Jacques Louis Binet passed away at the age of 92 on December 17th, 2024.
Student of Professor Jean Bernard who introduced the treatment of acute leukemia in France, of Professor Georges Mathé the first to show the importance of immunity in cancers and of Professor Marcel Bessis internationally recognized for his work on the morphology and functioning of hematopoietic cells.
He arrived in 1969 at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital where he created hematology, both in its clinical and biological aspects. It was during a stay in New York in 1960 in the laboratory of Nobel Prize winner George Pallade where he learned to observe the constituents of blood cells under an electron microscope, that he took advantage of the city’s artistic richness to develop his second interest: modern art.
It was not until 1980 that Jacques Louis Binet was officially appointed head of the hematology department and was able to benefit from two floors of the Laveran pavilion, one reserved for the clinic and the other for biological work. He managed these two very complementary departments, thus going from the patient to the bench and back to the patient.
He was a pioneer in clinical research with the description of the prognostic classification of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) which bears his name and which remains as robust 40 years later despite therapeutic developments, giving him international recognition. This recognition allowed him to unite French clinicians within one of the first cooperative groups that continues, producing numerous therapeutic protocols published in the best journals, and to launch the first workshop on CLL (iwCLL) in Paris in 1979.
Also a pioneer in new technologies that allow the automated identification of pathological cells, he conducted several collaborative studies at the Institute of Mathematical Morphology of the research center of the École des Mines in Fontainebleau.
He was president of the ethics committee of Pitié-Salpêtrière (1989-1991).
He trained many students and taught them not only hematology but also respect for the patient, listening and empathy.
We would like to emphasize that he appointed more female academics than men throughout his career, who succeeded him in the laboratory and in the clinic, again revealing his pioneering quality.
His career was crowned by the Academy of Medicine, of which he became a member in 1999 by appointing him permanent secretary.
He also knew how to disseminate knowledge by using the media very early on, being co-producer of scientific programs at France Culture and president of the scientific unit of Sept, the television channel that was the forerunner of Arte. Thus he was able to lead a dual professional life with the same success: professor at the Pierre and Marie Curie University and professor of Contemporary Art at the Ecole du Louvre, where he held the chair for more than 10 years.
Former president of the advisory board of the National Center for Contemporary Art (CNAC), he was also one of the finest French connoisseurs of hospital architecture and its history.
He had been a corresponding member of the Academy of Fine Arts since 2002. At the same time, he organized numerous art exhibitions and published writings on painting.
Jacques Louis Binet was a fascinating and passionate man. When asked how he managed to combine these two passions, his answer was: “My life has been transformed by both, hematology and painting, and that has made me happy. It’s a chance to be passionate all your life.”
Paris, December 19th, 2024
Pr Hélène Merle-Béral, Pr Véronique Leblond, Pr Patrice Debré