Pages in the History of Romanian Medicine. Medical Higher Education in Bucharest and Its Interactions with International Medical Achievements, 1874–1945

Author(s): Sînziana Ionescu, Octavia-Luciana Madge, Maria Besciu
Language: English
Year of publication: 2025
Page Range: 290
ISBN: 978-3-949607-68-4
E-ISBN-13: 978-3-949607-69-1

Subject(s): History, Local History / Microhistory

Summary/Abstract:

This book examines the main trends in the international medical research from the mid-19th – mid-20th centuries, as seen through the lens of the first PhD theses defended at “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy from Bucharest, Romania. The purpose of the book is to identify novel medical practices in Romania and their interactions with contemporary international medical achievements. The 3,163 doctorate theses defended from 1874 to 1945 include a wide range of subjects; therefore, the authors chose to investigate the development of each scientific discipline across multiple decades using randomly chosen sample theses. Since the doctoral theses covered several medical specialties, the authors classified them into four fields: Field 1: Anatomy, Pathology, Physiology, Histology, and Laboratory; Field 2: Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Public Health, and Epidemiology; Field 3: General Surgery and Surgical Specialties; and Field 4: Works which pertain to more than one field. Thus, each decade includes random samples from each field. After reviewing each study’s main results, www.pubmed.gov was searched using relevant keywords to check whether the global literature shared any (common) data with the theses in question. The authors searched 10 years before and other 10 years after the thesis’s publication (for example, for a thesis with a publication year of 1874, the search for common keywords and main ideas in the international literature was conducted for the years “1864-1884” and “English” was chosen as the language). No similar study was conducted, and the book is unique because it analyzes national medicine by comparing it with contemporary international developments. The analysis highlights the interactions between national and international medical research. As it traces the development lines of the field offering information on both medicine and history, the book will be of high interest for medical scientists, specialists in history of science, medical students from all levels, medical higher education institutions in Europe and all over the world, societies of history of medicine and medical societies, in general.