In April of this year, Felipe Moreno Granado passed away. He was former chief of the Cardiology Department of La Paz Children's Hospital (Madrid), of which he was also director for several years. With Felipe, we have lost the last founding member of this prestigious department.
The study and treatment of congenital heart diseases in Spain received a huge boost with the incorporation of Manuel Quero to the then-recently inaugurated La Paz Children's Hospital in 1965. Quero was a young graduate of Complutense University who had received good training in cardiology from Professor Casas, head of the School of General Pathology. An excellent cardiology unit had been established there, directed by Pedro Zarco, who led many students to an early cardiology vocation. This distinguished group of students included Víctor Pérez and Felipe Moreno Granado, friends and colleagues of Manuel Quero, whom he incorporated into the cardiology department that he was establishing.
Pediatric cardiology in La Paz Hospital soon acquired a huge impact at national and international levels. Notable contributions were received from the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Department of Francisco Álvarez Díaz, where the correction of congenital heart diseases, even its complex forms, was being successfully developed. This trajectory recently culminated in a large pediatric heart transplant program directed by one of his disciples, Ángel Aroca.
In August 2021, at the funeral for Francisco Álvarez Díaz, I met Felipe for the last time. Despite his ailments, we shared a lucid conversation, marked by his well-known plainspokenness and delightful warmth.
In 1977, Felipe Moreno was appointed department chief after the transfer of Manuel Quero to Hospital Ramón y Cajal. During his long and conciliatory leadership, with no hint of egomania, Felipe knew how to maintain the scientific and teaching heritage of the department; he published numerous articles and was an admired teacher. But, without a doubt, he stood out for his determined and expert care for children with heart diseases, working tirelessly for their cure. This zeal facilitated the creation in La Paz Hospital by José María Oliver of one of the first Adult Congenital Heart Disease Units, where Felipe continued the follow-up and treatment of many of those children.
During his well-deserved rest after his retirement in 2005, Felipe was able to spend more time with his children, grandchildren, and Pilar, his wife, who remained at the foot of his hospital bed in his last days. In his house in La Cabrera and in his village, Barco de Ávila, he enjoyed the mountain air, walking and meeting up with his compatriots, recalling the times of his youth. He occasionally accepted invitations to participate in conferences and symposia, where his clear and sound speeches were met with great interest.
The memory of Felipe will live on in his friends, colleagues, and many of those whose childhood heart conditions he treated.
José A. Sobrino Daza
Madrid, Spain