A Great Doctor in the Broadest Sense

Lorenzo Tomatis was a great doctor in the broadest sense: he gave a major contribution to cancer research, devoting himself to study cancer causes and prevention. His job was not only to serve Public Health but to denounce social and health inequalities without threats by political and economic constraints. The medicine, like all sciences, has as its goal the acquisition and expansion of knowledge, but also it has as its main task the protection, care and well-being of the individual (....). Having an ethical value medicine is, as many seem to forget, an atypical science" wrote Lorenzo Tomatis, one of the leading oncologists worldwide, in 2005 (1). This statement can be considered as his best business card. Lorenzo Tomatis was born in Ancona in 1929 and he graduated in Medicine and Surgery in Turin in 1953, before specializing in occupational medicine. Because he was already interested in the role of chemicals as potential carcinogens, in 1959 he chose to join the researchers of the Division of Oncology at Chicago Medical School, led by Philippe Shubik. The Shubik's group had an international reputation in the field of chemical carcinogenesis and Tomatis was rapidly absorbed into the group. According