Carol Davila University honors US scientist at cardiology event

A prominent US scientist has been honored by the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy. Pharmacologist Louis Ignarro, who jointly received a Nobel Prize in 1998 for the discovery of nitric oxide, was named Doctor Honoris Causa of the local institution. The honor was conferred at the Medical International Symposium Update in Cardiology 2015, organized by the Romanian Society of Cardiology and the university with the support of the Menarini International Foundation.

“Through this symposium we wanted to promote education, which for physicians is essential because it is one of the few occupations where you learn for life,” Dragos Vinereanu, president of the Romanian Society of Cardiology, told Business Review. “We addressed both experienced and young doctors. The latter made up a significant percentage of the participants as for them it was a unique event.”

Romania is among the poorest performing three or four European Union countries for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. “The main reasons are smoking, a diet full of saturated fat, lack of exercise with immediate consequences in terms of obesity and the high prevalence of diabetes, and stress,” said Vinereanu. “Cardiovascular disease can strike anyone, regardless of education or job. When combined with smoking, poor diet and stress, the consequences are the same. Unfortunately, public education is well below what we want it to be. Romania is the worst performing EU state for health education to prevent cardiovascular diseases.”

Vinereanu added that cardiology in Romania was taught to European standards and the curriculum was adapted to the European one, valid in any EU country. “In terms of clinical training, Romanian cardiologists are better prepared than cardiologists in other European countries because they have more direct contact and greater exposure to patients,” he told BR. “The problem we have is the number of procedures, because cardiologists trained in Romania don’t reach the number of interventions European standards require because of the lack of laboratories. The number is growing, but there are still too few to provide a high standard of training in terms of interventional cardiology.”

The event brought together over 700 physicians who heard presentations by 22 professors from the United States and Europe, renowned experts who spoke on the latest news in the cardiology world.