Ana Aslan, alumna of the University of Bucharest, commemorated by the National Commission of Romania for UNESCO 50 years from entering the Romanian Academy

Recently, the National Commission of Romania for UNESCO paid homage to Ana Aslan on the occasion of celebrating 50 years since she was chosen as a member of the Romanian Academy. Professor Carmen Chifiriuc, UB Vice-rector for research, also attended the event on behalf of the University.

Founder of geriatric prophylaxis based on longitudinal studies in the field of active ageing, Ana Aslan (January 1^st – May 20^th 1988) graduated the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Bucharest in 1922. In 1924 she held her PhD thesis with the theme Research on the vasomotor innervation.

Between 1922 – 1925, she worked as an internal medicine physicist at hospitals in Bucharest, then as a cardiologist at the CFR hospital  (1931-1947), lecturer at the Medical Clinic of the Faculty of Medicine of Bucharest (1940-1946), physicist and Head of Department at the University Clinic of the Filantropia Hospital in Bucharest (1943-1947). She was an internal medicine professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Timișoara (1945-1949) and, later on, Ana Aslan becomes Head of the Physiology department at the Institute of Endocrinology of Bucharest (1949-1958).

A personality renowned worldwide for her innovative contributions to the medical field, Ana Aslan dedicated her life to researching the fields of gerontology and geriatrics, with exceptional results, with a significant scientific impact. Between 1952 and 1988, she was a Director of the Geriatrics Institute, The National Gerontology and Geriatrics Institute, where she conducted extensive research on the ageing process, the methods available for slowing this process and for ensuring the quality of life of elderly people. Starting 1992, the institute she worked for is named after her. More information about Ana Aslan can be found in a documentary available here.

Filled with emotion in rememorating the effervescence of scientific collaborations that last for decades, the recollections included messages of support to continue research, as well as those signaling the presence of women in first-rank positions in the all the areas of culture and science. In this context, organizers underlined the importance of getting familiarized with the most notable models in achieving high education at international level, as well the necessity to encourage young researchers both towards making fertile connections with previous notable results, as well as exploring new fields, open to the current needs of society. The conference was, at the same time, an occasion to recognize and reaffirm the imperative of maintaining a vibrant and determining connection between iconic academic institutions: the Romanian Academy, the University of Bucharest, the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy.

The full program of the event can be accessed here.

The Bucharest Faculty of Medicine (today the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest) used to be part, between 1869 – 1948, of the University of Bucharest. It was the fourth faculty established at UB (following the Faculties of Law, Letters and Philosophy and Sciences) and the first of its kind in our country, taking the place of the National School of Medicine and Pharmacy, founded in 1855 by Carol Davila. In 1948, the Faculty was transformed in the Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest. The faculty had the most complex structure of the similar components of the University of Bucharest, reuniting 34 departments and numerous laboratories, institutes and clinics, to which we add un significant number of teaching and auxiliary teaching staff. The first professors of the Faculty had finished their studies abroad, mainly in Paris, and subsequently, among the teaching staff we find important names of doctors who had finished their studies at the University of Bucharest or transferred here from Iași (or, in the 1920s, even from Cluj).

From the start, the institution attracted important personalities and, in time, it became a favorable environment for the appearance of important personalities of Romania and international medicine, such as George Emil Palade, who received the Nobel prize in 1974 for Physiology and Medicine, Daniel Danielopolu, precursor of the theory of biological systems and of biocybernetics, promoter of unspecific pharmacology, Constantin Ion Parhon, important representative of Romanian endocrinology and neuropsychiatry, Gheorghe Marinescu, the founder of the Romanian School of Neurology.

More information about the period that the Faculty of the Medicine functioned within the University of Bucharest is available on the website belonging to the Museum of the University of Bucharest, here.

Event at present, the University of Bucharest, mainly through the Faculties of Biology, Physics and Chemistry, but also through those with socio-humanities profiles, continues to have an essential contribution to the development of medicine and pharmacy through comprehensive and innovative research in the field of bioinformatics, genetics, neurosciences, developing new medicine, stem cells and tissular regeneration, as well as other areas of research connected to these.

In 2024, the University of Bucharest celebrates 160 years since its founding and 330 years of continuity of higher education in Bucharest since the founding, in 1694, of the Princely Academy by ruler Constantin Brâncoveanu, and aims to recover its own history and memory, including by recognizing and periodically celebrating the remarkable intellectuals who have animated memorable endeavors in the world of science, culture, innovation and research. A profoundly human dimension, whose substance attests to the complexity behind every step that consolidated modern science.