Biography
Prof. Dr. Gábor Than was born on October 26, 1941 in Pécs. His father, Dr. Nándor Than, was a chief obstetrician and founder of an obstetrician dynasty, who was previously a teacher at Pius High School in Pécs. Gábor Than spent his primary school years in Pius and Makár Street Practice Schools in Pécs, and then matriculated with outstanding results from the Lajos Nagy High School in Pécs. In 1965, he obtained the Doctor of Medicine degree with summa cum laude qualification from the Medical University of Pécs. Then, he started working as an intern at the Women’s Clinic headed by Professor László Lajos. He graduated in obstetrics and gynecology in 1969, then became a senior assistant, assistant professor from 1977, associate professor from 1986, and in 1995 he was appointed a university full professor. He also intermittently managed the Women’s Clinic in the absence of the head of the department. He was also responsible for clinical research and education. He took part in the organization of lecture series, congresses and symposia, in the classroom and practical education of medical students in both Hungarian and English languages, and in the training and examination of scientific students. He was an official pre-opponent, opponent or jury member in several PhD and academic doctoral dissertations, and was a jury member in Habilitation Committees.
In addition to his clinical duties, he also undertook university, city and national professional assignments. From 1989 to 1991 he was member of the Scientific Committee of the Medical University of Pécs (POTE), from 1992 to 1995 he was member of the Habilitation Board of the POTE, from 1996 to 1999 he was a dean's adviser, and in 1999 he was candidate for the rector position of the University of Pécs. From 1981 to 1991 he was co-chairman of Pécs City Physicians’ Committee, in 1990-1991 he was the secretary of the Reproduction and Perinatology Working Committee of the Pécs Academic Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA). He was member of the Operations Committee and Executive Borad of the Hungarian Society of Gynecologists, member of the Hungarian Society for Family and Women’s Protection, and member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) Committee on Diseases of the Reproductive System. From 1989 to 1991 he was member of the Public Health Tertiary Education Qualifying Examination Board, from 1996 to 2002 he was medical expert at the Ministry of Education, and from 1998 to 2002 he was an expert at the World Bank Reform of Higher Education.
From the beginning, his scientific interest has extended to the basic and applied research on pregnancy, placental, and endometrial proteins and hormones in healthy and complicated pregnancies, as well as in trophoblastic or other gynecological tumors. He defended his Ph.D. dissertation on this topic in 1977 and then his D.Sci. dissertation in 1990. He became a habilitated doctor of the Medical University of Pécs in 1993, and in 1999 he won the Széchenyi Professorial Fellowship. In addition to the development of non-invasive biochemical and physical methods for intrauterine diagnostics in pregnancy, he was also involved in the gynecological applications of laparoscopic surgery. He was the organizer and then the head of the clinical ultrasound outpatient clinic, he was the first in the country to organize pregnancy ultrasound screening examinations covering the population of Pécs, and he led pregnant counseling. He also achieved significant results in the treatment of malignant gynecological tumors with radical surgeries.
He published more than one hundred and thirty scientific papers, mainly abroad. He was the author and editor of several books, including one American, and the number of his presentations reached two hundred. In 1994, he was honored by the Rector for his outstanding scientific achievement, winning the POTE Best Clinical Publication Award. As a fulfillment of his scientific work, he formed and led an interdisciplinary research group within the Faculty of Medicine, for the support of which he won almost continuous grant support from 1979, including more than ten OTKA, ETT, FKFP and OMFB grants. Four of his team members earned a Ph.D. title. He established collaborations with several foreign institutes in Germany, Japan, Finland, Austria, the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, and published more than fifty collaborative papers with 43 researchers from 24 foreign institutes. He was elected the member of international obstetric and scientific societies, was a regular guest speaker at international congresses and referatums, and invited organizer of workshops. After his death, an award was established and named after him by the International Placenta Association, which is awarded every two years to the most promising young researcher in the field.
The Women’s Clinic was almost home to him as a novice doctor, spending his life here in the years after graduation. The humility and love of the profession meant everything to him. Nature and music meant relaxation. After tiring surgeries or deliveries, he often looked out of his window at the trees of the university’s Botanical Garden, listening to the birds, or just the silence. His laboratory activities often meant overnight stay with little rest. Nature meant life for him, and he delivered children to life. As an obstetrician and a creative scientist, he always fought, worked and created for life with the love of life.
On Easter 2002, at the age of 61, he passed away tragically among his loved ones. We lost not only an internationally recognized excellent scientist, highly experienced clinician and university lecturer, but also a loving husband and father of his three children.