Tribute to Prof. Andrey Zaritskey from an international perspective

Prof. Andrey Zaritskey (10.03.1950 – 16.10.2021)

I met Andrey Zaritskey in 2004 or 2005 when he insisted that both the Almazov Center and Pavlov University joined the European LeukemiaNet (ELN). He was the only ELN investigator who promoted contracts with two institutions. His persistence facilitated cooperation of the Gorbacheva Research Institute with ELN later. I was impressed by his comprehensive research interests, his cooperative spirit, and his vision. At his invitation, I visited St. Petersburg in September 2006, starting 15 years of fruitful cooperation in the field of leukemia. I remember this visit very well. It was one of his early meetings, maybe the first one with international speakers. The meeting was also attended by Prof. Valery Savchenko from Moscow with his mentor Prof. Andrey Vorobiev and his wife Prof. Elena Parovichnikova. Valery was an old friend of mine whom I had met in Wilsede around 1990, who unexpectedly died in July 2021, 3 months before Andrey.

At that time, in 2006, the Almazov Center was under development. Its activities were limited to diseases of the Heart, Blood and Endocrinology, with Andrey Zaritskey appointed Head of the Blood Section. Andrey used the occasion to show me with pride the evolving Almazov Center and to introduce me to his chief, Prof. Evgeny Shlyakhto. Even if things had just started, he saw the chances and had a plan – like his chief. He also used the occasion to show me the beauty of St. Petersburg. With the help of Dr. Elza Lomaia, we succeeded visiting the beautifully rebuilt Katherine’s palace with the perfectly restored amber room.

During the following years, the Almazov Center evolved to the National Medical Research Center of today, one of the largest in Russia. Of critical importance for Andrey Zaritskey’s success was the trust and continuous support by Evgeny Shlyakhto, General Director of the Center, who is a cardiologist. In 2008, Andrey Zaritskey was appointed Director of the new Institute of Hematology at the Almazov Center. In the years to follow, he established with great energy the new Institute with research facilities and, most notably, a transplantation unit, although access to the International Donor Registry was still a challenge at the time. He was its director for 14 years. In the same year, again in Wilsede, I met Professor Boris Afanasyev and Dr. Alexei Chukhlovin. Afanasiev’s invitation to the 2^nd Raisa Gorbacheva Memorial Meeting started the cooperation of the Raisa Gorbacheva Research Institute with ELN which was facilitated by the already existing contract with Pavlov University at the insistence of Andrey Zaritskey.

From the very beginning of our collaboration, I realized the importance which Andrey attributed to national and international connections. Particularly visible cooperations concerned ELN, resulting in his election to the panel for the development of the prestigious ELN recommendations for treating CML in 2014. At the photo (Fig. 1) made at the ELN symposium in Mannheim in 2015, you can see, in addition to Andrey, his close associate Elza Lomaya, the Moscow colleagues Elena Parovichnikova, Anna Turkina, Sergej Kulikov, Ekaterina Chelisheva and many others. The Recommendations were published in 2020 (Fig. 2).

Other important cooperative studies included stem cell research with Anthony Ho from Heidelberg University, supported by the German Government and the European Union, as well as common work with the European Investigators on CML (EI-CML) resulting in hosting the 22^nd EI-CML meeting in St. Petersburg in 2014 (Fig. 3).

Figure 1. ELN Symposium Mannheim 2015

Figure 4. The ELN-Merit-Award to Professor Zaritskey in 2011

Moreover, he performed long-term cooperative leukemia and stem cell research with Michael Andreeff and Hagop Kanterjian from the MD Anderson Cancer Center (USA) visibly documented by a common symposium in St. Petersburg in 2017. In 2011, in recognition of his integrative and cooperative activities, Andrey Zaritzkey received the ELN-Merit-Award for European Integration of Leukemia Research (Fig. 4).

Almost every year, Andrey Zaritskey organized national and international meetings at the Almazov Center on new developments in leukemia, stem cells and transplantation. Members of his group spent time at European or American Centers for educational or cooperative purposes. In addition, Andrey promoted the Almazov Center and his institute by lectures all over Russia. I had the pleasure and honor to accompany him at some of these occasions. The visits to Samara and Irkutsk were impressive, showing Russian advanced research and development at its best. In Samara, the visit to the rocket center and, with the help of Prof. Igor Davydkin, an old friend of Andrey, to the Institute for Experimental Medicine provided examples of the excellence of Russian research. With these activities Andrey may have been a typical offspring of St. Petersburg: Reaching far out beyond Russia, but in the interest and for further development of St. Petersburg and Russia in the field of hematology. He was proud of Russia, but was worried hoping that the premises stayed stable for continued international cooperative research.

Over 16 years I had the pleasure to know and cooperate with Andrey Zaritskey. I learned that the key to his success was not only academic brilliance. Most important was his sympathetic, open, reliable, modest, but nevertheless determined personality. He knew that a successful and lasting cooperation needs trust and friendship, that one must consider the cultural background of the cooperators, but also that one must bring his own heritage into a partnership, which the partner has to understand. Maybe he learned this way of dealing with international partners from the wisdom of the founders of the European Investigators on CML, notably the legendary Italian hematologist Sante Tura, who died at age 92, just 5 days before Andrey. On Sante Tura’s incentive, the European Investigators traditionally spend at their 2-day meetings across Europe, from the very beginning in 1993, half a day for exposure to the host country’s cultural heritage. Thus, international colleagues learned about Russia and to appreciate the country. And Andrey himself was open for other countries and cultures. In those successful years he did not forget those who worked with him and helped him to make all this possible. Andrey gave credit to his coworkers and cooperators and to his supporters.

Figure 5. Symposium with the MD Anderson Cancer Center, St. Petersburg, July 2017

Highlights of Andrey Zaritskey’s professional career were the successful cooperative projects with ELN, particularly on CML, and with the MD Anderson Cancer Center culminating in the common meeting in July 2017 (Fig. 5).

This meeting turned out to be the culmination of his professional life. Andrey was 67, successful, internationally visible and respected by his colleagues, an admirable career. When he did not attend the ASH conference later in 2017, nor the ELN symposium in Venice in March 2018, it was clear that something was wrong. I knew that he was a heavy smoker, but now he had developed cancer of the lung. Despite his cancer, he resumed work in 2018 and continued all his activities unabated. When I came to St. Petersburg in 2018, he met me at the airport as usual and took me to Valday monastery, a cultural heritage close to the Wolga origin. He tried to play his cancer down, but looking at him showed the truth. As disciplined as he was, he continued leading his group even after he was confined to intensive care in early 2021, planning for the 4th St. Petersburg Medical Innovation Forum in May in his usual careful way including chairing a session himself from the bedside. We still hoped for a turn to the better. He planned to leave the hospital soon and reminded me to see Valaam monastery in Lake Ladoga which he had urged me to do repeatedly.

When I saw him again on September 20, 2021, his course unfortunately had turned to the worse. He still hoped, but knew what was coming. He was satisfied with my trip to Valaam which I had visited the day before, and we spoke about the ELN symposium in Mannheim planned for March 2022. When I left him saying that I was looking forward to seeing him again in Mannheim next March, or elsewhere, he immediately understood: with elsewhere you mean heaven, don’t you?

With Andrey Zaritzkey, the Almazov National Medical Research Center has lost a great researcher and international communicator, Russia has lost ambassador. His legacy is international cooperative research in the interest of patients, of his Institute, of St. Petersburg, and of Russia. It will be associated with the memory of Professor Andrey Zaritskey.