His career saw him play an important role as a paediatric endocrinologist and as a researcher in developmental endocrinology in Switzerland, Europe, and the rest of the world. Many ESPE members will know of his remarkable scientific achievements and visionary and inventive personality.
As an outstanding teacher, he trained many young and future doctors in paediatrics and endocrinology. He thus considerably strengthened care and research in the field of growth and puberty in Geneva.
Pierre was also deeply involved in university life, and was a member of the University Council for several years. He was very active in the scientific societies of his specialty, and organised the first joint meeting of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society and ESPE in Geneva in 1981. He was also a European Commission for Science, Research and Development expert.
Pierre was born in Paris, France, and obtained his medical degree in 1957. He started his internship in Paris in the same year, receiving his doctorate there in 1964. He then specialised in paediatrics and later in endocrinology, becoming a research fellow at the University of Paris (1965−1967).
In 1967, he went to the University of California San Francisco in the USA to continue his fellowship, training with Melvin M Grumbach and Selna L Kaplan. The research theme was hormonal changes during pubertal development.
Returning to Paris in 1968, he got a position as a senior research fellow, before pursuing his career in Geneva. He first had a position at the Children’s University Hospital as a research associate (1969−1972). He conducted collaborative studies with Professor Paunier on the hormonal changes during adrenarche. He also developed a radioimmunoassay to measure melatonin.
Together with Michel Aubert, his longtime research collaborator, he established the basic research laboratory of the Division of Biology of Growth and Reproduction, where he trained a vast number of biologists and fellows. He further developed his interest in developmental endocrinology, as shown by his numerous publications on the ontogenesis of human fetal pituitary hormones and hypothalamic factors. He was able to initiate several collaborative research studies around the world.
Pierre became an Assistant Professor in 1972, an Associate Professor in 1979, and a Full Professor in 1982. He remained Head of the Division of Biology of Growth and Reproduction until his retirement in 1997.
He received the Bizot Prize from the University of Geneva for his research in 1975. In 1981, he was awarded the Nessim Habif Prize and, in 1995, ESPE presented him with the Andrea Prader Prize.
In addition to the remarkable achievements of his career, Pierre raised a family of three children with his wife Marie-Thérèse, who supported him with devotion.