- MeSH
- dějiny 20. století MeSH
- dějiny lékařství MeSH
- nefrologie MeSH
- Check Tag
- dějiny 20. století MeSH
- Publikační typ
- biografie MeSH
- O autorovi
- Válek, Albert, 1925-1995 Autorita
On November 18th, 2009 was 14 years since the death of Professor Albert Válek MD, DSc. and on this occasion I thought of our long-term friendship and our cooperation which lasted for over 30 years. For the first time we met in September, 1966 during my educational stay at the Di- alysis Center at the 2nd Internal Clinic, Medical School of Charles University in Prague. At that time I started to learn there the basics of extracorporeal elimination treatment. Associate Professor A. Válek MD, PhD. was in those days the Head of the Dialysis Center, of the nephrological labora- tory and he was also the nephrological consultant at the Fa- culty Hospital. Since 1971 Professor A. Válek MD, DSc. was the Head of the Internal Department – Strahov, Medical School of Charles University in Prague. At this department he established one of the greatest and most influential di- alysis workplace in the former Czechoslovakia. A very fri- endly and close relationship was formed from the very be- ginning of our friendship which can be later seen not only in therapeutic–preventive care concerning our patients, in pedagogical activity but also in our scientific and research activity. A lot of our patients who suffered from various re- nal diseases but also from other diseases were hospitalized at the Internal Department – Strahov, from the diagnostical but also from the therapeutic reasons. In 1978 Professor A. Válek MD, DSc. together with R. Kuklík MD started with CAPD in the former Czechoslovakia for the first time. That led to the beginning of its usage at our Clinic in Košice since 1980. In framework of our scientific research cooperation the workers of the Nephrological Laboratory of our Clinic under the direction of Ing. Katarína Derzsiová repeatedly provided determination of some plasma and erythrocyte vitamins in hemodialysis and CAPD patients in the Internal Department Prague-Strahov. Professor A. Válek MD, DSc. dedicated many years to the CAPD problems. He was the initiator of the formation and the first President of the In- ternational “CAPD–Club“ which was formed by internists and nephrologists from Hungary, Poland, the Czech and the Slovak Republic who are concerning this treatment. We organized together with Professor A. Válek MD, DSc. the 3rd Symposium of the „CAPD-Club“ in Stará Lesná, the High Tatras, in October, 1993. Professor A. Válek MD, DSc. wrote several monographies and two of them „Acute Renal Failure“ and „Chronic Renal Failure“ were not missing at any of the dialysis center in Slovakia. Professor A. Válek MD, DSc. repeatedly had his lectures not only for the students of the Medical Faculty of P. J. Šafárik University in Košice, but also at the scientific meetings of Medical Society or at the conferences and congresses of the Slovak and Czech Ne- phrological Societies. He was one of the opponents of my PhD, habilitation, and DSc. thesis. Besides he was also an opponent of one of our final state research work. He always got a lot of pleasure from our success and in this way he en- couraged us in our next work. Professor A. Válek MD, DSc. was glad when he had the opportunity to return back to the Eastern Slovakia region as a lecturer or just as a tourist. He was mainly interested in the region of the Slovak Paradise, The High Tatras, Podolínec, Vyšné Ružbachy, the Pieniny National Park and Domaša. He met there a lot of friends and he got in touch with them till the end of his life. Pro- fessor A. Válek MD, DSc. was a member of the Council of European Dialysis and Transplant Association (E.D.T.A.) as well as a council member of European Society for Artificial Organs (E.S.A.O.). As a chairman of the Czech and Czecho- slovak Nephrological Society he was a keen organizer of various conferences, congresses and symposiums. In 1980 he organized with his typical diligence the XVIIth Congress of E.D.T.A. and in 1988 the XVth Congress of E.S.A.O. Both of these congresses had a very good response abroad and were evaluated very positively. During many years he invited a lot of nephrologists from the whole world to the Czech Republic and to Slovakia. Some of them presented their papers also in Košice and in the East Slovakian regi- on. I would like to mention some of them: (Professor S.G. Massry, Professor J.D. Kopple, Professor B. Watschinger, Professor L. Migone, Professor A. C. Kennedy, Professor H. J. Gurland, Professor H. Klinkmann, Professor I. J. Tarejeva, Professor G. P. Kulakov and other). On this occasion it is ne- cessary to mention also some of our common stays abroad where we participated at the conferences and visited ne- phrological clinics in Rome, Pisa, Parma, Linz, Copenhagen, Moscow, Leningrad and other. In such a way we had an excellent opportunity to visit many european nephrological centers and to meet their representatives. Our cooperation with Professor A. Válek MD, DSc. in the field of scientific re- search started at the end of the 1970s. We have published together several papers, some of them were quoted also by authors from abroad. Our paper: „M. Mydlík, K. Derzsi- ová, A. Válek et al.: Vitamins and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD)“ which was published in journal Int Urol Nephrol 1985; 17: 5, 281-286, was repeatedly quo- ted by Roda Makoff - the outstanding american scientific worker in metabolic disorders of vitamins in renal diseases. One figure from this work was projected during presenta- tion of her paper about vitamins in chronic renal failure at the meeting „Fifth Annual Spring Clinical Nephrology Mee- ting of the National Kidney Foundation“ which was held in Anaheim, CA, USA in April, 1996. Professor A. Válek MD, DSc. was very strict and critical not only to his co-workers, but also to his friends. He required discipline and conse- quence in their work but on the other side he was a very warm and friendly person and he always kept his promi- se. „What wouldn ́t I have done for you?“ was his typical answer for many my requires and demands. Professor A. Válek MD, DSc. entered with his activity Europe and the whole world in the field of nephrology already before 1989, at the time when it was not popular and also often not very possible. Our last meeting with Professor A. Válek MD, DSc. was realized at the 25th Czech Nephrological Congress in Prague, at the end of October 1995. Professor Albert Válek MD, DSc. will remain in our memory forever, not only as an extraordinary internist and nephrologist, propagator of the Czech and Slovak nephrology abroad, but also as a very good and close friend of Slovakia and Slovak nephrologists. One year after the death of Professor A. Válek MD, DSc., seven Czech and Slovak nephrologists (M. Mydlík, K. Opa- trný, Jr., D. Sobotová, O. Schück, J. Gonsorèík, V. Spustová, F. Švára) contributed by their scientific works in the journal Vnitøní Lékaøství 42; 1996: 12, 813-852, which were dedi- cated to his memory.
Science does not know any borders - this truth was dif- ficult in reality during the division of the world by the iron curtain. It took great personal courage and a high scienti- fic reputation to overcome this barriers especially from the Eastern part of the world during this time. Albert Válek (1925-1995 ) was without any doubt one of these pioneers, who served his own country and his pa- tients by establishing the best possible medical care under the given circumstances on one hand and kept on the other hand the vital international scientific connections. Czecho- slovak Nephrology enjoyed a high reputation in Europe and the contribution of Albert Válek was significant. From 1966 on his scientific contribution to European nephrology was remarkable. Those were the founding years of an independent European nephrolgy, represen- ted by the European Dialysis and Transplant Association (EDTA). From 1966 until 1970 at every congress of EDTA a high quality scientific contribution came from Válek`s group, ranging from basic papers on blood access to the evaluation of different dialysis equipment. Later on the publication from Válek`s group on mathematical mo- delling became reference papers in the international li- terature. After establishing the leading dialysis center in Czechoslovakia at his department this center was quickly recognised as one of Eastern Europe`s leading center and educated numerous nephrologists also from abroad. In his capacity as President of the Czechoslovakian Ne- phrology Society he used his own scientific standing for the benefit not only of his country but for the whole nephrolo- gic community in former Eastern Europe. His personality in combination with his scientific repu- tation, documented in over 100 publications, award him a high reputation and acceptance in the international scien- tific world. He was elected as a council member of EDTA, a member of the Board of ISAO and ESAO and became a member of the Editorial Boards of numerous scienti- fic journals. In 1980 he was President of the EDTA-ERA Congress in Prague and 1988 President of the ESAO Con- gress also in Prague. Both congresses were perceived as highlights by the international nephrological and artificial organs community. Albert Válek left an historical impact in the international medical and scientific community, which will always be remembered not only by his friends, who gathered at this meeting in memory of this great pioneer for nephrology.
- MeSH
- dějiny 20. století MeSH
- dialýza ledvin dějiny MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- nefrologie dějiny MeSH
- Check Tag
- dějiny 20. století MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- biografie MeSH
- historické články MeSH
- oslavné články MeSH
- portréty MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Česká republika MeSH
- O autorovi
- Válek, Albert, 1925-1995 Autorita
- O autorovi
- Válek, Albert, 1925-1995 Autorita
