On February 1, 2021, José Alfonso Jurado López fell victim to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, one of the countless lives taken by the virus. He died at the age of 68 years, a few weeks after contracting COVID-19 and several days after being admitted to La Paz University Hospital in Madrid, where his son, Alfonso Jurado Román, works.

Alfonso, as he was known to those closest to him, was for many years Chief Medical Officer and head of the Department of Ergometry and Nuclear Cardiology of the Madrid Institute of Cardiology (ICM), known to many as “the school”, due to its original name: Spanish School of Chest Diseases (Escuela Nacional de Enfermedades del Tórax). There, he lived and worked with many colleagues with fond memories of him, maintaining not only a working relationship with them, but also one of friendship and respect. How could it be otherwise with Alfonso?

He was the driving force behind nuclear cardiology in the ICM and one of the Spanish pioneers in this field. Thanks to his capacity for teamwork, he created the Nuclear Cardiology Unit in 1992 in collaboration with the Department of Nuclear Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine of the Complutense University of Madrid. In 1999, he introduced a new technique, gated-SPECT, and, in 2001, nuclear cardiology became a separate activity in the hospital with the creation of a dedicated unit equipped with a gamma camera and a nuclear medicine specialist. Alfonso taught at the hospital, a highly important task that will never be forgotten by any of the residents who passed through the ICM. This work facilitated a huge advance in the use of these techniques, whose clinical application has been vital for subsequent generations of specialists.

Proof of his research into the application of nuclear techniques to the field of ischemic heart disease is 18 invited lectures, 92 conference communications, 24 articles published in specialized journals, 4 chapters in nuclear cardiology books, and 4 doctoral theses. In addition, he participated in 5 multicenter studies and was awarded numerous prizes and research grants.

In his later years, from his position in the Health Technology Assessment Unit of the Madrid Ministry of Health, Alfonso served as an example to us all by bringing together numerous professionals throughout the country to collect data and publish articles. He was tireless...

Alfonso collaborated with and generously and selflessly helped many of the physicians working in the ICM. Since his passing, many of us have felt compelled to express our love, respect, admiration, and appreciation. Some marveled at how he systematically noted, crossed out, and rewrote absolutely everything in his schedule, as a bulwark against being “the most disorganized and forgetful guy in the world”. Others remembered how great a teacher he was, due to his ability to relay his deep love for nuclear cardiology and due to his closeness to his residents, who could come to him with any problem, as if he were a father or a best friend. He welcomed us when we first arrived in Madrid, unraveled the peculiarities of the coffee facilities during our first watch, taught us how to prepare slides using Harvard Graphics, before PowerPoint ever existed, and exhorted us to keep a sharp eye on the ECG screen during stress testing. A devoted fan of Real Madrid, on Mondays, he searched for someone in the hospital to discuss the weekend's game, analyzing the reason for each play, relentlessly so. A tireless fighter and a winner in every field, we are certain that he is up in heaven organizing everything, even some games of cards!

Alfonso had three passions in life and, naturally, each had its place: his family, his work, and his Real Madrid. He enjoyed and prioritized each as appropriate. He devoted time, enthusiasm, passion, and dedication to everything, because that's how he was... a great person, outstanding professional, and unbeatable husband and father.

As St. John of the Cross said, at the evening of life, we shall be judged on love alone. This, our friend had in abundance.

Thank you, Alfonso, for the mark you have left on us.