Briefly: I was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 04/12/1936 and went to Denmark in May 1945, due to problems of a war far beyond my responsibilities! Together with my family I arrived in Brazil in December 1947 much to my liking (perspective of Indians, snakes and many other adventures!). We lived in Porto Alegre, the beautiful capital of the southernmost State of Brazil but far away from the fancied rain forests. I got my MD and PhD degrees from the Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, in 1961. Since 1962, I am hired by the University of São Paulo and started to work in the Department of Pathology of the Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto. This is a town in middle of the State of São Paulo and for decades was the coffee capital of the world. From 1977 onwards I am full professor of Pathology at the Faculty of Medicine of the USP, in the megalopolis São Paulo, the capital of the State with the same name.

My decision was to specialize in experimental pathology and therefore I went to work with Professor Walter Graham Spector, one of the greatest researchers of the inflammatory process of his time. I stayed with him in the Department of Pathology of the St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, from 1964 to 1965.

In Ribeirão Preto, until 1977, I did researches about vascular permeability in inflammatory processes, mainly in the lungs. This was a period dedicated to daily laboratory bench work and I loved it. Possibly the most comprehensive review of those investigations may be found in

Böhm GM. Vascular events in inflammation.
In: Inflammation: mechanisms and their impact on therapy.
Basel, Birkhauser Verlag, 1977. p.31-50

But who is interested in researched done 3 decades ago without a Nobel laureate distinction? I had 10 postgraduate students under my orientation, six of them got Master degree and four PhD, and all of them succeeded to pursue their own research lines. I shall honor everybody that I had the privilege to guide through the postgraduate journey by quoting one of the first students that came to my laboratory in 1972: OSLEI PAES DE ALMEIDA. He was tirelessly cooperative with everybody and had an iron will: his efforts to learn and dedication to investigate only may be equaled but not exceeded.

In São Paulo city, as Full Professor of the Medical School, I had my fair share of administrative work. Beside this routine I remodeled the Postmortem Service of the Capital and directed it for almost 10 years. In the present days, it has more than an average of 30 cases per day! Where on the Earth all people of a megalopolis in need of an autopsy gather in the same place? Only in São Paulo. For the last decade it is in the able hands of CARLOS AUGUSTO GONÇALVES PASQUALUCCI and this huge temple-of-truth of Medicine is a constant source of knowledge for the whole country by teleconferencing clinicopathological discussions to other medical schools.   In the LPAE with some colleagues (Ricardo Brentani and Alice Gouveia)

I founded the Laboratory of Experimental Air Pollution, the first in Latin America, which became operational in 1979. If you want to read something about it go to:
http://www.saudetotal.com.br/artigos/meioambiente/poluicao/sppoluicao.asp
and http://www.saudetotal.com.br/artigos/meioambiente/poluicao/spdoencpol.asp.
So sorry, it is in Portuguese. Never mind, since the last years I am only the honorary chief of the Lab and PAULO HILÁRIO NASCIMENTO SALDIVA is the real boss. Search for his name in the MedLine and you can read about the health effects of air pollution as much as you want. I am very proud of him and the Lab!

When I found out that the PCs were conquering the world for good, I suggested the creation of Medical Informatics in the Faculty of Medicine. The struggle for it started in 1983 and the inaugural lecture was only delivered in 1987! One of my illustrious colleagues made a public protest stating that I was trying to create a discipline of sophisticated dactylography! One of the brightest students that ever worked with me is the first Full Professor of Medical Informatics in our Medical School, EDUARDO MASSAD is his name. His great interests are studies in fuzziness and soft computing but do not ask me what this is because I never found it out.

Since 1997, I am helping CHAO LUNG WEN to implant Telemedicine and Telehealth in our Faculty of Medicine and Brazil. It is a very difficult task but the establishment is helpful about it and we are making good progress. Chao is workaholic (otherwise 100% abstinent for the despair of his friends!), always enthusiastic and with a bottomless resource of ideas. We are also in the directory of the Brazilian Council of Telemedicine and Telehealth (I am the President and he the Secretary General) and are quite busy in organizing the 10th Congress of the International Society for Telemedicine (www.cbtms.org.br search for the Union Jack).

The list of my publications and responsibilities occupied in the University you may see in my curriculum vitae. I forgot to tell you that I organized the foundation (http://extranet.ffm.br) that supports our Medical School and Teaching Hospital from 1988 to 1997. This was a trilling experience and I am writing a book about it that hopefully shall de edited until December 2005.

Beside my professional activities I tried quite a few sports - and liked some of them - however never attained any excellence whatever. I fared much better in my ambitions to see the world and to know other people. For 20 years - 1953-73 - I was a globetrotter and after that a frequent traveler. More recently, I thought that it was time to learn diving and in the last 4 years I explored some of the good diving sites: Brazilian Coast, Great Reef, Red Sea, Maldives, Caribbean Sea, Wakatobi, Sangalaki, Komodo, Sipadan, Lankayan and Galápagos.   With a new friend at the Great Reef

Since childhood I love music and the instrument of my preference is the human voice. Which of the 3 great tenors I like the best? Well, Enrico Caruso is getting better each day... and, as it is a very old friend, I wrote a biography about him in Portuguese which was also edited in Hungarian. The greatest singer of my lifetime? Only one? Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a strong candidate.   Enrico Caruso, self-caricature (my property) Professional address: Faculdade de Medicina Departamento de Patologia Av. Dr. Arnaldo 455, São Paulo CEP 01246-903 São Paulo - SP E-mail: gyorbohm@usp.br

Useful links:

http://www.saudetotal.com.br/artigos/meioambiente/poluicao/sppoluicao.asp
Air pollution in São Paulo, addressed to the general public. [in Portuguese]

http://www.saudetotal.com.br/artigos/meioambiente/poluicao/spdoencpol.asp
Health effects of some urban pollutants, addressed to health professionals. [in Portuguese]

http://extranet.ffm.br
Fountation "Faculdade de Medicina", a supporting organization of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo.