Our colleague, Dr. Erica Quintana, passed away in Paris on June 17, 2025.

Erica was born in 1936 in San Rosendo, Chile. She completed her medical studies at the University of Concepcion and then practiced general medicine in Patagonia until 1970, in a very versatile practice (including pediatric surgery and obstetrics!). She completed her training in Santiago and specialized in pediatrics. Committed to opposing the Pinochet dictatorship, she had to flee to France with her four children in 1974. She worked until 1976 in the Pediatric Oncology Department headed by Dr. Odile Schweisguth at the Gustave Roussy Institute, then joined the Pediatric Oncology Department headed by Professor Jean-Michel Zucker at the Curie Institute, from its opening in 1977 until the early 2000s.

Throughout her career, she has focused on comprehensive care for sick children and adolescents and their families, who have expressed their gratitude to her on many occasions. Dr. Erica Quintana has always convincingly emphasized the multidisciplinary nature of her practice, not only with the various medical specialties involved but also with the various healthcare professions. Her research interests primarily focused on mesenchymal tumors, malignant germ cell tumors, and lymphomas. She also contributed to the first chemotherapy trials for orbital retinoblastoma and to the analysis of second tumors in hereditary forms.

She was an active member of the SIOP and the SFOP/SFCE and maintained close relationships throughout her career, particularly at the annual conferences, with her SLAOP colleagues.

Kindly written and translated from French to English by François Doz with valuable contributions from Erica’s daughter Paulina Margulis and from Professor Jean-Michel Zucker.