László Szekeres facts for kids

Professor László Szekeres
(1921 - 2012)

László Szekeres (July 4, 1921 in Győr, Hungary – January 9, 2012 in Szeged, Hungary). Professor Emeritus, Institute of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Medical Faculty of the University of Szeged, Hungary. He has held a number of notable positions and received a number of awards. His research contributed to the development of cardiac drugs.

Education

He graduated from high school in Győr and in 1949 he graduated at the Medical School of the University of Pécs. He worked as intern in the Institute of Pharmacology at the same university. His original plan was to become a clinical physician, but after graduation he decided to stay in the Institute of Pharmacology. In 1959 and 1960 he did a few months postgraduate work in Moscow and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in the Pharmacological Institutes of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. In 1960-61 he completed a Riker fellowship at the Department of Pharmacology of the University of Oxford. In 1963 he spent two months in the "Istituto Superiore di Sanitá" in Rome to study methods concerning cerebral circulation with the Nobel-prize laureate Professor Bovet. In 1982 he studied at the National Institute of Health and at the Food and Drug Administration in Washington, DC.

Work: Early period (1950–1960)

He researched cardiac metabolic changes due to hypoxia, ischaemia, hypothermia and cardiovascular drugs.

Work: Experimental cardiac arrhythmia (1960–1971)

He became interested in experimental cardiac arrhythmia and antiarrhythmic drugs, area rather unexplored at that time. Worked with Dr. E. M. Vaughan Williams comparing the electrophysiological actions of different antiarrhythmic drugs. The result of their cooperation formed the basis of 'Vaughan Williams Classification' of antiarrhythmic drugs. Returning home he developed new models for the assessment of antiarrhythmic action, which were soon widely applied. He also studied the electrophysiologic changes due to drugs, ischemia or heart failure. The results and data on experimental cardiac arrhythmias and antiarrhythmic drugs were summarized with his co-authorship in the first comprehensive monograph written on this topic.

Work: Next decade (1970–1983)

Search for methods to prevent sudden cardiac death due to acute myocardial infarction. First a new, (widely appreciated) model of experimental angina pectoris was developed. With the help of this method a number of antianginal and other cardiac drugs as well as their effect on hemodynamic and cardiac metabolic changes were studied. In addition it was for the first time shown that reorganization of the phospholipid structure of the myocardial membrane by linoleic acid-rich diet offers a marked protection against life-threatening arrhythmias due to coronary artery occlusion in rats. All these results and literature on epidemiology and pathophysiology of sudden cardiac death as well as on possible therapeutic measures were summarized in a monograph.

Work: Latest research period (1983–)

He studied the effects of prostacyclin and its stable analogue: 7-oxo-prostacyclin in the experimental dog model of angina pectoris. A detailed analysis of the phenomenon of delayed anti-anginal action revealed that PgI2-pretreatment protected against consequences of ischaemia, such as early morphological changes, early and late postocclusion and reperfusion arrhythmias due to coronary artery occlusion or ouabain intoxication. This endogenous 'self-defense' due to delayed adaptation to stress is promising also as a future trend in therapy since it works in experimental atherosclerosis too. Exploratory investigations suggest that the phenomenon is not confined to the heart only, vessels and possibly other organs could be also involved. He was the founder of the "Szeged school of cardiovascular pharmacology" of international reputation, a number of his former pupils and co-workers became professors and leading scientists, and among them six became chairmen of Departments of Pharmacology in Hungary.

Major research interests and contributions

His major scientific interests and contributions included the first comprehensive analysis of the mode of action of antiarrhythmic drugs, the elucidation of the mechanism of cardiac arrhythmias, and that of the antiarrhythmic and anti-anginal drugs. He also developed several "in vivo" models of experimental arrhythmias as well as of that of angina pectoris for testing antiarrhythmic and anti-anginal drugs. Professor Szekeres also contributed to the discovery of drug induced delayed cardiac adaptation to stress. He was interested in the pathomechanism and pharmacological prevention of cardiac arrhythmias and the consequences of myocardial ischaemia.

Family

He married Lenke Rudas MD, former associate professor in the Department of Dentistry of the University of Pécs and later of the University of Szeged (Died 1990). They had two daughters: Julia Barthó-Szekeres MD. PhD. DSc., Professor and Head of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Pécs (born 1950) and Zsuzsa Szekeres MD, pediatrician in Budapest (born 1954). In 1993 he married Ibolya Pamuk.

Positions

• 1946-1967 assistant professor, lecturer, and reader at the University of Pécs.
• 1967-1991 Professor and Director of the Department of Pharmacology, University Medical School of Szeged (later Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical University) Hungary.
• 1968-1977: Pro-rector of the University Medical School of Szeged.
• 1967-1978: Chairman of the Scientific Committee of Szeged University. Editor of Studia Medica Szegediensis.
• He worked as member of the Drug Research Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1958–89), as well as of the Scientific Qualification Committee (1958–80)

Qualifications

• 1949, M.D.(summa cum laude), University of Pécs
• 1952, Board certification in Laboratory Sciences
• 1957, PhD (Candidate of Sciences);
• 1965, DSc; (Academic Doctor in Hungary)
• 1981, Board certification in Clinical Pharmacology.

Honorary degrees and memberships

• 1984, Honorary Doctor, Nikolai Kopernik University of Cracow, Poland
• 1987, Honorary Doctor, Karl Eberhard Universitaet, Tübingen, Germany
• 1979, Member: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher 'Leopoldina'
• 1983, Honorary Member of the Czechoslovak Pharmacological Society
• 1988, Honorary Member of the Polish Physiological Society
• 2001, Founding Fellow of the International Society for Heart Research
• 2002, Fellow of the International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences

Memberships and positions in scientific societies

• Since the first Prague Meeting member of the International Society for Heart Research (ISHR).
• Councillor of ISHR (1983–1992)
• 1983-1992 Councillor of the European Section of ISHR
• Founder and president of the East-European Subsection of ISHR 1984-1993. Promoted the Subsection's joining the European Section.
• 1962-Hungarian Pharmacological Society (founding member and member of the Board) President of the Society (1991–1995) From 2000 on honorary president of the Society
• 1990-1994 Member of the Nominating Committee of IUPHAR
• 1993-1995 Representative of Hungary in the Board of the Federation of European Pharmacological Societies
• 1949-Hungarian Physiological Society
• 1962-Deutsche Pharmakologische Gesellschaft
• 1973-The New York Academy of Sciences
• 1981-British Pharmacological Society
• 1983-Hungarian Society of Cardiology; Founder & President of Experimental Section until 1994
• 1972-'Korányi Sándor' Society of Internal Medicine

Editorial boards

• J. Cardiovascular Pharmacology, since foundation (1974–1988)
• European J. Pharmacology, since foundation (1966–1975)
• Progress in Pharmacology, since foundation (1974–1988)
• Basic Research in Cardiology, since foundation (from Zeitschrift für Kreislaufforschung) (1978–1994)
• Cardioscience, since foundation (1989–1996)
• Rhythmology, since foundation (1987–1996)
• Canadian J. Cardiology (1987–1998)
• British J. Pharmacology,(Corresponding editor, 1981–1998)
• Archives Internationales de Pharmacodynamie et de Thérapie, since 1975.
• Journal de Pharmacologie (Paris), since 1985
• Pharmacological Research Communications, Societá Italiana di Farmacologia;since 1976)
• Acta Medica Hungarica since 1974

Awards and distinctions

• 1964 'Carolus Linnaeus' Medal of the Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm)
• 1976 'N.P.Krawkow' Medal of the USSR Medical Academy
• 1980 Bronze Medal of the Helsinki University
• 1978 'Jancsó Miklós' Award and Medal of the Szeged University Medical School
• 1978 Hungarian State Gold Medal of the "Order of Labor"
• 1979 and 1988 Awards of the Hungarian Ministry of Education and Culture for high standard textbook & monograph
• 1984 "Issekutz Béla" Award & medal of the Hungarian Pharmacological Society
• 1987 "Napoleon Czybulsky" Medal of the Polish Physiological Society
• 1990 the first "Gábor György"Award and Medal of the Hungarian Society of Cardiology
• 2001 the first "Pro Universitate" Award and Medal of the University of Szeged
• 2001 Medal of Merit of ISHR
• 2002 the first "Howard Morgan Award for Distinguished Achievements in Cardiovascular Sciences" from the International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences.
• In 2002 at a satellite meeting of ISHR in Stará Lesna (Slovakia) as well as at the XXII. Congress of the European section of ISHR in Szeged he was honoured by denominating the symposia dealing with cardiac arrhythmia: Szekeres Symposium:

Participation in scientific conferences and symposia

Since 1948 he regularly participated and gave lectures in Hungary and abroad at national and international congresses and symposia including most European countries, USA, Canada, Australia, Israel, Japan, India and China.