As some of you may know by now, our friend and mentor, Kirk Smith, has passed.  It is no exaggeration to say that he created the field of Household Air Pollution, and many of us might be spending our professional lives in different ways today were it not for his creativity, his drive, his charisma and his persistence.  

 Certainly, millions of women in India and around the world are cooking with cleaner stoves and fuels today because of his world class research and passionate advocacy over decades.  Kirk also mentored numerous scientists, including his own students, collaborators, more than a few program officers at NIH, as well as practitioners and policy makers around the world.  Some scientists really do change the world.

We will all miss him greatly, but of course, no one more than his immediate family. 

 With a heavy heart,

 Josh Rosenthal