PROF. DR. ANTE VUKAS (1910.–1991.), PROMICATELJ NOVIH DIJAGNOSTIČKIH I TERAPIJSKIH METODA U DERMATOVENEROLOGIJI

Abstract

Professor Ante Vukas (b. Split 1910 – d. Rijeka 1991) started medical studies in Graz, Austria, and graduated in Zagreb in 1934. Save for brief pauses between 1943 and 1945 in partizan anti-fascist resistance, and 1947 in regular military service, he practiced in the dermatovenerology ward and later clinic of the Sušak hospital from 1937 to 1979. Dr Vukas was an excellent physician and a sparkling scientific mind who will be remembered by a number of diagnostic and therapeutic methods. In 1950 he introduced his own method of epidermtectoscopy, for which he received the Scientific Exibit Award of the American Medical Association in Chicago in 1952. During his training in the Netherlands a year later, he was introduced to new specific dermatovenerological laboratories and subscpecialties. He was among the first, not only in the former Yugoslavia, but also in Europe to introduce these new subspecialties to dermatological practice (including serology, corrective dermatology, alergology, PUVA therapy, hair transplantation, electron microscopy and immunohistology). In 1955, before the University School of Medicine was established in Rijeka, he was the first to receive a license from the University of Zagreb to teach dermatology in Rijeka. Looking at his work from a distance of so many years from his death, professor Vukas is undoubtedly the founder of modern dermatovenerology in Rijeka who kept up with the world trends. However, it is disturbing that his work has not yet received proper evaluation and recognition.