Professor Jeremy R Jass: An appreciation

Peter Hall, Editor in Chief, Journal of Pathology Professor Jeremy Jass died on Sunday, 30 November 2008 after a long fight, bravely fought, against a malignant glioma of the brain. For the past 20 years, Jeremy has been one of the most outstanding gastrointestinal researchers in the world and is in the very highest echelons of gastrointestinal pathologists worldwide. In his career, he has won many important awards and prizes. His last, the Goudie lecture and medal of the Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland, is testament to his standing as this is the top award for pathological research in the UK. What made him such an outstanding researcher? First and foremost, he was an original thinker. A few years after we both left St Mark's Hospital in London, one of us (NAS) was asked by one of our former surgical colleagues ‘What was it like to work with Jeremy Jass?’ The reply would have surprised some: ‘Well, it was actually quite depressing’. Neil explained that Jeremy and he would come in on a Monday morning and Jeremy would have had ten new and brilliant research ideas. Neil, one or two and most of them bad. It was so very difficult to compete with his intellect and originality of thought. He had a prodigious output of more than 300 original papers, any number of chapters and many books. He had a particular talent for writing and his papers were always clear and insightful and so very well produced and constructed. Amongst the more academic texts, he wrote a superb textbook for medical students. Jeremy was always challenging dogmas and perceived wisdoms in his research. For example, more than 25 years ago he wrote a seminal article in the Lancet challenging the universally held belief that the metaplastic polyp (now universally known as the hyperplastic polyp) was entirely benign. Whilst few if any believed him then, his work, and that of others, has subsequently shown that the pathway involving this lesion accounts for up to 25% of all colorectal cancers. There is real irony in that one of the important molecular changes that Jeremy and others have shown to be important in this pathway also occurs in the tumour that Jeremy suffered. Jeremy qualified from the Westminster Hospital in London in 1975 and held early jobs in Pathology there. Amongst the many tributes to him that we have seen is one from his then Professor, now President-Elect of the International Academy of Pathology, Professor Kristin Henry. This is a short extract from her tribute to him: ‘‘What always struck me about Jeremy was not only his high intellect, originality of thought and dedication to his work but his wonderfully kind and gentle personality and complete absence of malice or conceit.” Much of Jeremy’s original research at that time was in mucin histochemistry, especially analysing the changes seen in gastric carcinogenesis. He worked closely with Dr Isobel Filipe. At this time, his talents had been recognised by the wider pathological community. One of us (BCM) remembers how he was acknowledged to be a star in the making at a very early stage in his career. Basil was approached by the Director of the ICRF and together they ensured that Jeremy moved, in the early 1980s, to the old St Mark’s Hospital and started working more on colorectal carcinogenesis. His partnership with Dr Basil Morson was fruitful and he eventually replaced him as the Consultant Pathologist at St Mark's Hospital, when he retired in 1986. Despite important collaborations, Jeremy also showed how dynamic and single-minded he was with an extraordinary output of work, original papers, chapters and books, including editorship of the flagship UK gastrointestinal pathology textbook, Morson & Dawson's Gastrointestinal Pathology. He always sought new challenges and this is what took him to Auckland, New Zealand, in 1988. Here he met his wife, Johanna. What a partnership theirs has been and Johanna has always very strongly supported Jeremy in his professional work, aided by her background in Histopathology. Their sojourns in Auckland, Brisbane and Montreal were all supremely fruitful and his collaborations with workers in all these places were strong and long-lasting. After some years in Montreal, he looked for new challenges and so his last great challenge was returning to St Mark's Hospital and to Imperial College, London, as Professor of Gastrointestinal Pathology, to join up with friends and colleagues there. Sadly his work was to be tragically cut short by illness. Jeremy was not just a great researcher. He was a superb clinician and diagnostician. He was very widely read, not just in pathology. He was, in his time, a skilful administrator. What of Jeremy the man? Kristin Henry has eloquently encapsulated him in her dedication of him. We would describe him as a gentle man and a gentleman. We have never heard anyone say anything ill of him. Although he was utterly committed and dedicated to medicine, his life was not just about medicine. He had many outside interests, including being a talented artist and musician. It is tragic for his family, his friends and his colleagues that his life, and his life's work, should be cut short, as there was so much more potential in his work in medicine. However, he does leave behind an exceptional legacy. The results of his research, especially in colorectal cancer, will remain important for years to come and we have his prodigious volume of work. His influence will live on and we should be grateful for that. Neil Shepherd and Basil Morson

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