José Manuel Baselga, renowned oncologist, died on 21 March at the age of 61 at his home in La Cerdanya, a beautiful Catalan county surrounded by the Spanish and French Pyrenees. Possibly the greatest drug developer of the past two decades, José was famous for, in his own words, “going to places and changing things.” Throughout his career, he transformed oncology practice and made the development of new treatments his mission.
Born in Barcelona, Spain, on 3 July 1959, José was raised close to the Vall d Hebron Hospital, an institution on which he would later leave his mark. He graduated from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 1982 with an MD and then fulfilled his military service duty before starting his residency at the Vall d Hebron Hospital in 1985. With a year left in his residency, José moved to the United States to work at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. According to his sister Eulalia, he lived in a modest apartment with windows that would not close in