The Slovak medical community lost a highly respected paediatrician, Professor László Kovács, who passed away on the 17th of September 2017, at the age of 66.
Professor Kovács, a paediatrician, with a specialty in paediatric nephrology and clinical genetics, graduated from the I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University in Russia in 1975. After two years at the Pediatric Department of the Heim Pál Children’s Hospital in Budapest, Hungary he moved to Slovakia, worked at the Paediatric Department of the Medical Faculty, Comenius University and the University Children’s Hospital in Bratislava, where he achieved the specialty in pediatrics in 1980 and the degree of a Doctor of Science in 1987. Between the years 1989-1992 he was a research associate at the Northwestern University, Chicago, USA and he studied pathophysiology and the genetics of a rare condition, familial neurohypophyseal diabetes insipidus. Subsequently, he spent a year at the Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine in Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, within his eminent interest in pediatric nephrology. After he came back to Slovakia, he obtained the speciality in paediatric nephrology.
He founded the Laboratory of clinical and molecular genetics as a part of the Paediatric Department and then obtained the clinical genetics speciality in 1997, becoming Professor of Paediatrics soon after. Between the years 2000-2016, he was the Chairmen of the 2nd Department of Pediatrics of the Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University and University Children’s Hospital in Bratislava.
In recognition of his exceptional contributions, he was awarded and honored by several national medical societies during his life and was a member of Slovak, Hungarian, Czech, Russian and International societies for paediatrics and paediatric nephrology. He was the author and co-author of numerous articles and books, and he authored many recommendations for paediatric practice, whose impact will continue in the treatment of sick children.
He became national coordinator of the Orphanet Slovakia team in 2011 and as a coordinator he raised the rare disease awareness in Slovakia by organising conferences, giving lectures and interviews, and writing articles in medical as well as popular literature.
He was an amiable physician and encouraging guide in science and clinical practice, offering opportunities to all who showed interest in knowledge. He is survived by a wife and two daughters.
