Homage to Ketty

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, it is our great pleasure to welcome you in Paris to celebrate the numerous scientific and personal contributions of Ketty Schwartz during this symposium “From cardiac remodelling to biotherapies”.

The symposium serves two purposes, as it combines state of the art scientific presentations, and the souvenir of personal relationships built with Ketty, or between us, thanks to her. We will therefore celebrate the memory of Ketty “La Dame de Cœur”, as an eminent scientist who has been a pioneer of molecular cardiology, a friend and/or mentor for many of us, and a person dedicated to the promotion of patient associations and development of new therapies. The symposium brings together internationally renowned scientists who were/are involved in the three periods of Ketty’s career. We will review the three main topics she was involved in : molecular cardiac remodelling in diseases, then genetics and pathophysiology of cardiac diseases, and finally therapies of cardiac and skeletal muscle diseases.

We are also very happy to welcome you at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, an historical place where several neurological, neuromuscular and cardiac diseases were identified, described and teached by renewed physicians. Indeed the Institute of Myology and the Research Unit headed by Ketty were grounded here under the auspices of Guillaume Duchenne, Jean-Martin Charcot, Alfred Vulpian, Joseph Babinski... Remembering these examples, let us place this symposium under the signs of memory, scientific excellence, and friendship.

Last but not least, we come together to enjoy good science, fruitful discussions and stimulating exchanges of ideas in an environnement that was familiar to Ketty. We are very grateful to all of you, particularly those who came from far away to attend the meeting.

We are looking forward to a touching and exciting meeting!

Gisèle Bonne and Lucie Carrier