Gian Franco Bottazzo

In 1969, at the age of 23, Gian Franco Bottazzo—a medical student at the University of Padua in Italy—travelled to London on a quest for knowledge. The young Italian was fascinated by immunology and spent countless hours in a university laboratory. To advance in the specialism, he wanted to learn the latest laboratory techniques.

In London, Bottazzo visited Middlesex Hospital and appeared before Deborah Doniach, an acclaimed researcher of autoimmune diseases (read obituary: http://www.bmj.com/content/328/7435/351.1), who had not met the charming young man before.

“I would like to learn immunopathology,” Bottazzo said.

With no hesitation, the world famous researcher replied: “Come tomorrow morning, nine o’clock.”1

After learning the techniques used in Doniach’s laboratory, Bottazzo went back to Padua to finish his medical studies. He returned to London in the autumn of 1973 to work with Doniach as a research fellow in the department of immunology at Middlesex Hospital.