“By teaching anatomy, we prepare our medical students to be able to use their morphological knowledge for the benefit of patients later as physicians”, Dr. Ágoston Szél shared his views, which has been his ars poetica as Department Head for the last 17 years. According to the former Head of the Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, five years after the merger of the two predecessor institutions, he was able to hand over a unified institute to his successor, Dr. Alán Alpár, where the clinical aspect of the subject is well founded.
After 17 years, Dr. Ágoston Szél resigned from his position of Department Head, who, in addition to his university leadership positions, has been connected to the Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology and its legal predecessors throughout his professional career. Immediately after having received the medical degree, he started to work at the then 2nd Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, but his passion for anatomy can be traced even further.
“I was three or four years old, when I first noticed the letters, I was already fascinated by the illustrations of my parents’ anatomical volumes while I was arranging books. Later, I was so excited about the description of the human body that at the age of 11, I made the first anatomy notes of my life, based on various books, of course. Seeing my enthusiasm, my parents rented me a typewriter for a week, on which I wrote day and night in the following days, spending the morning hours on the balcony”, recalled Dr. Ágoston Szél.
Although anatomy lectures called his attention at the first place at university, especially the lectures of Dr. Béla Halász, yet in the last years his heart drew him more towards healing work. Eventually, the opportunities offered by the vacancies brought him to stay with anatomy, in addition to which, however, he worked for ten years as a physician in night duty.
Dr. Ágoston Szél was appointed Head of the Department of Human Morphology and Developmental Biology in 2003, which merged with another institute teaching anatomy operating in parallel under his leadership in 2015 and thus the current Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology was established. As Dr. Ágoston Szél recalled, even when he took over the office 17 years ago, the question often arose as to what form and in what number of hours anatomy has a role in medical education. As he pointed out, he believes that this is a basic key subject without which one cannot be a physician At the same time, as he highlighted, he has always worked on developing an approach to teaching the structure of the human body for the sake of a more effective healing later as well.
“By teaching anatomy, we prepare our medical students to be able to use their morphological knowledge for the benefit of patients later as physicians”, said Dr. Ágoston Szél.
As the most important goal of the last 17 years, he mentions that anatomy should not be seen as a descriptive subject with nomenclatures “suitable” for failing, but rather as an entrance to the clinic.
“Importantly, this has required a shift in attitudes in education over the past decades to really teach something of which the clinical benefits can be proven. However, the atlas of human anatomy, originally recorded by János Szentágothai and now experiencing its many editions, does not contain much that the clinician does not need. Of course, there are shifts of emphasis, topics which, due to the modernization of research methods, no longer need to be taught like 40 years ago, but we have been and are constantly paying attention to this”, emphasized Dr. Ágoston Szél.
According to Dr. Ágoston Szél, the development of anatomy can be divided into three main chapters. The name of Mihály Lenhossék is associated with the astonishingly precise, descriptive anatomy of the first half of the last century. This was followed by the functional anatomy marked by János Szentágothai, which, in addition to the description of the organ, also covered its function. The next step was to introduce a clinical approach, in which Dr. Ágoston Szél also believed and laid the foundation for its spread by publishing a note of the same title in 1999. An important goal of the resigned department head was also to keep the education of anatomy, histology and embryology unified, which was achieved on the institutional level, despite the fact that the students have to prove their knowledge in two separate examinations.
Dr. Ágoston Szél believes that the merger of the two institutes teaching anatomy has now been fully completed, therefore he was able to transfer a unified department to his successor, Dr. Alán Alpár, and now the department provides education in a way worthy of the university, with a harmonized system of conditions and requirements. According to him, as a former rector and department head, the future lies in the unification of parallel institutions.
He also pointed out that the research areas have changed in line with the trends in the department in the repertoire of which currently the focus is on the field of neurosciences, the retinal research that he has launched, and developmental biology.
“After such a long time, resigning from the department is naturally accompanied by a sense of loss, but this is compensated by my belief that the key to prosperity is to change the person of the leader from time to time. The new person can always meet the challenges with a fresh eye and attitude”, said Dr. Ágoston Szél, who, however, as a teacher and as a practice leader from the following semester, still does not move away from the department as well as from anatomy.
Our interview with the new head of the department, Dr. Alán Alpár, can be read here.
Pálma Dobozi
Photo: Attila Kovács – Semmelweis University
Translation: Katalin Illés-Romhányi
