The History of the Department
The history of the Department of Dermatology of Szeged goes back to the history of Transylvania (Romania), a territory previously belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary and its main city Cluj-Napoca. The Treaty of Trianon concluded at the end of World War I (4 June 1920) placed Transylvania under the sovereignty of Romania and the Ferenc József University of Sciences of Cluj-Napoca was threatened by strong Romanian influence.
The University functioned a three-semester-long period in Buda (Hungary) and then it had been successively re-established in Szeged. The departments and institutes of the University deprived of their properties, library and moulage-collections were temporarily placed at different parts of the city – the Department of Dermatology was housed in the former Hospital of the Austrian-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Army on the present Kálvária Avenue.
The construction of the present building of the Department of Dermatology and Venerology on the bank of the River Tisza were initiated by Kunó Klebelsberg, the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs in the oldest area of the city named as “Palánk”. The construction works began in October 1927 and the new department building was inaugurated on 7 November 1929.
Veress Ferenc M. D. (1918-1922)
Ferenc Veress was born in Bucharest (Romania) on 23 April 1877. After receiving his medical degree in Cluj-Napoca (Romania) in 1903 he obtained a residency position at the Department of Dermatology and Venerology at the University of Cluj-Napoca. In 1905 he became assistant professor and in 1910 private lecturer at the University. During World War I he served initially as troop physician and later as commander of the camp hospital ranked as Major.
In 1918 Ferenc Veress was appointed at the Department of Dermatology and Venerology at the newly established Elisabeth University of Bratislava (Slovakia). Prior to the Czech occupation in 1919 he went on holiday and returned no more to Bratislava due to his promotion to ordinary professor at the University of Cluj-Napoca on 20 January 1919. On 15 Ocober 1919 he had to leave Cluj-Napoca because of its Romanian occupation and followed the University re-located in the meantime to Szeged. Beginning from 17 November 1921 he initiated and co-ordinated the participation of the Department of Dermatology and Venerology in health care activities of the Hospital of the Austrian-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Army with the assistance of Lajos Heiner M.D. and Károly Berde M.D., facing the lack of essential pieces of equipment, e.g. laboratory utensils.
On March 1922 Ferenc Veress resigned his professorship due to family reasons and moved back to Cluj-Napoca.
Ferenc Poór M.D. (1923-1936)
Ferenc Poór was born in Budapest (Hungary) on 29 September 1871. After completing Bucharest Main High School he registered at the Budapest Royal University. He earned his medical degree in 1879. After one year residency at the Institute of Pathology led by Professor Ottó Petrik he obtained an assistant professor position at the Department of Internal Medicine chaired by Baron Professor Károly Kéthly. Beginning from the 1890’s he dedicated himself to the fields of dermatology, influenced by the works of his father, Imre Poór M.D in dermatology. In 1900 he obtained a residency and in 1902 an assistant professor position at the Department of Dermatology and Venerology at the Budapest University of Sciences. From 1905 he worked at the New Saint John Hospital (Új Szent János Kórház) as a physician. In 1907 he habilitated to private lecturer on the subject "The pathology and therapy of skin diseases”. In 1910 he became the head of the Department of Venerology at Saint Rocus Hospital (Szent Rókus Kórház). From 1917 he chaired the Department of Dermatology at Saint Stephan Public Hospital (Szent István Közkórház). Honouring his military service during World War I Ferenc Poór was awarded the War Cross for Civil Merit as well as the title Senior Health Counsel. He was elected as ordinary member of the Saint Stephan Academy (Szent István Akadémia).
On 28 May 1923 the chair position of the Department of Dermatology and Venerology at the Ferencz József University of Sciences in Szeged was offered to him. Until autumn 1929 the Department of Dermatology and Venerology functioned as an integrated part of the Hospital of the Austrian-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Army. Professor Poór held his first lecture on 12 November 1929 in the new department building.
In the 1930’s the building of the Department consisted of five floors (ground floor, mezzanine as well as first, second and top floor). The 115 m2 big lecture hall was on the mezzanine floor, opposite to the staircase. The rooms of the chairman were located on the left side of the upward stairs, along the Southern cross-coat. The histology laboratory was found in the Southern building wing, close to the garden, as well as the moulage laboratory and the biology laboratory. The library with a view to the River Tisza (today named as “Poór Imre Library) and the reading room with gallery were both located in the Southern building wing. The library was founded by Ferenc Poór in 1923, initially based on the collection assembled by his father. The outpatient rooms were found in the right part of the building, in the Northern wing, close to the garden. The part of the building close to the River Tisza was designated to actinotherapy (radiation therapy). The moulage museum was located on the first floor, opposite to the main staircase. The Marschalkó Room for the male patients and the Sigmund Room for the female patients were in Southern building wing, on its side close to the River Tisza. In addition, there were also several treatment rooms, namely the Hebra Room with a water bed, the Kaposi Room and three further large rooms. The physicians’ living room as well as the room shared by nurses and dietary nurses and two additional rooms for the servants were found on the third floor. The photo laboratory was located in the Northern building wing. The Southern part of the clinic building housed a covered air bath area, together with a sunbath area located on the roof.
Ferenc Poór started his scientific activity in the era when the dominant morphological aspect in dermatology was replaced by etiological and correlational approach. His most significant immunobiological studies covered tuberculosis and syphilis. His most remarkable case reports discussed Hutchinson’s teeth, early-stage syphilis with tabes, consequences of Treponema pallidum infection in pregnancy for the foetus and pellagra arising in the area of Szeged. He had nearly one hundred publications in Hungarian and different international journals.
There were several outstanding dermatologists who started their professional carrier at the Department of Dermatology under the professorship of Ferenc Poór, for instance Károly Berde M.D., the prospective chairman of the Department of Dermatology in Pécs (Hungary) and then in Cluj-Napoca as well as Kálmán Rejtő M.D. and György Nagy M.D.
Professor Poór had been suffering from severe polyarthritis deformans for more than a decade. He died in Szeged, on April 1936.
Miklós Melczer M.D. (1936-1940)
Miklós Melczer was born in Budapest, on 3 December 1891 and attended schools in the Hungarian capital. He received his medical degree in 1918. Between 1920 and 1928 he worked at the Budapest Department of Dermatology chaired by Professor Nékám. In 1927 the Johan Béla award was awarded to him. In 1928 he took over the chair of the Department of Dermatology at the Public Hospital in Kaposvár as a chief physician. He continued with his research project about dermatoviruses. He habilitated to private lecturer on the subject “Histobiology of the skin” in Pécs (Hungary) in 1932.
In 1936 Miklós Melczer was promoted to chairman of the Department of Dermatology in Szeged. He was the first one in the history of the Hungarian dermatology who performed experimental animal research in skin-related disorders. In addition, he continued to study lymphogranuloma inguinale and in 1942 a book with his results was published in German language.
Between 1940 and 1962 he acted as chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Pécs. Miklós Melczer earned Doctor of Sciences degree in 1952. Three years later, in 1955 he was awarded the Kossuth Award. In spite of his retirement in 1962, he remained active in research until the end of his life. In 1981 he received the Gold Medal of the Pro Universitate Award of the University of Pécs.
Research and science were always ranked first place in his life. He never joined the Hungarian Communist Party but bore the inconvenience resulting from his political opposition with extraordinary patience and merit.
He died at the age of 94, on March 1985.
Tamás Rávnay (Preininger) M.D. (1940–1963)
Tamás Rávnay was born into a landed gentry family in Regőce, in Bács-Bodrog County (Hungary) on 7 May 1893. The majority of the citizens in his home village were of German origin and his original family name was Preininger. Although he was not Jewish, he intended to prevent any future political pestering and altered his family name to Rávnay in 1939, after the name of an area of lands owned by his family called Rávna. He attended the high school of the Jesuit order in Kalocsa (Hungary) and obtained his medical degree from the Budapest University of Peter Pazmany 1920 in. During World War I he was obliged to enrol for military service. In 1920 he obtained a position in Budapest, at the Department of Dermatology chaired by Professor Lajos Nékám. In 1921 he was promoted to assistant professor at the Department of Dermatology and Venerology in Debrecen (Hungary) where he habilitated to private lecturer in 1928 and became extraordinary professor in 1932. From 1938 Tamás Rávnay led the Department of Dermatology of the Tisza István University of Sciences in Debrecen as executive chairman.
From 1940 until 1963 (his death) he functioned as chairman of the Department of Dermatology and Venerology at the University of Szeged. His scientific interest focused on agriculture-associated occupational diseases, etiology of scleroderma as well as diagnosis of pemphigus, chemotherapies, eczema and allergodermia. His scientific activity comprising nearly one hundred publications received a considerable international attention. From 1940 Tamás Rávnay acted as vice-president and then Co-President of the Hungarian Dermatological Society.
In 1952 a major change occurred to the Department: based on administrative instructions the Department of Internal Medicine II had been housed in the building of the Department of Dermatology. Due to this reorganization the utilizable space had been considerably decreased and this adversely affected the work at both Departments.
Tamás Rávnay’s sudden, unexpected death occurred on July 1963.
Miklós Simon M.D. (1965–1986)
Miklós Simon was born in Nagyrőcze, in Gömör-Kishont County (Slovakia) on 11 May 1916. Miklós Simon attended high school in Sárospatak (Hungary) and Miskolc (Hungary). He earned his medical degree from the Tisza István University of Sciences in Debrecen in 1943. During World War II he accomplished two years military service. In April 1945 he returned to the University of Debrecen where he started his research activities focusing on skin diseases caused by light and sun protecting substances interfering with the healing process of these conditions as well as on common skin manifestations of tuberculosis, due to the high infection rates in certain areas of Eastern Hungary. He successfully cured or rendered severe complicated skin tuberculosis to asymptomatic in patients living in those highly infected areas of Hungary and prepared his thesis discussing these results in 1958.
Miklós Simon was promoted to chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the Medical University of Szeged on 24. February 1965. As the instrumentation and the status of human resources were relatively insufficient, he made considerable efforts for the simultaneous improvement of education, research and patient care carried out at the Department. He recruited new, highly qualified doctors, introduced novel therapeutic alternatives and established new laboratories. A new operating room and doctor’s office had been added to the Plastic Surgery and Burn Care Unit. A research project on the pathogenesis of porphyrinopathias was launched in 1965, in co-operation with physicists, chemists and biologists.
Beginning from 1967 research in the field of clinical immunology had already been started: it was Professor Simon and his colleagues, Attila Dobozy M.D. and Sándor Husz M.D who first distinguished between sarcoidosis and all forms of tuberculosis as well as first inquired the background of drug allergy by means of in vitro immunological methods. Professor Simon prepared his academic thesis on the subject “Pathogenesis of porphyria cutanea tarda” and earned his DSc in 1982.
Professor Simon had wide professional and social relations with foreign colleagues and this also strengthened the international relations of the Department. Patient care and scientific research standards had been raised through exchange programs. Under the professorship of Miklós Simon Szeged hosted several annual meetings in dermatology with international participants which further improved the foreign relations of the Department. Professor Simon was invited speaker of two international dermatology congresses and participated on several international conferences. He had worked as visiting professor in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) for two years and held lectures as guest lecturer at mainly German but also Dutch universities.
He was honorary or corresponding member of seventeen foreign dermatology societies, e.g. the German, Austrian, Dutch, French, Polish etc. dermatology societies. Professor Simon was appointed board member (1968), president (1979–1983) and permanent honorary president (1996) of the German-Hungarian Society of Dermatology. In 1994 he was elected to permanent member of the Hungarian Dermatological Society.
Professor Simon was author or co-author of 305 scientific publications in Hungarian and foreign languages. In addition, he was author of two book (one textbook) chapters and editor of an etymology dictionary.
Professor Simon was awarded several commemorative medals during his life: Kaposi Mór Commemorative Medal, Rajka Ödön Commemorative Medal, Jancsó Miklós Commemorative Medal, Commemorative Medal of Charles University Prague, Commemorative Medal of the University of Amsterdam, Commemorative Medal of the University of Szeged, St. George (Szent György) Commemorative Medal, Outstanding Physician Award (1975). He was also awarded the Pro Universitate Award of the Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical University and the Medical University of Debrecen (1991) as well as the Award of the Scientific Council of the “Szegedért Alapítvány” (Pro Szeged Foundation) (1993). In 1994 he was awarded the Eötvös József Wreath of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences with the “Laureatus Academiae” title. In 1996 he became honorary citizen of Szeged. He was also awarded the László Batthyány-Strattmann Commemorative Award and the Professor Béla Fornet Commemorative Medal in 1999 and Széchenyi Prize in 2001. In the same year he was awarded the Karl Herxheimer Commemorative Medal in Berlin (Germany) and in 2006 the Semmelweis Award in Hungary.
Four of his previous colleagues received DSc and thirteen of them PhD; three of them became university doctors. Departmental chair was allotted to four out of the seven professors who started their professional career under the professorship of Miklós Simon; three of his past colleagues became associate professors, five of them became heads of dermatology departments in different county hospitals and many of them worked or still work as dermatologists in dermatology and venerology outpatient centers of Hungary.
In 1986 professor Simon retired, but he continued to work at the Department of Dermatology and Allergology as professor emeritus until his death on 25 June 2007.
Attila Dobozy M.D. (1986-2004)
In 1987 the Medical University of Szeged was renamed to Albert-Szent Györgyi Medical University after the Nobel Prize Laureate scientist. Its Department of Dermatology and Venerology was chaired by Attila Dobozy M.D.
Attila Dobozy was born in Szeged on 5 May 1939. He attended the Calvinist High School in Mezőtúr (Hungary) and was admitted to the Medical University of Szeged in 1957. Since his age of 18 he has been continuously living in Szeged. His wife, Helga Hammer M.D. is a professor of ophthalmology.
Since October 1963 Attila Dobozy had worked at the Institute of Microbiology in Szeged and he became assistant professor at the same institute in 1966. He then passed the clinical laboratory board certification exam. Attila Dobozy has been working at the Department of Dermatology of Szeged since 1 October 1968. In 1971 he became board certified in dermatology and in 1973 earned a position as assistant professor at the Department. He started his research activity under the supervision of Professor Miklós Simon. In 1979 he passed the immunology board certification exam and in the forthcoming decades he established a research group providing Europe-wide acknowledged scientific results in immunology. His major fields of research interest are clinical pharmacology, keratinocyte function and the pathogenesis of psoriasis.
On 1st July 1986 Attila Dobozy was promoted to chairman of the Department of Dermatology . In 1988-1990 the large patient rooms were rebuilt and converted into smaller, more comfortable four-bed-rooms. In 1991 a new, relatively modern outpatient unit was inaugurated on the underground floor, in place of the former laboratory animal house and operating room. Specialised outpatient units and certain therapeutic devices (PUVA and X-ray therapy devices) were also relocated to the new outpatient section of the Department. Laser therapy was found on the fourth floor of the clinic building. In 1993 a modern Plastic Surgery and Burn Care Unit was established with seven patient rooms separated by a sluice area from the adjacent parts of the ward. A sand bed was donated to the Department by the Hungarian Malteser Charity Service. Since 1993 the Plastic Surgery and Burn Care Unit has been functioning on the second floor. Modern light therapy equipment was purchased replacing the obsolete PUVA device. The city of Darmstadt donated a new argon laser to the Department and a CO2 laser system had also been installed.
Honouring the outstanding scientific achievement of the Department's Humboldt fellows modern ultrasound equipment for phlebology diagnostics, proctology instruments and a research microscope were donated to the Department. A Lymphomat device was also purchased with foundation support. Methods of dual – research and diagnostic – purpose (e.g. immunoblot and PCR technique) were introduced. Outpatient units specialized for PUVA therapy, porphyrinopathias, autoimmune diseases, allergology, naevus care, proctology, oncology, laser therapy, mycology, sexually transmitted diseases as well as clinical immunology and porphyrin laboratories were also established. The histological evaluation of diagnostic and operative specimens were performed in the own histology laboratory of the Department. Intra-operative histological assessment became also available.
Professor Dobozy was first corresponding member and since 2004 he has been full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS). He was president of the Committee for Clinical Immunology and Haematology Research of the HAS's Medical Sciences Section (1990–1994) as well as president of the Hungarian Dermatological Society (1991–1995), the Hungarian Society of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (1997) and the Scientific Board of Dermatology and Venerology (2001). Professor Dobozy is also president of the HAS's Council of Doctors (1998). He is member of several international scientific and research societies, including the European Society for Dermatological Research (1972–), the European Association of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (1990–), the European Immunodermatology Society (1991–1994), the International Society for Cutaneous Lymphomas (1994-) and the International Society for Dermatologic Surgery (1995–) as well as was elected to honorary member of the German Dermatology Society (1994–).
Professor Dobozy was awarded several prizes and awards, including Minister’s Commendation (1972), Reward Badge "Excellent Worker of Education" (1975), Kaposi Mór Commemorative Medal (1987), Medal of the Hungarian Immunology Society (1991), Aladár Genersich Award 1st Grade (1998), Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic - Commander's Cross (1999), Ignác Posonyi Medal (1999), Award of the Hungarian Health Society (2000), Gold Medal of the Hungarian Blood Service (2000), Lajos Markusovszky Commemorative Medal of the Hungarian Medical Journal (2002), Pro Pathologia Commemorative Medal (2002), Lóránd Kesztyűs Commemorative Medal (2003) and László Batthyány-Strattmann Commemorative Award (2003).
His positions held at the University of Szeged are as followings: Department of Dermatology – Chairman (1986-2004), Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical University – Vice-Rector for Clinical Affairs (1993-1997), Szeged Higher Education Association – President of Senate (1998-1999), Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical University – Rector (1997-1999), University of Szeged – Vice-Rector for General Affairs (2000-2003), Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical and Pharmaceutical Center – President (2000-2003), "Clinical Medicine" Postdoctoral Program of the University of Szeged – Chairman (2001-).
Lajos Kemény M.D. (2004-)
Lajos Kemény was born in Szeged on 14 April 1959. He attended the István Tömörkény High School in Szeged and earned his medical degree designated summa cum laude from the Faculty of Medicine of the Medical University of Szeged in 1983.
He has been working at the Department of Dermatology at the Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical University since his graduation. He became board certified in dermatology, venerology and cosmetic dermatology in 1987 and in clinical immunology and allergology in 1993. In 1987 he earned a position as assistant professor at the Department. He defended his PhD thesis on the subject “Pathogenesis of dithranol dermatitis” in 1990. Supported by a Humboldt Fellowship he worked at the Department of Dermatology at the University of Munich (Germany) in 1990–1991. As assistant professor he was promoted to Head of Ward and PhD supervisor in 1993. He habilitated for dermatology in 1996. 1998 earned the “Best Young Researcher of the Region” Award of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His major fields of research interest are: role of cytokines in skin diseases, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, allergology and phototherapy. He earned his DSc in 1998.
Professor Kemény was or is still board member of the following societies: European Society for Dermatological Research (1996-1999), European Immunodermatological Society (2000-), German-Hungarian Society of Dermatology (1996-1998), Hungarian Dermatological Society (board member: 1996- present; secretary general: 1998-2001, vice-president 2006-) and the Hungarian Society for Immunology (1996-). He was chair of the Eastern European Committee of the European Society for Dermatological Research (1996-1999) and president of the German-Hungarian Society of Dermatology (1998-2002). Professor Kemény is member of the Faculty Council and chair of the Clinical Research Coordination Center of the Medical Faculty of the University of Szeged (1997-). In addition, he is member of the Committee of Doctors II. of the HAS's Medical Sciences Section (2002-) as well as the Curriculum Committee and Education and Credit Committee of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Szeged (2000-).
The following awards and prizes were awarded to Professor Kemény: Prize of the Zoltán Fekete Foundation (1985, 1987), Young Dermatologists’ Forum - 1st Place (1987), Prize of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ Szeged Regional Committee (1989), Prize of the European Society for Dermatological Research (1992), Emanuele Stablum Award (1992), István Cserháti Award and Commemorative Medal (1992), Young Investigator Award of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1993), Hermal Award (1996) and Paul Martini Award (1998). He earned the “Best Young Researcher of the Region” Award of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1998), Poster Prize at the 22. Annual Meeting of the Society of Surgical Dermatology (1999) and Niveau Prize of the Journal of Dermatology and Venerology of the Hungarian Dermatological Society (1999) and was elected to Best Lecturer for the Academic Year 1999-2000.
Since 2004 Lajos Kemény has been the Chairman of the Department of Dermatology and Allergology of the University of Szeged.
