Remembering Juliane Léger

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Colleagues,

It is with the deepest sadness that we announce the passing of Professor Juliane Léger, Professor of Developmental Biology at Université Paris Cité and a prominent member of the endocrinology and diabetology department of Robert-Debré Hospital, on September 27, at the age of 71.

Professor Juliane Léger embodied above all excellence in pediatric endocrinology, particularly in the fields of thyroid diseases, growth disorders, vasopressin deficiency, and precocious puberty. There was no area of pediatric endocrinology to which she did not make an important contribution. She also had a fierce commitment to passing on her discipline and played an essential role in training young doctors both nationally and internationally.

Professor Juliane Léger spent her entire career within the Assistance Publique–Hôpitaux de Paris. After completing her pediatric residency, she was appointed chef de clinique in 1984 at Necker Hospital and joined Robert-Debré Hospital when it opened in 1988. She became a Hospital Practitioner in 1990, a University Professor in 2003, and was a member of the joint Inserm–Université Paris Cité research unit U1141.

We pay tribute with emotion to her commitment to promoting quality medicine, based on evidence and the highest scientific standards. It is difficult to list all of her contributions, but we must highlight her fundamental role in the development of screening for congenital hypothyroidism in France and Europe, and in improving the lifelong health of these patients, through highly original work on their outcomes in adulthood. She contributed to the development and proper use of growth hormone treatments in many contexts, not only for growth hormone deficiency but also for children born small for gestational age, and more recently for patients suffering from anorexia nervosa. She advanced the study of large cohorts of patients with Turner syndrome and other rare diseases and participated in developing knowledge in the field of variations of sexual development. In the area of precocious puberty, she helped improve epidemiological understanding, identified familial forms and genetic causes, and clarified the conditions for appropriate treatment. She transformed the management of Graves’ disease in children by identifying the differences from the adult form and their implications for care. In addition to her original research, Juliane Léger took part in many consensus conferences and guidelines that today shape the quality of care internationally.

Juliane Léger was an extraordinary mentor to young physicians in the field. Countless residents, fellows, and international trainees benefited from her guidance on theses, dissertations, and articles. This mentorship, always kind and supportive, enabled her to form lasting friendships with many colleagues in France, across Europe, and beyond. She was passionate about teaching, both in her department with medical students and residents, and within the French Pediatric Endocrinology Diploma Program.

Juliane Léger was strongly committed to ESPE and had been a member for decades. She participated in the first ESPE summer school in 1987. She served as Council member and as member of the Clinical Practice Committee. Together with Prof Malcolm Donaldson —himself recently deceased— she founded the ESPE – Maghreb School of Pediatric Endocrinology, to promote the development of the discipline in the Maghreb and more broadly in Francophone Africa. This highly successful school has a prominent influence on the development of pediatric endocrinology in this part of the world.

Over the course of her career, Professor Juliane Léger received many of the most prestigious awards in the field, most notably the Andrea Prader Prize in 2022.

Juliane Léger played a crucial role in developing the management of rare diseases in France, both within endocrinology and across specialties in the APHP.Nord–Université Paris Cité hospital group. She created and developed the Reference Center for Rare Endocrine Growth and Development Diseases (CRESCENDO) in 2005 and coordinated it until 2023. She also contributed to establishing the rare diseases Firendo network as deputy coordinator from 2013 to 2022. She was involved in the establishment of Endo-ERN and served as pediatric chair for the Thyroid MTG.

Juliane Léger was an exceptionally attentive and rigorous physician, caring for many patients who were deeply attached to her. Observing her consultations was always a rich lesson, both medically and humanly.

To her husband, Jean-Marc, her daughters, Sophie, Pauline, and Alice, her granddaughters, and her loved ones, we extend our most sincere condolences and share in their grief. We will always feel privileged to have had the chance to work alongside such an exceptional woman. She leaves an immense void in our department, in our hospital, and in the national and international pediatric endocrinology community.

Written by Jean-Claude Carel, Laetitia Martinerie, Élise Bismuth, Laura Atger, Ahlam Azar, Elodie Fiot, and Caroline Storey,
on behalf of the medical and paramedical team of the department of pediatric endocrinology and diabetes, Université Paris Cité, Hôpital Robert-Debré, France.