News

Rare and complicated backbone operations at Stradins Hospital

In collaboration with European colleagues Petr Vanek from Prague Military hospital (the Czech Republic) arrived at Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital Neurosurgery clinic to perform backbones stabilization operations. He operated two young Latvian patients with rarely observed backbones deformations.

Professor Pauls Stradins

ALIIS INSERVIENDO CONSUMOR (I burn through giving light);  Medicine is craft, science and art at the same time;  Only a good person can be a good doctor;  Love is the highest degree of medicine;  I have to leave a clinic, surgeon school and a museum as a heritage for the next generations. These five verities formed  the basis of the never-ending life effort of Pauls Stradins - surgeon, oncologist, historian of medicine and health care and a leader of scientific life, public figure and a grand soul. Every step he made was dedicated to the Latvian nation.   Today Professor Pauls Stradins is considered to be the greatest Latvian doctor, and his name is a symbol of a doctors calling and generalization of ethical essence.

Childhood and school years

Pauls Stradins was born in Viesite on January 17th 1896 in craftsman's family. He studied at a local school, School of Trade in Jekabpils and also private Grammar School of Dubulti. In 1914 he graduated from Alexander Grammar School in Riga with golden medal.

Studies

From 1914 - 1919 Paul Stardins studied at Academy of War Medicine in Petrograd, he graduated it with excellence and afterwards improved the knowledge at Clinic of Hospital Surgery under the guidance of Professor Sergey Fjodorov (1869 - 1936) and maintained his dissertation.

From 1924 he worked in guidance of Prof. Jekabs Alksnis (1870 - 1957) in Surgery Clinic of Latvian University, Faculty of Medicine. In 1925 and 1926 he improved his knowledge in USA and England with scholarship from Rockefellers Foundation and presented his second dissertation.

Dr. Med. dissertations

1928. - Pauls Stradins was elected as Head of General Surgery Department at Latvian University and in 1933 - he was elected as professor. 1944. - P. Stradins moved to the Department of Surgery and he kept heading it also after 1950 when Faculty of Medicine was formed as Riga Medical Institute.

From 1944 - 1946 P. Stradins was dean of Faculty of Medicine and he specially contributed to its renewal in the hard post war times.

Clinics

1931 - 1941 Pauls Stardins was medical director of clinic in 2. Riga City Hospital (later Clinical Hospital of Republic)
1944 - 1947 head Doctor
1939 - 1957 After his initiative new six floor building was built.

Professor Stradins introduced up - to - date methods in diagnostics and treatment, improved operative techniques and promoted new ways for the time in oncology, blood-transfusion, heart and blood-vessel surgery, lung surgery anesthesiology and reanimatology, chemotherapy, etc).

Works and duties

In 1939 professor founded the first Cancer Hospital in Latvia and in the same year he also founded Riga 2nd Medical School.  1941 - Republic Blood-Transfusion Station was founded by P. Stradins.

After the war in 1946 professor Stradins founded Latvian PSR Science Academy Institute of Biology and Experimental Medicine and was head of it until 1951. After 1951 - head of Oncology Section at Latvian Experimental and Clinical Institute.

Professor Stradins particularly contributed to science of medicine and practical treatment in 1941 and from 1944 - 1948 when he was head of Medical Scientific Board in Latvian PSR Ministry of Health Protection.

1945 - 1949. Professor was the main surgeon of republic and afterwards - the main oncologist.

Professor was working on persistent overwork and had many other different duties and positions, it is impossible to count all of them.  

Associations founded and governed by professor Stradins: