Photo credit: It-Torċa/L-Orizzont
The Department of Paediatrics within the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery has recently lost one of its most senior and longest serving Senior Lecturers, Dr Victor Calvagna, just a few days after a tragic road accident.
Victor has been a loyal and stalwart supporter of both the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes for more than twenty years, where he focused on his specialty, Paediatric Oncology and related conditions.
Victor’s down-to-earth and ‘open’ personality ensured that he was much loved by his colleagues, peers and students alike, not to mention his young patients and their families. He was an excellent clinician but also took his teaching and examining commitments very seriously.
Quite simply, he was always ‘there’ when needed. He led by example, not least in the promotion of healthy living through exercise, where he excelled. Indeed, he was still as active and as committed to numerous sports as when he was a teenager!
He lived life to the full and put his heart and soul into all that he took on. He achieved a great deal, not least as a founding member, President and driving force behind one of Malta’s most active charitable institutions, the Puttinu Cares Foundation.
Yet despite all his successes within the clinical, academic, sporting and social spheres, Victor remained forever humble and ‘the same old Victor’: completely approachable, enthusiastic without compromise and, as a consequence, universally respected.
The Department of Paediatrics within the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery has recently lost one of its most senior and longest serving Senior Lecturers, Dr Victor Calvagna, just a few days after a tragic road accident.
Victor has been a loyal and stalwart supporter of both the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes for more than twenty years, where he focused on his specialty, Paediatric Oncology and related conditions.
Victor’s down-to-earth and ‘open’ personality ensured that he was much loved by his colleagues, peers and students alike, not to mention his young patients and their families. He was an excellent clinician but also took his teaching and examining commitments very seriously.
Quite simply, he was always ‘there’ when needed. He led by example, not least in the promotion of healthy living through exercise, where he excelled. Indeed, he was still as active and as committed to numerous sports as when he was a teenager!
He lived life to the full and put his heart and soul into all that he took on. He achieved a great deal, not least as a founding member, President and driving force behind one of Malta’s most active charitable institutions, the Puttinu Cares Foundation.
Yet despite all his successes within the clinical, academic, sporting and social spheres, Victor remained forever humble and ‘the same old Victor’: completely approachable, enthusiastic without compromise and, as a consequence, universally respected.
The number of individuals, bodies, Departments and Institutions who will miss him is too long to list. Certainly, the academic Department of Paediatrics within the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery has lost a friend, colleague, mentor, teacher and, ultimately, an irreplaceable asset.
Our thoughts are with his dear wife Carmen, his daughters and all of his family who have suffered the greatest loss of all. Yet, despite the tragedy of his untimely demise, we may draw solace from the privilege of having known and worked closely with such a wonderful person for several decades.
Professor Simon Attard Montalto
Head, Department of Paediatrics,
Faculty of Medicine and Surgery
Professor Godfrey LaFerla
Professor Godfrey LaFerla
Dean,
Faculty of Medicine and Surgery
Faculty of Medicine and Surgery