Endocrinology

THE SCHOOL OF ENDOCRINOLOGY IN TIMISOARA

The first endocrinology department in the world was founded by Professor C. I. Parhon in 1933, at the Faculty of Medicine in Bucharest, our endocrinology being from the very beginning an independent discipline, separate from internal medicine. Thus, naturally, at the University of Medicine in Timișoara, endocrinology was one of the disciplines established early, in the early years.

From its establishment until 1974, the Endocrinology Clinic operated within the Municipal Hospital III (Văcărescu Hospital), led by Associate Prof. Dr. Aurel Popescu. In 1974, the clinic’s headquarters moved to Timişoara County Hospital, where it still operates today. From the very beginning, the Department of Endocrinology of the University of Medicine Timișoara (the current University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babeș”) also operated within the clinic. Thus, over time, the clinical activity took place in parallel with the didactic and research activity.

From 1975 the management of the clinic was taken over by Prof. Dr. Grigore Lungu until 1993. After the retirement of Professor Lungu the responsibility of the clinic was taken over by Prof. Dr. med. Ioana Zosin, until 2017. Assoc. Prof. Dr. med. Aurora Miloș, in the academic year 2012-2013, took over the management of the Endocrinology Discipline within the “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Timișoara. Subsequently, after the retirement of Assoc. Prof. dr. Aurora Miloș, starting with the academic year 2013-2014, Assoc. Prof. Dr. med. Mihaela Vlad took over the management of the Endocrinology Department within the “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Timișoara. After the retirement of Prof. Dr. Ioana Zosin, in 2017, Assoc. Prof. Mihaela Vlad also takes over the management of the Endocrinology Department within the Timişoara County Hospital.

Teachers who, over time, have worked in the Endocrinology Department of the “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Timișoara, were chronologically:

• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aurel Popescu (from the founding of the Clinic until 1974)
• Prof. Dr. Grigore Lungu (1966 – 1993)
• Prof. Dr.  Ioana Zosin (1975-2017)
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aurora Milos (1977-2013)
• Assist. Prof. Dr. Corina Crista (since 1995)
• Prof. Dr. Mihaela Vlad (since 1999)
• Prof. Dr. Dana Stoian (1999-2003, 2016-present)
• Assist. Prof. Dr. Milos Ioana-Natalia (2002-2010, 2016-present)
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Melania Balaș (since 2004)
• Lecturer Dr. Ioana Golu (since 2004)
• Assist. Prof. Dr. Daniela Amzăr (since 2006)
• Assist. Prof. Dr. Ana Corlan (since 2021)

THE TEACHING ACTIVITY is carried out with the students of the 5th year of General Medicine (about 450 students per year), the students of the 5th year of General Medicine from the English language teaching department (approximately 100 students per year), the students of the 5th year of General Medicine from the French language teaching department (50 students), second and third year students of the Faculty of Medicine – Specialization in Nutrition and Dietetics (about 30 students), third year students of Dentistry (140 students) and third year students of Dentistry from the English language teaching department (about 30 students).

Over time, teaching activities were also carried out with the students of the 4th year of Pharmacy (40 students per year in the Romanian section and 45 students per year in the French section).

About 800 students are enrolled in the Endocrinology Clinic each year. A number of 10-12 students completed, annually, diploma or bachelor’s theses, under the coordination of teachers in the discipline.

Starting with 2013, the didactic activity was affected by the reduction of the space of the Endocrinology Clinic, due to the relocation of the clinic from the 8th floor to the 3rd floor of the Timișoara County Clinical Hospital. The capacity for boarding was reduced from 25 beds to 15 beds and the practical work room in which the teaching activity was carried out with students and residents was taken. Thus, at present, the Endocrinology Clinic from Timișoara has the smallest space affected by the medical-sanitary and didactic activity among all the Endocrinology clinics of the traditional medical universities in the country.

The didactic content of the analytical program is adapted to the specializations with which the discipline carries out its didactic activity (Faculty of General Medicine, Faculty of Dentistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Specialty of Nutrition and Dietetics). It covers: specific mechanisms of regulation of the endocrine system, notions of pathophysiology, clinical, biological, hormonal, paraclinical diagnosis and treatment of major endocrinopathies. The clinic staff has developed and regularly updated Endocrinology courses for students and residents. Since 2013, the courses of the discipline of Endocrinology (for the Faculty of General Medicine, the Faculty of Dentistry, the Faculty of Pharmacy) have been exhibited electronically, on the Moodle platform of the Virtual Education Center, hosted by the “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timisoara, a modern tool for learning and communication, made available to students and teachers from all partner universities (Emediqual).

The post-graduate education is carried out with residents from several specialties: Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, Cardiology, Nephrology, Obstetrics Gynecology, Medical Genetics, Dermatology and Family Medicine. In the Endocrinology Clinic, in a reference year (2013), 91 residents were trained: – 22 in the specialty of Endocrinology; – 33 in the specialty of Obstetrics-Gynecology; – 17 in the specialty of Cardiology, – 9 in the specialty of Dermatology; – 6 in the specialty of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, – 4 in the specialty of Nephrology.

The HEALTHCARE ACTIVITY is carried out within the clinic and the office of the Specialized Outpatient Clinic of the Timișoara County Clinical Hospital. The number of beds in the hospital has fluctuated over time, from 27 in the original location to 40, then 25 and now 15.

Clinical and outpatient pathology includes a wide variety of endocrinopathies: thyropathies, pituitary, parathyroid, adrenal gland, gonads, polyendocrine syndromes, etc. Adequate resolution of endocrine pathology is achieved through close collaboration with other services: medical and surgical clinics, Clinical Laboratory, Nuclear Medicine Service, Radiology-Imaging Service, Morphopathology Laboratory, Genetics Discipline.

A good collaboration was established in time with the endocrinologists from Timișoara and from other endocrinology services from the nearby counties (Caraș-Severin, Arad, Deva, Mehedinți). There is also a close professional relationship with fellow endocrinologists from the Institute of Endocrinology „C. I. Parhon” from Bucharest and other university clinics in the country.

The introduction of modern methods of investigation in the last 20 years has allowed the approach of endocrinopathies once undetected (endocrine incidentalomas, polyendocrine neoplastic syndromes, autoimmune endocrinopathies, pituitary microadenomas, genetic disorders, etc.).

For the professional training of young endocrinologists (teachers), as well for solving difficult cases and equipping the clinic with equipment, we have benefited from excellent collaboration with personalities of reputable European university clinics (Prof. Dr. P. Bottermann-Munich, Prof. Dr. H.Willenberg-Düsseldorf, Prof. Dr. H.P.H. Neumann-Freiburg).

In the medical activity, all the average medical staff, nurses and registrars in the clinic brought their contribution with seriousness, competence, humanity and respect for patients.

THE RESEARCH ACTIVITY and the elaboration of the doctoral works were continuously carried out within the Endocrinology Clinic from Timișoara. These were also facilitated by scholarships or exchanges of experience made abroad by all members of the discipline.

The results of the research were fruitful through communications at various national and international scientific events and through articles published in ISI journals and in prestigious national journals.

The teachers of the department participated annually in national and international symposia and congresses in the field of endocrinology, psycho-neuroendocrinology, genetics, endocrinopediatrics, etc. and have edited or collaborated on several monographs.

The teachers of the department are members of the Romanian Society of Endocrinology, the European Society of Endocrinology, the International Society of Endocrinology, the Romanian Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology, the Romanian Society of Thyroidology and other scientific forums.

Over time, collaborative relationships have been established with prestigious European universities: Munich Technical University, Ludwig Maximilian University – Munich, Düsseldorf Medical University, Freiburg Medical University, Hannover Medical University, Cardiff Medical University, Warsaw Medical University.

These relations materialized in the organization of cycles of postgraduate courses (in collaboration), the participation of several professors from Germany in the Congresses of the National Society of Endocrinology organized in Timisoara (1997, 2004, 2013), the organization of a Romanian-German Symposium on Endocrinology 2005) and a Romanian-Polish Symposium on Endocrinology (2015), editing bilingual (Romanian-German) textbooks for the use of resident students and doctors. Endocrinology teachers and residents benefited from specialized courses and specialized conferences, held by renowned personalities: Prof. Dr. P. Bottermann – Munich (2004-2010), Prof. Dr. J. Lazarus-Cardiff, Prof. Dr. P. Laurberg (Aalborg). The teachers of the department benefited from doctoral scholarships or exchanges of experience in the prestigious research teams of: Prof. Dr. P. Bottermann – Munich, Prof. Dr. H. Willenberg – Düsseldorf, Prof. Dr. H.P.H. Neumann – Freiburg.

The scientific activity of the department’s staff has been and is focused on several directions:

• Disorders of phospho-calcium metabolism – were an important concern of Professor Grigore Lungu;
• Prof. Dr. Grigore Lungu first introduced in the country, in 1975, the aspiration puncture with a fine needle, as a method of investigation in thyroid diseases;
• Thyroid autoimmune disease (Prof. Dr. Ioana Zosin);
• Cytological diagnosis in thyroid diseases and especially in thyroid carcinomas – research with priority in the country of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aurora Miloș (since 1978);
• Thyropathies and pregnancy (Prof. Dr. Mihaela Vlad);
• The value of molecular markers of proliferation and differentiation in the diagnosis of thyroid nodular disease (NTD) and the differentiation of malignant forms from benign ones (Lecturer Dr. Ioana Golu);
• Amiodarone-induced thyroid dysfunction (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Melania Balaș);
• Diagnosis and treatment of infiltrative thyroid orbitopathy (Prof. Dr. Ioana Zosin);
• Integrated diagnosis (molecular and genetic biology studies) of plurisystemic endocrine diseases (Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia) (Assist. Prof. Dr. Ioana-Natalia Milos);
• Diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis (Prof. Dr. Ioana Zosin, Prof. Dr. Mihaela Vlad, Prof. Dr. Dana Stoian and the clinic staff);
• Thyroid and parathyroid ultrasound and elastography (Prof. Dr. Mihaela Vlad, Prof. Dr. Dana Stoian, Lecturer Dr. Ioana Golu).

All staff in the discipline of Endocrinology hold a doctorate in medicine. Prof. Dr. Dana Stoian and Prof. Dr. Mihaela Vlad obtained the habilitation certificate in the field of doctoral studies in Medicine.

Prof. Dr. Ioana Zosin, as a doctoral supervisor, led 12 doctoral theses, all completed. Currently, Prof. Dr. Dana Stoian and Prof. Dr. Mihaela Vlad are coordinating several doctoral theses, in 2021 one of these theses was completed under the coordination of Prof. Dr. Dana Stoian.