Irinel Popescu

Irinel Popescu, M.D. (born on 22 April 1953, Filiași) is a Romanian surgeon. As of 2014 he was the manager of Department of Surgery and Liver Transplantation of Fundeni Clinical Institute. In 2013, Irinel Popescu was elected corresponding member of the Romanian Academy.

Biography

Irinel Popescu was born at Filiasi. He followed the Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila" – Bucharest that he graduated in 1997 with an average of 9.98 (from 10 maximum possible). He won the “Internship Competition for Surgery Specializations” in his promotion. He became very well known in Romania after he was the first to perform liver transplantation in Romanian hospitals. His specialization is General Surgery and into the last decade he added to this Liver Surgery. The peak of his career was when he performed the first liver transplantation in Romania, in 2000, after returning from USA, where he learned for 3 years liver transplantation techniques. In the following years, he achieved more than 450 liver transplants and 1500 liver resections. He was also nominated to be Expert of European Council in matters of transplants. “Irinel Popescu achieved everything that could have been achieved in transplantation: living patient, adult, children, domino transplant, split-liver, etc, every technique that are available to us to increase the number of transplantation beneficiaries, using even marginal donors. The Bucharest Center is a very valuable one and it deserves a much ample program. The therapeutic possibility offered by the modern medicine and this technique must be available for all the people.” Domenica Forti, MD (runs the General Surgery and Abdominal Transplant Department of “Niguarda” hospital from Milan)

Brief History

After only 6 years from graduating his specialty, in 1983, Irinel Popescu became Specialist Surgeon and in 1990 he became General Surgeon, getting PhD from Carol Davila University Bucharest. The renowned Dan Setlatec, Md. PhD supervised his PhD thesis. After a while, he left Romania with the desire of perfecting himself and to bring groundbreaking changes into the Romanian surgery techniques. He first was in Berlin, Germany, for two weeks, at the “Charite” Hospital. He then left for two months in France, at “Paul Brousse” from Paris. After his returning from France, he decided to leave in USA. Half of a year he spent at Pittsburgh University and another almost three years and “Mount Sinai” hospital from New York. After his training he had experience exchanges with institutions from Munich (“Ludwig Maximilian” University), Hamburg (“Eppendorf” University), Cape Town, South Africa (“Groote Schur” hospital), Essen (University Hospital), Athens (“Palio Faliro” hospital) and Milan (“Niguarda” hospital). After these years of training and specializing, Irinel Popescu managed The Sanitary Department of Bucharest City in 1997. He was appointed in 1998 to be Director of the Institute for Postgraduate Training of Physicians and Pharmacists and Viceminister of Health during 1999-2000. For the time being, Irinel Popescu guides and trains, on permanent basis, the students from Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila" – Bucharest. The surgeon Irinel Popescu is the perfect example of a man that did in Romania something that has never been done before and it was thought to be impossible to make: the first liver transplantation and the founding of a true Romanian school for liver transplantation. “Beyond the Limit”, the book, written as a dialog between Irinel Popescu and anesthetist Dora Petrila, is on one hand the story of the lifetime and the medical career of Irinel Popescu and on the other hand, is the living proof that, with names like Dan Setlacec or Irinel Popescu, the list of great Romanian Surgeons, from Ernest Juvara to Toma Ionescu and Nicolae Hortolomei, is not closed. For his merits and his good reputation, Irinel Popescu was awarded: Member of the Academy of Sciences, Honoris Causa of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Craiova, Honoris Causa of the University "Ovidius" of Constanta, Honorary Professor of the University "Ovidius" of Constanta and Honorary Professor of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Targu Mures. During 2004-2008 he was senator in the Romanian Parliament (elected for the Conservator Party in Dolj County) and Chairman of National Education Comity from the Romanian Parliament.

Awards and Honors

For his dedication, professionalism and medical achievements, he was internationally endorsed, receiving Teacher degree of ISSO (International School of Surgical Oncology). For his extraordinary merits in liver surgery and organ transplants, he was awarded with: National Distinction “Romanian Star”, High Ranking Officer, Romanian Academy "Iuliu Hatieganu" Award, for the published work on CD “Minimally-invasive Surgery. Advanced Techniques” (together with C. Dragomirescu), Merit Diploma from Health Ministry, Physicists College of Romania Award for Outstanding Achievement scientific activity in the field of surgical specialties. (2001)

Two years later, he received the award "The Best Surgeon of 2006" as a result of both a survey conducted by CURS, TNS-CSOP, IMAS and INSOMAR and the rank granted by the Romanian physicist from the jury of "Ten for Romania". For organ transplants domain, Irinel Popescu: - Introduced liver transplant as a therapeutic method in Romania, from pioneering to routine procedure, starting in April 2000 (when the first liver transplant with surviving patient took place). The most difficult part of the implementation was the success of the surgical intervention. The ingredients for this to work were Irinel Popescu's three years training period in USA and the forming of a team of surgeons, anesthesiologists, hepatologists, immunologists, microbiologists and others. At present, Fundeni Clinical Institute operates all kinds of known transplantations (liver from dead doner, liver from living doner, reduced liver, domino transplatation) - Achieved national premieres like the first combined liver and pancreas transplantation, the first combined liver and pancreatic islet transplantation and the first stem cell transplantation for liver disease; - Wrote the law for transplantation, on the basis of the old law (2/1998), with the adding of a series of modifications modeled on the European Council directives. - Organized multi organs procurement at national level, organized organ allocation, established international partnerships. All these efforts led to the establishment of the National Transplant Agency in 2005 and his election as President of the Board, a recognizal of his contribution of establishment of a National Program of Organ Transplants in Romania. Starting with 2006, this program was officially financed by the ministry of Health.

"ROMTRANSPLANT". Brief History

Irinel Popescu and a group of scientists established in 1997 "ROMTRANSPLANT", a professional organization that, under his direction, organized 5 national congresses with international attendees. The congresses proved to be essential for the further development of Romanian transplant. Also, the organization promoted, especially thru mass media, donation and transplant of organs and that helped to raise the population rate of approval up to the level of average European rate of approval. Further more, the professional organization "ROMTRANSPLANT" plays a key role, scientific and organizational, in the development of Romanian transplant. For liver surgery, Irinel Popescu: - Effectuated over 1500 liver resections, this alone standing as one of the most important experiences at global level for a single clinic; all the techniques described in the speciality literature were used, by performing modern procedures like vascular exclusion, transparenchimatos approach, ultrasonic dissection, etc. - Helped that, beginning with 1995, the year when Irinel Popescu started the current liver surgery program at Fundeni Clinical Institute, major hepatic resections turn from exceptional (the largest number of operations until 1995 was 41 cases) to routine operations. During this, Fundeni Clinical Institute became quite a school for liver surgery. Also, other specialist from Romania came to be trained here. - Contributed that Center of General Surgery and Liver Transplantation Fundeni to become the main national center for training for “liver surgery and liver transplantation” overspecialization, with Irinel Popescu as the national coordinator. - Established in 2006 Romanian Association of Hepato-biliary-pancreatic and liver transplantation, which for he was elected as president - Had a decisive contribution to the publishing of “Liver Surgery” dissertation (Editor Irinel Popescu, publisher Carol Davila University Press, 2004), with a large number of authors, from Romania and abroad. The work had won the Romanian Academy’s award “Victor Babes” For digestive oncology, Irinel Popescu: - Raised the number of operations and their results at an international level, in operations for cancer of the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon, rectum, liver, pancreas - Coordinated the General Surgery and Liver Transplantation Fundeni Center, with the direct result that this became the overspecialization “oncology surgery” methodological training center, with Irinel Popescu as national coordinator - Established with the French company RnTech the first tumor bank (one of the few from Europe) - Led research in neoplasm genomic financed with grants won in national competition; during this process a brevet for genes involved in appearance of colorectal cancer was obtained in France

For the laparoscopic surgery, Irinel Popescu: - Performed the first thymectomy and hepatectomy operations from Romania and accumulated the highest experience level from Romania in laparoscopic colorectal surgery - Established Romanian Association for Endoscope Surgery and Other Interventional Techniques (ARCE, 2002), being its director during 2002-2006. ARCE received full membership in European Association for Endoscope Surgery (EAES) and entered a joint program with the Italian Society for Endoscope Surgery (SICE) - Edited on CD-ROM support the work “Minimally-invasive Surgery, Advanced Techniques”, together with Corneliu Dragomirescu, that was awarded the Romanian Academy’s award “Iuliu Hatieganu” Robotic Surgery: More than 50 robotic surgery interventions were made at Fundeni Clinical Institute. Many types of interventions on that approach were performed: achalasia and hiatal hernia, cervical cancer or rectal cancer, colon cancer, hepatic resections thymic-thymectomy for myasthenia gravis or splenectomy for hematological disorders. The first approach on these cases is the laparoscopic surgery, but the goal is to have more interventions on the robotic surgery way. The system is used by both Fundeni Clinical Institute residents and non-residents. A significantly advantage on the robotic surgery is given by the fact that the operations can be performed from remote distances. A famous case for this kind of operation is the one of the surgeon Jaques Marescaux, that operated from New York an extraction of a gallbladder of a patient located in Strasbourg.

Irinel Popescu organized different events with national and international impact: - He was the President of 17th World Congress of the International Association of Surgeons, Gastroenterologists and Oncologists, Bucharest, 5th -8 September 2007. - He was the President of the 8 Symposiums and Postgraduate Courses of Romanian Section of IASC - Awarded, during the 5th Symposium (9th – 11 April 2003, Bucharest), to Thomas E. Starzl, from the behalf of “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Bucharest, the “Doctor Honoris Causa” title, for his activity in initiation and development of liver transplantation Worldwide he is: - Member of "Hepato-gastroenterology" editorial board - Deputy Editor of "Archives de l'Union Medicale Balkanique" ("Archives of the Balkan Medical Union"); - Member of "Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery" editorial board - Member of " Journal of Telemedicine and E-Health " editorial board - Member of " The Open Transplantațion Journal " editorial board - Member of European Society of Transplantation - Member of Executive Committee of al "International Association of Surgeons and Gastroenterologists" (IASG), from 2002 - Member of European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES), from 2002 - Member of TTS (The Transplantation Society), from 2006 - Member of ESA (European Surgical Association), from 2007 - Honorary member of National Chapter for Serbia and Montenegro of the IHBA (International Hepato-pancreato-biliary Association), from 2005 - Honorary member of Bulgarian Surgical Society, from 2006 - Honorary member of Serbian Medical Association, Surgical Section, from 2006 - Honorary member of Chinese Society of Surgery, from 2007 - Member of European Academy of Surgical Sciences, from 2002 - Member of National Academy of Surgery in France, from 2003 - Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, 2005; - Honorary member of Moldavian Academy of Sciences, from 2007 - Permanent Member of the Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences, Chairman of the Clinical and Experimental Surgery Department; - Permanent Member of Romanian Academy of Scientists, Chairman of the Medicine Department Irinel Popescu was elected to review the following publications Langenbeck's Archives for Surgery, Hepato-gastroenterology Surgery and EJSO - The Journal of Cancer Surgery

References

  1. Dora Petrilă, "Convorbiri cu chirurgul Irinel Popescu", Editura Humanitas, București, 2003
  2. http://www.irinel-popescu.ro
  3. http://www.romtransplant.ro/transplant_istoric.htm

External links

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