{"id":32118,"date":"2022-06-24T06:00:01","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T04:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/?p=32118"},"modified":"2022-06-23T11:22:28","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T09:22:28","slug":"professor-emeritus-dr-zoltan-nagy-welcomed-on-his-80th-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/2022\/06\/professor-emeritus-dr-zoltan-nagy-welcomed-on-his-80th-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor emeritus Dr. Zolt\u00e1n Nagy welcomed on his 80th birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"
Professor emeritus Dr. Zolt\u00e1n Nagy, founding president of the Hungarian Stroke Society, was honored on his 80th birthday with a scientific meeting at the Semmelweis Salon. The former director of the National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology (OPNI) and the National Institute of Clinical Neuroscience continues to maintain close ties with Semmelweis University: he is chairman of the Public Benefit Supervisory Board and professional leader of the Senior Academy.<\/div>\n
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“Through his professional achievements and his human greatness, he has set an example to endless numbers of people and provided paternal support to more than a few. I am also personally immensely grateful to be able to count myself among them,” – these were the words of Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely, Rector of Semmelweis University and Director of the V\u00e1rosmajor Heart and Vascular Center, when he greeted Dr. Zolt\u00e1n Nagy, who celebrated his 80th birthday.<\/p>\n

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In praise of his work he recalled that the professor, as a physician, researcher, lecturer, head of the OPNI and later the National Institute of Neurosurgery, and as a citizen of the university, worked for many years on the understanding and treatment of the brain at a world-class level.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Rector expressed his pleasure to have met Dr. Zolt\u00e1n Nagy as a young doctor, who as Director General of OPNI led the development of the telemetry network for stroke care, while his task was the coordination of vascular and cardiac surgery participation at V\u00e1rosmajor. That was their first project, and as he said, he has been impressed ever since by the professor’s dedication and immeasurable devotion to improving patient care.<\/p>\n

He described <\/span>t<\/span>he <\/span>V\u00e1rosmajor <\/span>Heart and Vascular C<\/span>enter <\/span>as a “matter of<\/span>\u00a0their heart”<\/span>, where Dr. Zolt\u00e1n Nagy worked as a consultant from 1980, and where Professor S\u00e1ndor Juh\u00e1sz-Nagy hosted his laboratory for a temporary period, and later headed the Vascular Neurology Group. In 2016, he became a member and then Chairman of the University’s Board of Trustees, and since the model change, he has been Chairman of the University’s Public Benefit Supervisory Board. <\/span>In 2019, in the framework of the 250th anniversary celebrations, Dr. Zolt\u00e1n Nagy launched the Senior Academy, aim<\/span>ing <\/span>primarily at the elderly lay public, demonstrating his dedication to the education of the elderly.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In addition to <\/span>the professor\u2019<\/span>s neurobiological research, Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely described the organi<\/span>z<\/span>ation and development of stroke care in Hungary, <\/span>and making <\/span>stroke prevention and treatment a national issue as his most important initiative, and a legacy of his life. Mentioning his painting exhibition last year, he also praised his artistic activities, and on behalf of the Senate of the University, he presented the <\/span>professor<\/span> with the Pro Universitate M<\/span>edal.
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Dr. Lor\u00e1nd Er\u0151ss, Director General of the National Institute of Mental Health, Neurology and Neurosurgery, emphasized in his laudation that <\/span>putting <\/span>any aspect of Dr. Zolt\u00e1n Nagy’s <\/span>diverse<\/span> activities <\/span>under scrutiny<\/span>, we see an incredibly energetic personality. As he recalled, at the age of 35 the professor was already head of department at the Department of Psychiatry at <\/span>Semmelweis<\/span> University, at 45 he was appointed deputy clinical director, at 49 he was appointed professor, at 52 he was appointed director of the National Centre for Brain Diseases at the OPNI and organi<\/span>z<\/span>ed Hungarian stroke care with his colleagues, at 58 he was appointed head of the Department of Neurology at HIETE, and at 60 he was appointed director general of the OPNI. In 2007, after the closure of the OPNI, he founds the Bioelectrical Brain Imaging Research Laboratory at the Faculty of Computer Engineering of <\/span>Pannonian <\/span>University, and at the age of 70 he takes over the leadership of the OITI for six <\/span>months<\/span>, which became six years.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dr. Lor\u00e1nd Er\u0151ss stressed that Dr. Zolt\u00e1n Nagy is a <\/span>real<\/span> integrator, his professional, scientific and community-building ideas are also a testament to his creativity. As a personal experience, he mentioned that he had visited the professor’s home, where an environment created by a Renaissance man unfolds: in addition to plenty of books, manuscripts and paintings, including his own paintings, there is also a harp; a man <\/span>living<\/span> in constant temptation to create can be seen in this home.
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At the scientific meeting, his students gave lecture<\/span>s<\/span>: Dr. Gyula P\u00e1ncz\u00e9l (Three decades of thrombolysis: from pioneers to routine stroke therapy), Dr. Istv\u00e1n Gubucz (Mechanical recanalization: a new panacea in neurological care), Dr. Anik\u00f3 Ga\u00e1l (Focus on the brain endothelium: the importance of the blood-brain barrier in ischaemic stroke) and D<\/span>r. <\/span>S\u00e1ndor Nardai (Experimental stroke research: DMT as a new promise for neuroprotection).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Interview with Professor Emeritus Dr. Zolt\u00e1n Nagy, President of the Hungarian Stroke Society<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Still active at 80, what are you working on now?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We continue to work with dimethyltryptophan (DMT), a new molecule in the potential treatment of stroke care, as it reduces neuronal damage, inflammatory response and damage to the blood-brain barrier. I also have many responsibilities as chair of the Public Benefit Committee at the university, I am also on the Research Ethics Committee (ETT-TUKEB) and I am a member of the Review Committee of the Hungarian Accreditation Committee. I <\/span>hold an annual <\/span>course for PhD students on <\/span>the<\/span> neurobiology <\/span>of stroke.<\/span><\/p>\n

In spring, the 6th semester of the Senior Academy, of which you are the professional leader, was held already. Why do you consider the education of the older generation important?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Through my patients, I have seen how older people are becoming increasingly disconnected from their own age. The world is changing, we are <\/span>experiencin<\/span>g another technological revolution, everything is being renewed, and the elderly are <\/span>lagging <\/span>behind, they don’t understand the big changes that have taken place in biomedical science, in clinical care<\/span>. My slogan was: \u201clet us learn to understand our grandchildren\u201d. I wanted to make people aware of the new research directions, and I created a health education theme that would also promote Semmelweis University in the capital and in the country, so that the public could see <\/span>how <\/span>high <\/span>the <\/span>level of knowledge <\/span>is <\/span>at this internationally renowned university. The courses are free of charge and extremely popular, with 1800 people registering last semester and following the lectures on Zoom.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are a painter and you also study the neurobiology of image reception. What have you found?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Together with a radiographer-engineer PhD student, we used functional MRI to <\/span>examine <\/span>what happens in the brain when a painting is projected to the subject. We knew roughly what <\/span>to <\/span>expect, but there was no data on whether the image processing in the brain of a visual artist or a person who was not familiar with painting was the same. There is also little data on whether there is a difference in brain activity between <\/span>the reception of <\/span>a non-figurative and a figurative painting, or <\/span>between<\/span> a kitsch and a <\/span>valuable<\/span> painting. No appreciable differences were found for the latter, but there were differences between abstract and <\/span>depicting<\/span> images, and between painters and lay people. <\/span><\/p>\n

Which painting style do you classify yourself in?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Primarily non-figurative, lyrical abstraction or expressionism. I had masters <\/span>like<\/span> Imre Magyar\u00e1sz, G\u00e9za Bene <\/span>or<\/span> Lajos Sv\u00e1by, with whom I had a close friendship in <\/span>his<\/span> last years. Shortly before his death, he wrote in an email, “You <\/span>no longer<\/span> need me, you have become a master\u201d. The recognition of this great artist gave me confidence.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

G\u00e1bor Kiss<\/p>\n

Photo: Attila Kov\u00e1cs – Semmelweis University<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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