On May 15, academician Stanislav Groppa turns 60. On this occasion, the newspaper “Literature and Arts” published in today’s number an interview with the illustrious doctor and scientist. We republish it below.

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-Mister academician, in an interview you said that the doctor for your father was almost a saint. Is this assertion still pertinent?

-I must say that my father had a special attitude to doctors because the health and, ultimately, the lives of the people depend on them. I assumed this responsibility and followed his advice.

- How is the doctor treated today?

- The doctor is treated in the same way as the whole society, which also suffers from particular diseases. We, the doctors, have the duty to protect health. We ignore the atmosphere in society and give first aid to patients so that these become healthy and fit and can work and be useful to society. We, the doctors, do our utmost to restore the people’s good health and their confidence in a better life. Regretfully, the doctor is not properly appreciated.

- Our society, in the current conditions, is very stressed, while you deal with the diseases of the nervous system. To what extend can you improve the situation in the field?

- To our great regret, the people do not realize that health is one of the greatest values. We, the doctors, at least those from the clinic I manage, do everything possible to restore what the people lost – health – so that they have greater confidence in life and overcome depression.

- So, the doctors of your clinic cure the soul too?

-I don’t know if I can say so, but it’s definite that we take care of the people’s soul too and do our best to help the patients receiving treatment to forget about all the sorrows.

-How did you manage to create a clinic of world level?

- We looked for possibilities to outfit the clinic with the most modern equipment. We managed to do this owing to a series of national and international grants. Today we possess modern technologies to make accurate diagnoses and new treatment technologies. The new possibilities of the modern treatment of brain stroke through thrombolysis or vascular microsurgery are especially important. Today we can achieve significant results in the treatment of such diseases as epilepsy, migraine, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis.

-and yet …?

- In fact, the creation of an excellent neurology and neurosurgery clinic was and is the dream of my life. I’m glad that our institution was supported in time and we benefited from international cooperation with clinics and labs of excellence. Our results are highly appreciated. The last year’s visit to our clinic and the conclusions of a great clinician and neurologist scientist, the president of the European Academy of Neurology, Professor Gunther Deuschl, is a relevant example. Consequently, we managed to implement methods that enable to fully examine the nervous system by transcranial magnetic simulation, cerebral angiography, magnetic resonance, electroencephalography, high density monitoring, etc. For us, it is important to reform and adjust the health system so as to ensure the health of the whole population, with capable specialists and modern technology.

- I would like to ask you what the importance of pain studying is?

- The neurobiological aspects of this process represent my preoccupation and the preoccupation of the team I lead. It is a new research direction. This problem became acute with the human development, technologization of society and the appearance of different natural disasters. The right not to suffer pain, to be protected and treated is the basic human right. The pain needs to be treated and combated and rich knowledge of the pathogen rings and mechanisms is necessary in this regard.

- As you are now close to an anniversary, I would like to ask you also about your family, where an academician becomes an ordinary men, close to those who are dear to him.

- I was born in a family with well-defined moral principles where work, honesty, honor, love for the nation and book were holy values. The family of the father of my father included a number of generations of scholars. My grandfather’s brother Vasile graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Odessa in 1913. My grandfather Gheorghe was a peasant, but was a mayor in the interwar period. My father founded a secondary school that he headed during five decades. I was brought up in a village of hardworking people who lay emphasis on the supreme human values that I also made effort to cultivate and transmit to my son and now to my grandchildren.

- How is the village today?

- I will answer with the words of a neighbor of mine, who said:  “Mister professor, I like our village so much, especially in spring and summer. It is so green that it looks like a forest. On the other hand, it is said because the village is now empty and is not the village that was once, even if the holiest and most resilient people who love the native place remained here.”

-Why did you choose medicine?

-I didn’t choose it. I think this was my destiny. During my school years, I dreamt of a career in research, especially in the area of chemistry. I was to go to study at the Moscow University “ M.V. Lomonosov”. I chose medicine at the suggestion of my father for whom the doctor was almost holy and to whom I’m very grateful because there is no other more important thing than saving lives and giving health to a person.

-What and who formed you as a personality?

-My family, school and faculty and the thirst for knowledge. At the Institute, I was taught by encyclopedic teachers, real ‘pupils’ of Hippocrates: Vasile Anestiade, Nicolae Testemitanu, Andrei Zorkin, Efim Muhin, Natalia Gheorghiu, Constantin Tabarna, Gheorghe Ghidirim, Andrei Banaru, Eugen Popusoi and also representatives of the national neurosurgery school Diomid Gherman, Mihai Casian, Boris Ianachevici, Vasile Rata…

My involvement in public organizational activities also had an impact on my development. At the age of 22, I headed the student trade unions at the Institute of Medicine. In that period, there were created a number of artistic groups that later were conferred the honorific title of people’s groups. Among these are the folk music orchestra conducted by Gheorghe Banariuc, the vocal-instrumental ensemble “Bioton” headed by Leonid Gorceac, the folk dances ensemble managed by Gheorghe Ivanov, the brass band of Master Dumitru Coman. We built a home of culture where we opened an esthetic club that now bears the name of the famous singers Doina and Ion Aldea-Teodorovici. There are several halls there – the national hall with a Moldovan carpet brought from northern Moldova; the hall “Codru” with a scenery of our century-old forests; the chimney hall and a big disco hall where great cultural events were held. I wrote the words ‘rock’ and ‘disco’ with Latin letters. Then, in 1982, the Latin script reappeared for the first time in a public institution.

-But as a scientist?

-I completed the doctorate and post-doctorate studies at the Institute of Medicine of Russia, in a modern clinic. I was guided by an erudite man who organized the health system and who consolidated around him a real school of neurological sciences. This is academician Levon Badalian, who is the descendant of a well-known family of doctors. His father graduated from the same institute as the brother of my grandfather, that of Odessa. Owing to academician Levon Badalian, I managed to achieve many desired things. There I knew different personalities from different areas of research and culture.  Numerous international partnerships and internships followed.

- Don’t you regret that you preferred medicine to chemistry?

- I don’t regret. The contemporary medicine is an interdisciplinary science that consists of a number of specialties, while the profession of doctor is more than a job and more than an art. It is related to holiness.

-Thank you for the interview. Be healthy and many happy returns!


Nicolae Roibu