A tribute to Professor Dr. Luiz Erlon Araújo Rodrigues

As the year 2026 begins, the School Bahiana I couldn't fail to pay tribute to our beloved Professor Dr. Luiz Erlon Araújo Rodrigues, who passed away on December 21, 2025, at the age of 86.

Professor Erlon was born in Itabuna and graduated in medicine from UFBA in 1965. The following year, he began his teaching career, becoming a professor of medical biochemistry for several generations at UFBA and at [the university/institution name is missing from the original text]. Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública.

However, Professor Erlon was more than just a Biochemistry professor; he was a true mentor who leaves behind hundreds of students saddened by his passing, but grateful for having been able to share his life with him and learn from his vast experience.

A School Bahiana of Medicine I hereby express my deep gratitude for all your years of dedication to teaching and research, for all the challenges faced, and for your constant willingness to contribute to making... School Bahiana of Medicine the school of excellence that it has become.

We will borrow the heartfelt words of Professor Humberto de Castro Lima Filho, Coordinator of the Medicine course and Vice-Rector of the School Bahiana, to honor him at the time of his passing.

“Like so many here, I had the privilege of being his student and enjoying his company. There was no salvation outside of biochemistry, but Professor Erlon's life and teachings infinitely transcended the limits of the Krebs cycle. It is true that, when he described molecular interactions, NADHs, FADs, and so many complex enzymatic interactions, he would often pause, look at the class, point to his own arm, demonstrating piloerection, and say: “I got goosebumps.” Sometimes the goosebumps were more intense, causing him to run his hand over the back of his neck and linger a few seconds longer in an eloquent silence that evidenced his love for knowledge and the act of teaching. He was moved by the beauty of biochemistry, but he didn't demand that we have the same affection for the subject. As a great educator, he taught us the need for each of us, his students, to discover what gave us “goosebumps.”

An admirer of France and French culture, Professor Erlon cultivated a savoir-vivre that resonated in the classroom. His aphorisms, full of humor, irony, and depth, interspersed with anecdotes and stories from his life, somewhat alleviated the weight of biochemistry. He demanded an academic etiquette that guaranteed didactic elegance, a liturgy in social relations, and mutual respect—values ​​even more necessary today. “Tortoises don't climb trees, Humberto,” I remember him telling me. Not everyone needs to like biochemistry. In fact, I think few people do. But Professor Erlon taught me that everyone needs to discover what they love and that, to be happy, even a tortoise needs to learn what makes it “shiver.”