In Memoriam: Chris Wood

It is with great sadness that we heard of the loss of Chris Wood in 2021. Born in 1963, his death came much too early.

He was an excellent urologist and his knowledge and experience in kidney cancer made him one of the world’s leading experts in this field. His surgical approaches to advanced renal cell carcinoma, in particular, gave the kidney cancer community the backbone of our tool kit to treat this condition. Chris always communicated and published his results in a way that was as honest and straightforward as he was in person. In addition he liked to discuss individual cases, surgical strategies and complications. We remember the many panels at congresses where he gave his personal opinions on the pros and cons of surgery in different scenarios. He also saw the unmet need to cure kidney cancer at an advanced stage, and exploring neoadjuvant strategies, using resected tissue for analysis and new vaccine adjuvant strategies became the backbone of his clinical approaches in renal cell carcinoma. This greatly enhanced the prognosis of his patients, for whom he cared deeply.

With Chris we lose a great pioneer in kidney cancer, a widely respected colleague and a much valued associate editor for our relatively young journal. We offer our support and condolences to those he left behind: his family and friends, his colleagues, and his patients.