Ion Albu (1920–2012)

On July 27 th 2012, Prof. Academician Ion Albu, MD, passed away, leaving behind a huge void in the minds and souls of his family, his collaborators in the and all those who knew, respected and loved him. Being the one who continued and reformed the prestigious school of anatomy in Cluj, which had been pioneered by V. Papilian after the Great Union, Prof. Ion Albu led the team at the Department of Anatomy from 1963 till 1990, when he retired. He was born on October 4 th 1920 in the village of Căstău, Hunedoara County. He attended the Aurel Vlaicu high school in Orăştie from 1931 to 1939 and he passed his baccalaureate exam in 1939 in Deva, graduating head of his class. He attended the University of Medicine and Surgery " Regele Ferdinand " in Cluj and Sibiu, from 1939 to 1945, graduating with the grade " highly satisfactory " and receiving the title of " Doctor in Medicine and Surgery ". He enrolled in the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy in Cluj, from which he graduated in 1949. As a student of the Faculty of Medicine " Regele Ferdinand " in Cluj, he was noticed, thanks to his remarkable talents, by Prof. V Papilian, who accepted him as a tutor starting with his 2 nd /3 rd year of university (1941-1945). Having an inclination for teaching and a calling for the study of anatomy, he won the contest for the position of teaching assistant (1945-1949) at the Institute of Anatomy in Cluj and then, in 1949, he won the contest for the position of lecturer at the Anatomy Laboratory I in Timişoara, a title he held from 1949 to 1963. In 1963, he returned to the Department of Anatomy at IMF Cluj, as a reader (again after having won the contest for this position), and in 1969 he was promoted to professor, after having won another contest for this position, in the same department. As the head of department, he ran the teaching and scientific activities and managed the department until 1990, when he retired, nonetheless maintaining the position of consulting professor and PhD coordinator. In parallel to his teaching activities, Prof. Albu worked as a consultant in anatomical pathology and in obstetrics and gynecology, which enabled him to receive a good clinical training, reflected in the theoretical and practical orientation of students and in the shaping …