Prof. Emeritus Dr. János Hunyadi

The professor's research work covers the study of several skin diseases (psoriasis, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, erysipelas, drug sensitivity, leg ulcers, Kaposi's sarcoma, cosmetology pathologies, etc.). The functioning of the skin immune system, the investigation of the immunological role of epithelial cells, tumor immunology (melanoma), the mechanism of wound healing, factors influencing wound healing, and the introduction of new stem cell and dendritic cell therapeutic procedures in clinical practice are the focus of his research interests.

Prof. Dr. János Hunyadi obtained his general medical degree from the Szent Györgyi Albert University of Medicine in Szeged (SZOTE) in 1967, and then in 1970 he obtained his specialist qualification in dermatology and venereology, cosmetology, and in 1985 in clinical immunology and allergology. In 1983, he defended his candidate's thesis entitled "Immunological processes in the pathogenesis of psoriasis vulgaris". In 1993, he received the scientific degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences with the defense of his doctoral thesis entitled "Cell surface properties of keratinocytes and the practical application of keratinocyte culture". During his university studies, from 1964 to 1966, he worked as a scientific student at the SZOTE Radiology Clinic. After completing his studies, he worked at the SZOTE Dermatology Clinic until 1992. He conducted research with dermatological and immunological interests.

In 1974-1975, he was in Amsterdam (Binnengasthuis, Dermatology Clinic), then in the United States of America (1979-1980, Washington, Bethesda, Naval Medical Research Institute) on a 1-year study trip. Between 1985 and 1992, he traveled to Germany (Erlangen, Dermatology Clinic) on several short (3-6 month) study trips within the framework of the MTA-DFG research program.

Between 1992 and 2007, he was the head of the Dermatology and Venereology Clinic of the Medical University of Debrecen. Under his leadership, the equipment of the burn department operating at the clinic improved significantly. A patient care unit providing outpatient dermatological specialist therapy was established, as well as the first spa-photochemotherapy clinic built in Hungary. In addition to the existing specialist clinics, a clinic specializing in the outpatient care of venereal patients, a mycological clinic, a leg ulcer clinic, a naevus clinic, a dermato-oncological clinic, and a burn outpatient clinic were started.

The conditions for research work at the Dermatology Clinic were improved by the newly established tissue culture laboratory. The creation of a mouse model suitable for the in vivo study of human skin and skin tumors represented a significant advance in the field of scientific work. The essence of this model is that human skin transplanted into immunodeficient (SCID) mice adheres after transplantation and the properties of the xenotransplant with human vascular supply and the human tumor tissues implanted therein can be reproducibly studied under in vivo conditions.

Between 1993-2005, he was the Chief Physician of the Hajdú-Bihar County Skin and Venereal Diseases Inspectorate, and between 2005-2012, he was the Chief Physician of the National Skin and Venereal Diseases Inspectorate. He has been a member of the Clinical Pharmacology Ethics Committee of the Health Science Council since 2000.

Between 2003-2013, he was the Director of the DEOEC Cell Therapy Clinical Center. The center produces dendritic cell and stem cell preparations under GMP conditions for therapies and clinical trials at the university. The Cell Therapy Clinical Center offers researchers in many areas (e.g. gene therapy, treatment of cerebral vascular occlusion - stroke, spinal cord injury, etc.) a promising opportunity to successfully apply their latest research results for therapeutic purposes within a short time.

The Szodoray Foundation was established under its direction to support the postgraduate training of dermatologists.

Professor János Hunyadi's research work covers the study of several skin diseases (psoriasis, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, erysipelas, drug sensitivity, ulcer cruris, Kaposi's sarcoma, cosmetology pathologies, etc.). The functioning of the skin immune system, the investigation of the immunological role of epithelial cells, tumor immunology (melanoma), the mechanism of wound healing, factors influencing wound healing, and the introduction of the clinical application of new stem cell and dendritic cell therapeutic procedures are the focus of his research interests.

He has dealt in depth with the issues of care and epidemiology of sexually transmitted diseases, including the therapeutic options related to HIV, Herpes and HPV infections. He has published the results of his scientific work in twenty-eight book chapters, 269 in extenso publications, three letters to the editor, and 58 citable summaries. The number of publications citing his publications exceeds two thousand.

Awards:

For Excellent Work (1985)
Orvosi Hetilap Markusovszky Award (1995, 2007)
Mór Kaposi Memorial Medal (1996)
"Teacher of the Year" of the Medical School (1998, 2004)
Memorial from the Council of the University of Debrecen (1999)
Széchenyi Professorship (1997)
Excellent Teacher of the Medical School (2005)
Debrecen Academic Committee Plaque (2005)
Batthyányi László Strattmann Award (2005)
Pro Facultate (2007)
Member of several national and international scientific societies. As a result of his active contribution, MDT was admitted to the UEMS “Dermatology and Venereal Diseases” section in 2004.

Since 2013, he has been an emeritus professor at DEKK.

I especially like to work with patients, and it makes me really happy to be able to help

INTERVIEW WITH PROF. DR. JÁNOS HUNYADI
Even as a child, I dreamed of becoming a doctor. My father was a surgeon, and I was convinced that there was no more important job in the world. I remember that as a very young child, I regularly injected my teddy bears with the syringes he gave me. I was very sad because the teddy bears did not heal, and in fact, the material at the site of the many punctures was peeling off. Fortunately, this did not dampen my desire to become a doctor, so my brother and I applied to study medicine after graduating from high school.

Was this also about pleasing our parents?

Absolutely. We were expected to study well, and they also required us to continue our studies at university. We are grateful for it, because a wonderful profession fell into both of our hands. I received my gold diploma this year, so I have been practicing medicine for exactly 50 years.

That must be a great feeling! Do you remember the moment when you first felt that the fate of another person “depends on me”?

My father had a private practice, and he involved me in the work as a final-year medical student. That was the first time I felt how great it was to help people and to be able to pass on my knowledge to others.

He didn’t become a surgeon, though. At university, I had already decided what field he would like to work in.
Radiology was what interested me the most at university. I also did my two-year student association work there, together with a dear friend of mine. In the end, he got the radiology job, and I had to keep looking. I knew that there was a very well-known dermatology professor at the University of Szeged, Dr. Miklós Simon, who had joined the clinic a few years earlier. I thought that I could definitely learn the profession from him, so I applied to him: I was accepted to the Dermatology Clinic. He was a truly knowledgeable, fantastic person who traveled the world with open eyes. He had serious connections with professors from Western European clinics, and they became regular speakers at the Szeged congresses. What was interesting about these professional meetings was that he invited East Germans as well as West German colleagues, so they had a chance to meet each other. The German state later thanked Professor Simon for this with a Grand Cross.

Then the professor was an example to follow not only professionally, but also as a person…
That's right! He also helped his subordinates a lot in broadening their horizons. I myself was able to participate in psoriasis research in Amsterdam for a year. From there, I was able to travel to Brayton, to an immunology congress, where I met a colleague who invited me to America for a one-year scholarship. Thanks to these "coincidences", I was able to significantly expand both my dermatological and immunological knowledge.

I don't share it at all, I myself fell in love with dermatology early on. And the fact that I could see what I was doing played a role in this. While an internist mostly predicts blindly, I predict from what is in front of my eyes, and that was important to me. Of course, this is also a puzzle, like most of the medical career. I supplement the symptoms and signs with laboratory tests and imaging, and with their synthesis I can tell what can be done with a given disease. The difficulty lies in the fact that it is difficult to achieve a 100% cure precisely because of its visibility.

How successfully were you able to apply what you experienced abroad at home?
More or less successfully. I worked for 25 years in Szeged, at the Tisza bank clinic, where I became really good friends with Attila Dobozi, the later head of the institute. When we were young - while we were writing publications about our research together - I told him several times that he would definitely become an academician, to which he replied, "And you, a professor in Debrecen." Well, that's how it happened, in 1992 I was assigned to the Debrecen Dermatology Clinic. This was a completely new task, since the focus of my work from then on was the development of the clinic, making it as good as possible. In the system at that time, dermatology was practically dismantled, so it was no small task to localize the knowledge I had acquired abroad.

What did you do first?
First of all, I looked at what the clinic was like before the war. I studied what and how the old guys did it, and then I added to this my experience gained in the outside world. By 2007, I had fully completed my time as the head of the institution, and I left such a truly European-standard institution to my successor, with whom I have maintained a good relationship ever since. I became a professor emeritus, which means that I still participate in the work of the clinic once a week. In addition to treating patients, I also deal with doctoral school students.

In addition to healing and teaching, research is the third important task of a clinician, what are you most proud of?
I can't tell you the most exciting thing yet, I haven't finished the research yet. What I am proud of is that I was the first to analyze psoriasis as an immune disease in my candidacy. This also directed the therapeutic options for psoriasis in a different direction. Since then, there has been an immunomodulatory drug based on this important discovery, which is a similar salvation for the patient as insulin is for a diabetic. Incidentally, during the transformation of the Debrecen skin clinic, we developed light therapy, synchronous balneo-phototherapy, for psoriasis patients. This procedure is still one of the most important curative treatments for this disease.

The other area that has always been of particular interest to me is the role of epithelial cells in immune protection. During my decades of research, it turned out that epithelial cells play an even more complex role. The skin is practically a neuro-endocrine-immune system.

Similarly to stem cell research. How did you get involved with this young field?

We first examined stem cells in American research centers, primarily in the field of tumor immunology. Later in Debrecen, I had the opportunity to examine the possibility of stem cell therapy at the patient's bedside. For example, we examined the function of stem cells in diabetic leg ulcers, in cases of gastrointestinal cancer, and in patients who had had a heart attack.

Since stem cells can differentiate into any cell, can they be used in therapy for any tissue or organ?
That's right! This was a fantastic scientific breakthrough, which raises new and exciting questions. For now, stem cell treatment can be used very well in certain hematological diseases, and it is financed by the Hungarian Health Insurance Fund. In the Debrecen laboratory, we began to examine in what other areas this therapy can be used. The stem cell worked well in the treatment of leg ulcers, but the Hungarian Health Insurance Fund did not accept it as a supported procedure. For some very serious immune diseases, we developed a procedure that works on a similar principle, part of which is now publicly funded.

The use of epithelial cell culture in the treatment of burn patients is still a long way off, research in this area is still in full swing, but I am no longer involved in it. In the meantime, I retired and moved to Budapest.

As you mentioned earlier, you have been treating for exactly 50 years, what diseases do you currently treat most?

When I moved to Budapest with my wife, I felt: I don't know what else to do.

I got an opportunity at the Oncology Institute, and then I was invited by the Róbert Hospital to work with melanoma patients here as well. I do a thorough examination to screen out if a mole might be starting to spread malignantly, and then we plan the treatment method together with the plastic surgeon, as this is a team effort. Of course, if patients come to me with other dermatological problems, we also find a solution. I especially like being able to cooperate with patients, and it makes me really happy if I can help. It is important to me that we work together so that I don’t have to impose my will on anyone.

If I have time, how do you like to relax?
Medicine is my job, my love, and my hobby all at once. So relaxation also means being able to read scientific dissertations related to my profession. Every three weeks I participate in the work of a medical ethics committee, which is really exciting. I have to be up to date, because in this group we also have to report on the latest drugs, where I have to report on the results of pharmaceutical research affecting dermatology and skin cancer. In the rest of my free time, I write a longer study on vitamin C, which is especially relaxing in the evenings. I wake up in the morning with a new idea, and then at the end of the day I put it on paper. So my favorite pastime is using my brain in various ways.

Thanks to this, a book was born…

Yes! After the end of responsible management jobs, I finally had the energy to read. And I came across Paul Davies' book: The Furred Universe, in which he tells about the creation of the "Big Bang", revealing the points in the history of the universe where there had to be "some external help". I felt that the explanation of the origin of life was overstated by the excellent physicist, and moreover, this is the only point where I really feel the possibility of "furring". So I took a deep breath and over the course of two years I wrote my book about the origin of life, With and Without God. Now I'm tinkering with and polishing the English translation. I hope I can create something lasting here too.