Metastatic melanoma has too much power, sooner or later it defeats even the strongest human body, but it can never break the spirit down. Some weeks ago the President of the School of PhD Studies received an unusual request. The leaders of Semmelweis University asked President Dr. József Tímár to provide the opportunity for a PhD student, who was participating in the health science research programme of the Doctoral School of Pathological Sciences, to be able to have his PhD thesis defense in an accelerated procedure. When President Tímár inquired about the details, it turned out that the PhD student had a very serious illness, metastatic melanoma, and his last wish was to be able to defend his thesis. President Tímár generally receives a lot of requests on a daily basis, students many time ask for the extension of the defense procedure. The number of those who ask permission for the accelerated procedure of their thesis defense is very limited though.
“The School of PhD Studies of course fulfilled the request: I took over the responsibility to be the president of the examining committee and in a few days the organizers made all the arrangements for the defense. It was so touching to see the teachers of the Faculty of Health Sciences, the parents and the physicians of the patient being present at the event. The PhD student unfortunately was not able to speak any more, therefore he had written down his thoughts earlier. His thoughts and answers to the questions were read out to the audience by the secretary of the committee. The thesis is an excellent research work, which was also published in high-quality journals. Thus the committee had an easy task in this respect, they were proposing the awarding of a summa cum laude PhD degree for the student to the Doctoral Council. The announcement of the final decision could not be witnessed without being deeply moved. It was so touching to see the fulfillment (?), the relief (?) on the candidate’s face, that he did live for a reason. I do not know exactly how much the medications helped him at this stage, but I truly believe that gaining the PhD degree might helped him even more. Csaba passed away before Easter. May he rest in peace.”, Dr. Tímár said.
According to Dr. Tímár the exemplary story of Csaba Orbán should reach out to the public: the message of his life is that one should be a researcher as long as one can, and should fight for the targeted goals until the last moments of life.
Dr. József Tímár, President of the School of PhD Studies
Translated by: Katalin Romhányi
