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Chairmen of the Department
On the basis of his scientific work, László Benedek was promoted to honorary lecturer in 1917. In 1921 he was awarded the professorship of the Department of Neurology and Psychiatry at the Debrecen Science University. Professor Benedek's scientific talent broadened neurology and psychiatry, medical psychology, social psychology and the field of forensic psychiatry. He published about 350 articles in Hungarian, German, English and French. Most of his monographs were written in Hungarian and German. Professor Benedek's original idea was to unite pneumoencephalography with cerebral angiography recorded on X-ray film. The shape and position of the air-filled cerebral ventricles, along with the angiographic imaging of the arteries made possible a much more vivid determination of the condition of the cerebral cortex and the location and size of space-occupying tumors. He also had the original idea for developing the method of cranial percussion. As a result of tumors, the substance of the brain conducts the percussion waves differently than does healthy brain tissue. He also designed diagnostic equipment. Of all these, his most original idea was the preparation of three dimensional X-ray pictures of the brain. The radiologist Antal Rencz solved the technical problems. The results of the new radiological diagnostic method were published in 1936 in Hungarian and German journals. In 1935 in London he held an immensely successful lecture on his innovation.
Sántha was fundamental in the introduction of Hungarian neurosurgery into Debrecen. Under his personal direction the X-rays were prepared and evaluated, scrubbing was instituted for operations, and he personally performed the evaluation of the histological examinations. After travelling abroad (Rockefeller scholarship in Penfield's Institute, Montreal, Paris) he moved from Budepest to Debrecen and was nominated professor and chairman of Department of Neurology. Over the course of his career Sántha published 60 scientific works in Hungarian, German, American and Swiss journals. In 1940 he wrote the chapter on the pathology of the nervous system to be published in 1944 in Went's General Pathology, and in 1951 wrote the neurosurgery chapter in the University Textbook of Surgery. He developed the Debrecen Department of Neurology into the national center of neurology and neurosurgery. At the same time he developed the laboratory for animal experimentation and the EEG laboratory and equipped the neurosurgery operating room with equipment bought with money from the Kossuth Award. The number of operations grew rapidly. In 1943 there were 41, in 1950 there were 264. In 1948 Sántha was stripped of the honors awarded him by the Hungarian Council of Science. He was considered to be in error scientifically, culturally and politically. He was banned from directing the university's military education. Twice he offered to give up the chair, but his offers were not accepted. University students reported that the susceptibility factors of mental illness contained in Professor Sántha's lectures were reminiscent of Stakhanovism. For this reason the medical department of the Hungarian Acadamy of Science called a session. Sántha declined the invitation to attend and replied in writing. In the reply he stated that the work of Stakhanov could also be harmful if accompanied by a negative emotional reaction. In the session of the Academy Professor Sántha did not defend himself and did not request to take part in the debate which he called a "Middle Ages witch hunt". By a large majority, the department session recommended that Sántha be barred from the presidency of the Hungarian Academy of Science. The recommendation took effect on June 18, 1951. At the same time the Ministry of Health conducted a disciplinary investigation against him, and transferred him to a smaller salaried position as punishment. His new place of work was the Hospital of the town of Balassagyarmat. A month later his wife, Senior Lecturer Klára Majerszky, was removed from her position. Balassagyarmat, on the other hand, was happy to have them. Such an intellectual center came into being that a whole group of talented young doctors was attracted to it even from Budapest itself. In 1956 the leadership of the Academy apologized for their mistake, and the Ministry of Health nominated Sántha again as chairman of the Department in Debrecen. Unfortunately, this decision was too late, as his early death at the age of 53 prevented him from accepting the nomination.
Juhász was one of the first in Hungary to set up an electroencephalography laboratory, creating the possibility for electrophysiological research. In 1946 he was the deputy director of the clinic. Before 1945 he made many study trips abroad, working for an extended period in Vienna and Paris, and visiting the London Neurological Institute. In 1957 he became the professor of the Department of Neurology and Psychiatry at Debrecen Medical University. While Director of the Department of Neurology he significantly expanded the diagnostic and research capabilities of the laboratory. He continued epilepsy research using deep electrode investigative methods. In 1961 he established an epilepsy rehabilitation center in Hencida. The epidemiological investigations he carried out at Debrecen University received international attention. In 1967 Professor Juhász moved from Debrecen to Budapest . Professor Juhász supervised the institution and the standards of the profession. It was a real clinic in which the patient's welfare was the chief concern. Within the narrow field of neurophysiology, even in the early 1950's, he started dealing with the neuroses of soldiers. His interests turned from traditional neuro-psychiatry to social-psychiatry, which in those days was not an easy task. One of his main priorities was the prevention of mental illness.
From 1969 László Molnár was the department head and professor in Debrecen at the Department of Neurology and Psychiatry. In 1951 he completed his specialization in neurology, in 1959 in neurosurgery, and in 1966 in psychiatry. In 1980 he completed training in electroencephalography. His special area of interest was research into the circulation and metabolism of the brain which he conducted both by patients examination and animal experimentation. Among the most noteworthy subjects of his research work was the proof of the "neurogenic" regulation of cerebral vasculature which the latest published data support. Significantly, he worked out a new model of reversible focal cerebral ischemia (without craniectomy) which has aroused international attention. He strove to teach and demonstrate the most important and practically useful knowledge in neurology and psychiatry. He has published over 130 scientific articles. In 1966 Medicina Press published "The Diseases of Cerebral Circulation" by László Molnár and Béla Balajthy. In 1967, under the auspices of Akadémia Press, the monograph "L. Molnár: Sur le controle nerveux de la circulation sanguine régionale des centres cérébraux" was published which was awarded the Nívó Prize in 1970. His academic achievement is indicated by his Doctor of Natural Sciences (Sorbonne, 1965), Candidate of Medical Science (1966), and Doctor of Medical Science (1977). From among the members of the Department, 11 have become department heads and chief residents and have been nominated as professors. Six members have attained the level of Candidate of Sciences and 2 Doctor of Sciences. Molnár made study trips to the Physiology Institute in Cologne in 1959-60, to the Institute of General Physiology of Sorbonne in Paris in 1964-65, and as a consultant for UNESCO in 1969 to the National University (Recife) in Brazil. His memberships in scientific societies include the International Brain Research Organization (1967), the French Neurological Society honoris causa (1969), the Board of Directors of the Hungarian Society of Neurologists and Psychiatrists (1969); Curator of the Danube Symposium of the Neurological Sciences (1975), founding member of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism (1981) and the European Society of Neurology (1988), associate member of the Society of Neurologists and Psychiatrists and of the Hungarian EEG Society (1984), and the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina (1984). He was awarded the Schaffer Memorial (1967) the Excellent Physician (1977) and the Pro Universitate (1989) awards. During his leadership he established an internationally acknowledged stroke center in Debrecen. He also founded a laboratory for animal experimentation. The results of research in this laboratory are marked by several papers published in international journals.