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\begin{document}

\title{In Memoriam: Haig H. Kazazian, Jr. (1937-2022)}



\author[1]{Garry Cutting}%
\affil[1]{Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine}%


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  \date{May 25, 2024}


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With great sadness, we report that Haig Kazazian, Founding Co-Editor of
\emph{Human Mutation,} died on January 19, 2022 of complications related
to congestive heart failure.%
\end{abstract}%



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In Memoriam: Haig H. Kazazian, Jr. (1937-2022)

Garry R. Cutting

Editor, \emph{Human Mutation}

Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of
Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland

With great sadness, we report that Haig Kazazian, Founding Co-Editor
of\emph{Human Mutation,} died on January 19, 2022 of complications
related to congestive heart failure. We extend our condolences to his
wife Lilli and his children Haig III and Sonya and their families.

Haig spent his entire career passionately devoted to human genetics. He
spent most of his academic life at Johns Hopkins, starting with Medical
School then Pediatric Residency followed by training in genetics with
Barton Childs. In addition to running a highly productive research
program, Haig oversaw the formation of the Center for Medical Genetics
that combined the Pediatric and Adult genetics units at Hopkins. Haig
was a prolific mentor, overseeing the successful transition of dozens of
fellows and graduate students to independent researchers. Two
autobiographic reviews detail Haig's contributions and illustrate his
infectious enthusiasm for science (Kazazian, 2017; Kazazian, 2021).

\emph{Human Mutation} owes its existence to an outstanding partnership
between Haig and Richard ``Dick'' Cotton. Both were keenly interested in
the detection of DNA variants associated with human disease, leading to
the formation of this journal in 1992. The concept of a journal
dedicated to the discovery of human variants and their functional and
clinical implications was prescient. Over the 30 years of its existence
(and counting), \emph{Human Mutation} has witnessed an explosion in
variant detection, from the almost universal adoption of the PCR methods
in research and clinical labs, to the broad implementation of
next-generation sequencing, the proliferation of variant databases and
to the growth of clinical molecular genetic testing into a multi-billion
dollar industry. Haig was delighted with the success of \emph{Human
Mutation} as documented in a Special Issue commemorating the
25\textsuperscript{th} anniversary of the journal. (Cutting and
Kazazian, 2016). The issue was dedicated to Dick Cotton, who had died in
the previous year.

Haig's lifelong commitment to mentoring underlies my current appointment
as Editor of the journal. I had just begun my independent research
career at Hopkins after a highly fulfilling postdoc with Haig. As he has
done for many others, Haig gave me an early career stage opportunity to
mature my approach to science while increasing my visibility at an
international level by inviting me to be a Communicating Editor for the
journal. Haig always made time to advise me regarding the merit, or in
some cases, lack of merit in a manuscript and recommend how to reconcile
divergent reviewer opinions. On these occasions, Haig would never fail
to ask me how my research was going, what I found interesting of late,
and to encourage me to persevere when I hit a wall in the lab, in
funding or in the publishing arena. I will also be forever grateful for
Haig's unwavering confidence in me, particularly in his providing me the
opportunity to succeed him on study sections, national committees and as
a Co-Editor of this journal. Haig's tireless promotion of his former
trainees and willingness to make time for anyone who had a scientific
question throughout his career provided a role model that many are
striving to emulate.

In the later phase of his career, Haig assumed the Chair of the
Department of Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine, a position he held for 12 years before returning to Hopkins to
focus on his research in transposable elements. Arupa Ganguly, PhD,
Professor of Genetics and Director of the Genetic Diagnostic Laboratory
at the University of Pennsylvania, provided comments reflecting Haig's
time at UPenn:

I first met Haig 29 years ago at a Human Mutation Detection meeting in
Turin, Italy. That encounter took me in the direction of defining
molecular genetic causes of human diseases, including breast cancer
genes, as my career path for the last three decades. He asked me to join
the journal as a Communicating Editor in 2003, which has continued to
this day. It has been a very fulfilling and rewarding experience that I
will cherish forever. I have also had the privilege of riding on a
unique journey with Haig in the realm of Gene Patenting while he was at
Penn. Haig and I were the lead co-plaintiffs in the now famous case of
ACLU versus Myriad Genetics in 2008. I sat next to him inside the
Supreme Court on the day of deliberations in April, 2013 and we
celebrated together the unanimous decision that genes cannot be patented
in June, 2013. At Penn, Haig hired a whole generation of junior faculty
members whose careers have matured into big scientific success stories.
One of his main contributions was to build bridges between basic
scientists at Penn with clinical human geneticists at Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia. This effort resulted in many successful
collaborations including training multiple physician scientists who have
gone on to be leaders in many different organizations. His scientific
curiosity compelled him to always ask questions and raise intriguing
thoughts at every meeting he attended -- be it departmental Journal Club
or the American Society of Human Genetics annual meetings. His friends
and colleagues at the department at Penn deeply felt his absence after
he left for Johns Hopkins. We all missed the casual encounters with him
as he walked into our offices which often led to long discussions on
science, how to teach medical genetics, empathy for immigrant
colleagues, students, and post-docs and, above all, life and family. I
saw his biggest smile when his grandson unveiled his photograph that
adorns the wall of Clinical Research Building Lobby.

Arupa's sentiments and those of her colleagues at Penn encompass themes
repeated by faculty at Johns Hopkins and among the Editorial Board of
this journal. Mark H. Paalman, PhD, Publisher of Molecular Medicine and
Genetics at Wiley, offered comments from the publisher's perspective:

On its founding in 1992, \emph{Human Mutation} was conceived with both
patient-oriented and functional aspects of human molecular genetics in
mind. Haig, a renowned research clinician, collaborated with technical
scientist Richard ``Dick'' Cotton to lead the journal with a yin-yang of
application and innovation for fifteen years. They were dedicated to
making their journal relevant beyond just citations and downloads. In
fact, I'd argue that Haig and Dick anticipated the present era of open
science. In the late 1990s, they launched a section of free online-only
articles years before ``open access'' exploded. In the early 2000s, they
insisted on making the novel genetic variation data they published
freely available through public databases. As their managing editor and
publisher, it was all I could do to keep up with them as they
pushed\emph{Human Mutation} into the future! The editorial and
scientific success of Haig was not achieved at the expense of others.
For me, Haig will forever remain an exemplar of the best type of
scientist-editor: one who, while forward thinking, does not lose sight
of the present and those within it. Evident at every encounter was his
engagement, with not only the science but, more importantly, with the
people behind it. Haig would urge the editorial board toward excellence,
but not merely in pursuit of an Impact Factor. He was not an editor who
ticked the boxes and processed the papers. He was all about inspiring
those with whom he worked. For the journal, this meant cultivating
relationships with not just the editors and reviewers and office staff,
but also the authors. Haig was among the most sincere, honest, and
approachable scientists I have ever known, never too busy to answer a
question or to suggest an approach. After he retired as Co-Editor in
2007, he stayed on as a Communicating Editor and continued, gently, to
assist where needed and advise if asked. Along with Haig's numerous
acquaintances over the years at Wiley, I am so grateful for having had
the opportunity to walk a bit of this earth with him.

We thank Haig for his friendship, warmth and support. Maintaining his
spark of curiosity and passing it to future generations would be a
fitting way to commemorate Haig's life.

REFERENCES

Cutting GR and Kazazian HH. 2016. 25 Years of Human Mutation. Human
Mutation 37:503-504. doi/10.1002/humu.22988

Kazazian HH. 2017. Fifty Years in Human Genetics -- A Career
Retrospective. FASEB Journal 31:3712-3718.
doi/full/10.1096/fj.201700502RR

Kazazian HH. 2021. A Long, Fulfilling Career in Human Genetics. Annual
Review of Genomics and Human Genetics 22:27-53.
doi/10.1146/annurev-genom-111620-095614

FIGURE

Portrait by Paul McGuirk Photography

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