Ion Țurai (January 17, 1907–September 21, 1970) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

n surgeon and anatomist. Born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...

, he studied at the and graduated in 1933 with a thesis written under

Francisc Rainer Francisc Iosif Rainer (December 28, 1874 – August 4, 1944) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian pathologist, physiologist and anthropologist. From an immigrant family, he earned early recognition for his experimental work in anatomy, and help ...

. He practiced surgery at the and then at military hospitals in

Târgoviște Târgoviște (, alternatively spelled ''Tîrgoviște''; german: Tergowisch) is a city and county seat in Dâmbovița County, Romania. It is situated north-west of Bucharest, on the right bank of the Ialomița River. Târgoviște was one of the ...

and Bucharest. From 1948 to 1970 he was a professor of practice at the

Floreasca Hospital Floreasca Hospital ( ro, Spitalul Clinic de Urgență București Floreasca) is a major hospital in Bucharest, Romania. The hospital is specialized in providing emergency medical care. History The Floreasca Hospital is the first institution in Rom ...

, specializing in

emergency medical care Emergency medicine is the medical speciality concerned with the care of illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians (often called “ER doctors” in the United States) continuously learn to care for unsc ...

. In 1951 Țurai was ordered to

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

to provide medical assistance to the communist forces during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

; according to a

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

report from that time, he tried to avoid going by producing a

medical certificate A medical certificate or doctor's certificate is a written statement from a physician or another medically qualified health care provider which attests to the result of a medical examination of a patient. It can serve as a sick note ( UK: fit n ...

, but his request was denied. Țurai was elected a corresponding member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its by ...

in 1955. From 1952 to 1957 he served as deputy to the Great National Assembly for the Drăgănești district of the

București Region Regiunea București (București/Bucharest region) was one of the newly established (in 1950) administrative divisions of the People's Republic of Romania, copied after the Soviet style of territorial organization. History The capital of the r ...

. He was the author of several medical books, especially relating to various surgery techniques. In his review of ,

Theodor Burghele Theodor Burghele (12 February 1905 – 3 June 1977) was a Romanian surgeon and urologist, titular member and President of the Romanian Academy, and Minister of Health. He was born in Iași in an old Moldavian boyar family, the son of Theodor B ...

wrote: "The authors have developed an experimental model of the 'little pancreas' through which they were able to elucidate a series of aspects still insufficiently known. Their experimental research is very valuable and it always makes me especially happy to find the name of Professor Țurai quoted in international bibliographies."

Publications

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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turai, Ion 1907 births 1970 deaths Physicians from Bucharest Romanian surgeons Romanian anatomists Romanian military doctors People of the Korean War 20th-century surgeons 20th-century Romanian politicians Romanian medical writers Corresponding members of the Romanian Academy Members of the Great National Assembly