In Memoriam: Jochen Hinkelbein

Prof. Jochen Hinkelbein has been a highly esteemed clinician in emergency medicine and anaesthesia and a high-ranked researcher in his specialties. He had a passionate interest in aerospace medicine and he and his team have published a large number of publications in aviation and space medicine, particularly related to the management of in-flight emergencies in aircraft and space operations. From 2018 to 2024, he chaired the ESAM Space Medicine Group. He was Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association (FAsMA) and Fellow of the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (FESAIC).

We will deeply miss Jochen as President of our European Society of Aerospace Medicine (ESAM) and Chair of its Space Medicine Group in which he stimulated the interest of many colleagues.

Please follow the link to the AsMA website where a wonderful obituary detailing his Academic and Professional life is presented: https://www.asma.org/news-events/asma-news/in-memoriam-jochen-hinkelbein

As past president who handed over ESAM’s Presidency to Jochen in October 2024, I would like to share with you my personal feelings about Jochen's passing.

Jochen Hinkelbein was a man that dealt with life and all its challenges both physical and mental. He met death many times and saw its impact on strangers, colleagues and loved ones. He dealt with both professionally and with humanism.He was a son,
a father,
a partner who helped his children grow and develop into the persons that they will be.

In his professional life, he was a healer, a carer dedicated to salvaging the lives of others; strangers whose lives he touched but would never to be family (perhaps being, at most a great man in an uncomfortable memory).

He thrived in the world of science. He embraced the application of evidence to medical questions and revelled in the joy of finding solutions to clinical dilemmas.
He was a stickler for fairness!
He strived to share his knowledge, skills and experience in his teaching so that what he had learned would never be lost.

His feet were firmly planted on the ground with his eyes fixed on the stars and all that lay between. He epitomised the explorer. I cherish a recent road trip that he and I shared in Germany when we spoke and shared our plans, our hopes and our dreams for the future.

He asked me to be his wingman and I was honoured to accept. My regret is that I was not there when he needed a wingman that tragic day.

Jochen will live in those he loved and those that loved him.
Remember him for who he was and celebrate that your lives touched.
Could anyone ask for more?

Declan Maher
Past President ESAM