
  
• He was a trustee of the Morehouse College School of Medicine in Atlanta and an overseer and chairman of the Finance and Administration Committee of the Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston.
  
  
• Galletti was born in Monthey, Switzerland, on June 11, 1927. He was 69 years old.

Comments

"It was with great shock that all of us at Brown University learned about the premature death of our academic leader and scientist Pierre Galletti," said Brown University President Vartan Gregorian. "Pierre Galletti was the architect of our medical school and its partnership with several hospitals in Rhode Island. It was during his watch that Brown developed its Program in Liberal Medical Education and strengthened its programs of biomedical research. He was an outstanding administrator, great scientist and wonderful human being. His long and distinguished service were so appreciated that when he retired, it was my great honor to designate him a University Professor and vice president emeritus. On behalf of the entire Brown community, I express our profound sympathy to his wonderful wife Sonia and son Marc-Henri."

"He was one of the very few people with the ability to know how to develop a good idea in the academic research setting and to transfer it to industry, where it could be produced and distributed," said Peter Ivanovich, M.D., professor of medicine at the Northwestern University Medical School and president of the International Society for Artificial Organs.

The Brown University School of Medicine

Brown's School of Medicine is one of the nation's youngest, having granted its first M.D. degrees in 1975. It has also been recognized as one of the nation's best medical schools for primary care. Since it began building a medical education program in 1960, Brown has tightly integrated medical studies with broader University resources in the arts, humanities and sciences. Its first program, approved by the Board of Fellows in 1962, was a six-year course of study combining the undergraduate experience with two years of medical study. Graduates of that program earned a Master of Medical Science degree; many went on to other medical schools for the final two years of clinical training to earn their M.D. degrees.

In 1968, the University continued to build toward a full medical school, forming the Division of Biological and Medical Sciences. Galletti was named chairman. A formal affiliation agreement with community hospitals followed in 1969 to provide a base for clinical instruction without having to create a large, central University-sponsored teaching hospital. The University approved expansion to a full M.D. program in 1972.

Brown's commitment to the integration of medical studies and broader liberal arts has remained a central feature of the School of Medicine. In 1985, Brown announced the Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME), which combined the four undergraduate years and the four medical school years into a single eight-year experience in which medical students continue their non-medical academic interests throughout their years at Brown.

Brown has also been a national leader in the recruitment and retention of women and minority students. Its early identification programs have attracted medical students from such traditional black institutions as Tougaloo College, and its special programs of summer study have helped attract and retain minority students from Providence and throughout the country.

As the only medical school in Rhode Island, Brown and its affiliated hospitals have brought about a significant improvement in the quality of health services, including development of highly advanced medical and surgical subspecialties.