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Professor Christian Hamel is deceased

Professor Christian Hamel died on Tuesday 15 August at the age of 62 years. He was a leading researcher, who made Montpellier to a center of excellence. In April, he set out on a new challenge: to propose a unique treatment in France against choroideremia, a degeneration of the retina.

Director of the neuroscience institute in Montpellier, head of the genetic sensory diseases team at the CHU, researcher by Insem, co-founder (with Vasiliki Kalatzis) of the start-up biopharmaceutical company Horama, professor Christian Hamel, father of two children, who died on August 15 at the age of 62, tirelessly pursued his goal of identifying the genes responsible for rare diseases affecting vision. In addition, I was always seeking for new treatments to heal these cruel diseases some day.
Choroidal disease, but also retinitis pigmentosa, with the support of Monique Roux, president of SOS retinitis, "struck down" by the disappearance of the researcher she accompanied since 1990 via equipment and funding of posts. Together, with the support of the surgical team at the Saint-Jean clinic, they were also busy reviewing a patient who was soon to be paired with an innovative implant.

Christian Hamel endowed Montpellier with France's first DNA bank on the disease. His consultation of ophthalmological genetics was one of the most important in France. Carried away by illness, he plunged his relatives, his patients, and the entire medical community into a cruel mourning.