DAME SHEILA SHERLOCK, SPIDERS, CAPILLARIES, AND THE EVOLUTION OF HEPATOLOGY

Abstract

Dame Sheila Sherlock stands as an unprecedented and unparalleled towering figure in the entire history of hepatology, a discipline she defined and shaped. Her keen scientific mind and untiring drive led to many landmark discoveries, yet it was her unconventional mix of wit, satire, and a unique love and haterelationship with her colleagues and students that made her an icon. Notably, her most famous paper: “Spiders and Capillaries”published way back in time ( Hepatology in 1989) encapsulated both her genius and her foresight into the future of liver diseases, predicting the profound changes that would sweep hepatology over the next half-century and more¹.