We are very sorry to announce the loss of one of our members of the network, Dr. Andrea Farioli, Univerisity of Bologna, Italy. Andrea passed away at the age of 38, at a moment when he was heavily involved in the epidemiological response of the COVID-19 outbreak in his country. We would like to convey our deepest condolences to his family and friends, the Italian team and everyone who knew Andrea.

Andrea's colleague, Giulia Collatuzzo, has written some words in his memory:

We are all suffering the loss of one of our members and companions, Andrea Farioli.

He suddenly passed away leaving an irreparable loss. This makes us astonished and terrified.

He was an extremely skilled, sensitive medical doctor, with a wide experience and recognition from Harvard to IARC, Lancet publications and collaborations with international researchers despite his young age. His commitment during COVID-19 emergency was ceaseless, mirroring his community spirit and his complete dedication to medicine.

He was a brilliant teacher, passionate about epidemiology, capable of inspiring desire of knowledge and boosting his students, with a surprising attention to detect their personal attitudes. It is for this reason that he made me take part in COST, in which he recognized the motivation and the sense of enterprise.

What he has sown becomes now common treasure. I myself am responsible of his teachings and I testify his richness of thought and life.

Looking at the symbol of Harvard school you can read the word “veritas”. The concept of truth, so strongly permeant human life and history, was one of Andrea’s closest idea. I think that a person asking questions about truth is deeply committed to his way of living and so much responsible for others to be able to act honestly, trying to purify his own mind from prejudice, with an admirable effort to understand reality in its complex and mysterious magnitude. And now more than ever I see the linkage between truth and research, that is a means for discovering reality and describing it, bringing to light something invisible, or something unseen.

Andrea is in the heart of all of those who knew him.

Giulia Collatuzzo, Occupational Medicine Unit - University of Bologna