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Texas Childrens Hospital

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Pediatric Surgery
David E. Wesson, M.D.
Associate Surgeon-in-Chief
Texas Childrens Hospital
Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics
Baylor College of Medicine
6701 Fannin St. Suite 1210
Houston, Texas 77030
davidw@bcm.edu
Mrs. Rose M. Patten
Chair of Board of Trustees, The Hospital for Sick Children
Email; Rose.Pattenbino.coni
November 3, 2016
Dear Colleague,
We are an international community of surgeons who are shocked to see what is happening
to Professor Agostino Pierro.
Over the past year, it has been increasingly apparent that Professor Pierro has been
subjected to an incessant personal attack. The knowledge of that attack has reached
beyond Canada to the international surgical community. We are appalled to see this
happen to an academic leader of such high standing and impeccable reputation. We
know Professor Pierro and we know that the allegations of unprofessional behavior
against him cannot possibly be true.
He is a gentleman of the first order and has always conducted himself with great
civility in all the relationships and interactions that we have had and have witnessed
with colleagues over the years.
We send this letter to indicate our solidarity with Professor Pierro and hereby
register our concerns about the attacks against him, and the process to which he has
been subjected.

We urge you to intervene to halt the mistreatment and assaults on the reputation of
Professor Pierro. We fear that irreparable damage might already have been done to
his reputation, for no reason. We are prepared to discuss this further and to provide
supportive evidence to exonerate Professor Pierro.

Sincerely,

I ),.P
David E. Wesson, M.D.
Additional signatories to follow.

Prof. David Wesson

Prof. Paolo De Coppi

Professor of Surgery, Professor and Director,

Faculty Education & Development,
Department of Surgery, Pediatric Surgery,
Baylor College of Medicine
Associate Surgeon-in-Chief for Academic
Affairs, Department of Surgery,
Texas Childrens Hospital
Houston, TX 77030 U.S.A

NIHR Professor of Paediatric Surgery

Head of Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine
Section, Developmental Biology & Cancer
Programme,
Consultant Paediatric Surgeon,
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
London WC1N3JH U.K.

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Edward M. Kiely

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Prof. David Lloyd

Consultant Pediatric Surgeon

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
London WC1N3JH U.K.

Emeritus Professor of Pediatric Surgery,

University of Liverpool
Liverpool L69 3BX U.K.

Prof. Lewis Spitz

Pff, Juaii A. Tovar

Emeritus Nuffield Professor of Paediatric

Surgery, Institute of Child Health,
University College, London
Hon. Consultant Paediatric Surgeon,
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
London WC1N 3JH U.K.

Professor of Pediatric Surgery

University of Madrid, Departamento de Cirugfa
Peditrica
Hospital Universitario La Paz
28046 Madrid Spain

Prof. Risto Rintala

Prof. Tomas Wester

Professor of Pediatric Surgery,

University of Helsinki
Professor of Pediatric Surgery, Childrens
Hospital, Helsinki University Central Hospital
00290 Helsinki Finland

Professor of Pediatric Surgery,

Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm
Chairman of the EUPSA Scientific Office
Professor, Consultant Pediatric Surgeon
Karolinska University Hospital
171 76 Stockholm Sweden

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Prof. Prern Purl

Prof. Benno Ure

Professor of Pediatric Surgery, and Newman

Clinical Research Professor,
University College Dublin
Editor-in-Chief of Pediatric Surgery
International
President, National Childrens Research Centre
Our Ladys Childrens Hospital, Crumlin
Dublin 12 Ireland

Professor of Pediatric Surgery,

University of Hannover
Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of
Pediatric Surgery
Direktor des Zentrums Kinderchirurgie
Kinderchirurgische Klinik
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover
30625 Hannover Germany

Prof. Ragnhild Emblem

Prof. Giovanna Riccipetitoni

Professor of Pediatric Surgery,

University of Oslo
0316 Oslo Norway

Professor of Pediatric Surgery

University of Milan, Italy
President elect of the European Pediatric
Surgeons Association

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Prof. Arnold G. Coran

Prof. Alistair Millar

Professor of Surgery, University of Michigan

Emeritus Professor of Surgery,
C.S. Mott Childrens Hospital
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-4211 U.S.A.

Professor of Pediatric Surgery,

University of Cape Town
Cape Town, 7700 South Africa

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Prof. Paul Tam

ProI. Atsuy4i Yamataka

Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor,

Li Shu-Pui Professor and Chair of Paediatric
Surgery,
The University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Hong Kong

Professor of pdiatric Surgery,

Juntendo UnSersity School of Medicine
Tokyo 113-0033 Japan

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____

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Prof. Michael Hoellwarth

Professor of Pediatric Surgery,

University of Graz

8010 Graz Austria

Prof. Henri R. Ford

Vice President and Surgeon in Chief, Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles
Vice Chair and Professor, Department of
Surgery, Vice Dean of Medical Education USC
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Professor of Surgery and Vice Dean for Medical
Education, Keck School of Medicine, University
of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90027 U.S.A.

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Prof. Keith T.

Oldham

Professor of Surgery,
The Medical College of Wisconsin
Surgeon-in-Chief,
Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin
Milwaukee, WI 53266 U.S.A.

Prof. Robert M. Filler

Emeritus Professor of Pediatric Surgery,
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON