We remember with immense fondness Louis Denis, a great urologist and patient advocate, and a warm, funny and kind human being, who died on July 21 2021.
Louis was among the ‘founding fathers’ of the European School of Oncology. His grasp of the complexities of managing prostate cancer, his unrelenting focus on what matters to patients, and the creative way he got his points across made him a much valued contributor to Cancer World articles over the years.
In a profile piece for Cancer World published in 2004, Louis Denis: Urology’s foremost free-thinker, his message to fellow oncologists was:
“We need to learn how to use knowledge in the best possible way, never forgetting that we are dealing with human beings who are all the more vulnerable because they are sick. Compassion is the most important aspect of a physician, not intelligence.”
… and to his friends, of which he had so many:
“I want my friends to remember me as a free-thinking man. I had a marvellous life and I am blessed with a supportive family and a dozen grandchildren.”
That is how we will remember him.
