Abstract
Marco Perona was a chemist who obtained his degree in 1968 at the University of Turin where in 1969 he began to work in the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory of Sant'Anna Hospital. For a long period this hospital has been the largest European specialistic structure in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology. Marco's assignment was to set up the activity of a new Analytical Chemistry Unit within the laboratory whose mission was to perform the most complex types of biochemical tests, initially using both gas-chromato-graphy and radioimmunoassay, and later, modern immuno-metric automated platforms. The Unit was Marco's creation. He worked there every day, giving and asking for rigour, controlling methods, asking questions, resolving problems and designing new projects. His special skill was the ability to align scientific method and discipline in the field of clinical chemistry which, at the time, had not yet developed its own science or methodology. Marco applied the strictest rigour to those activities which arose from his own ideas.
He was involved in regional and national committees for evaluation of precision, quality control and assessment in clinical chemistry laboratory, as a member of SIBioC (Società Italiana di Biochimica Clinica). He was an expert in mathematics: he learned statistics and understood early on how much informatics could contribute to clinical laboratory information.
In the late 1980'she becameone of the pioneers of prenatal screening in Italy. Together with Angelo Carbonara (who was the director of Institute of Genetic at the University of Turin, and died in 1997) and Giuliana Mancini (who was the director of Clinical Chemistry Laboratory in Sant'Anna Hospital), Marco ensured that Turin was a centre of excellence in the field of prenatal screening. Marco was alert to new advances and was one of the first to implement serum markers determinations for the Triple test in prenatal screening for Down's syndrome. Since 1990 they began to offer Down's syndrome risk evaluation in Piedmont, the health district of Turin.
Marco worked to ensure that all pregnant women in Piedmont had access to quality prenatal screening services through a programme providing pre-screening information, correct ultrasound examination for pregnancy dating and high-quality serum markers determinations all performed in Sant'Anna Hospital Laboratory. This involved organizational skills as well as technical skills in processing and receiving the blood samples drawn in the numerous maternal care units which exist all over Piedmont territory. Marco's energies ensured the whole screening process was covered, including risk evaluation computed by a software programme which is the gold standard. Biochemists from many districts of Italy went to Turin to learn how to conduct a prenatal screening programme. In 1999 together with Mario Campogrande, who was the head of Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Sant'Anna Hospital, Marco promptly understood the great advance in the improved screening performance of the Integrated test for Down's syndrome and they worked together to introduce it into practice. In 1990, when Marco began prenatal screening test, about 1,200 women had a Triple test in Turin. By 2006, when he retired, about 20,000 women were having a screening test each year, and 63% of these tests were Integrated tests. To date, Piedmont is the single district in Italy where serum markers measurements, risk evaluations and consequent clinical advices are centralized in a single laboratory, where prenatal screening test results (positive rate, detection rate, OAPR, OANR) are closely monitored and annually audited.
During the 1990s Marco authored some publications in the area of prenatal screening; he later moved to the area of epidemiology and his last work was to take part to Controlled Antenatal Thyroid Study, supplying 5,000 women to recruitment and collaborating to establish reference values for thyroid parameters at the end of first trimester of pregnancy.
He was frequently present at ward rounds, as well as national and international scientific meetings where he preferred to listen than to talk. Marco was a shy man, honest, frank and generous. His judgments were sound and always based on good science and the need to improve medical care. Avoiding ostentation and publicity he avoided any formality, ceremony, and official meetings.
In everyone's eyes, in his own too, he was like a 17th century empiricist, who asserted that knowledge comes only, or primarily, from sensory experience. He believed that not only experiencing but also quantitative measurement was the essence of good practice. This made him proud of his work.
In his spare time he enjoyed touring Europe in his campervan with his family, his wife Franca, daughter Giulia, and son Paolo. He was an enthusiastic gardener, fond of listening to classical music and frequenting bookshops and libraries. He loved to collect old books, which filled all the spaces in his home.
Marco was a man to remember and respect for his service to clinical chemistry and medical screening.