Medicus Europaeus: Prof. Pavel Schmidt, MD, PhD (25 November 1933-11 March 1994).

Abstract

The 80th birthday anniversary of Pavel Schmidt is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate his accomplishments in the fields of hygiene, environmental medicine, medical microbiology, and infectious epidemiology at the national and European level. He is remembered for his extraordinary commitment and contribution to the transformation process of health system in the Czech Republic (CR) after the velvet revolution.Pavel Schmidt was bom in Prague. He started his medical education at Charles University in Prague in 1954. He obtained his PhD from the same University and in 1968 he obtained habilitation in hygiene and epidemiology. In addition, he worked for the Prague Institute for Hygiene and at the Faculty of Hygiene at the Institute for Doctoral Training. He was elected a member of the New York Academy of Science in 1970. Schmidt was granted research fellowship at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Dusseldorf with Prof. Hans-Werner Schlipkoter, M.D., between 1967-1973. Thanks to his commitment, Charles University in Prague established official bilateral relation with Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf. He organized an exchange programme for the interns of both universities. His name is also associated with the discovery of methemoglobinemia in infants related to nutrition. In 1962, he was honored by the Czech Medical Association of J. E. Purkyne, Czechoslovakia, for work in this field. Schmidt was responsible for multi-center studies about the effect of air pollution caused by leaded gasoline on damages in children. His actions were aimed at promotion and protection of the environment that children could enjoy. His thinking was influenced by his friend Prof. Josef Svejcar, the pioneer of the Czech paediatrics. Nevertheless, recognition of his achievements could not prevent him and his family from fleeing Czechoslovakia in 1976. He received political asylum in the Federal Republic of Germany and came first to Dusseldorf and then to Giessen, where he accepted the position of Professor at the Hygiene Institute of Justus Liebig University (JLU) in 1978. He coordinated all activities as the director until his death. Schmidt was involved in numerous activities at the Faculty for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine of JLU as well as in the State Chamber of Physicians of Hesse (SCPH). Renowned for his work in different committees of the German Medical Association (GMA), Schmidt assumed various voluntarily functions within the self-administration system of the State Chamber of Physicians in Germany. He published more than 150 scientific essays and other educational materials, books and articles on hygiene. Only due to the long term strategically well planned work of Schmidt, it was possible to build on the existing bilateral relationship between East and West after the fall of communism. Multi-center-studies on topics such as environmental damages in Bitterfeld, Ruhr and the North Bohemian coal mining area were extended through research in the Rhine-Main area and Freiburg etc. …