Authentication

User ID:

Password:

Iniciar sessão

U.Porto Memory

Doctors Honoris Causa by the University of Porto

René Leriche

	Proposal: Faculty of Medicine Date: February 18, 1932

Son of a lawyer, René Leriche was born in Roanne, in the centre of France, on 12 October 1879.

In 1902 he was “interne” at the “Hôpitaux de Lyon”, in 1905 “Prosecteur” of the Faculty of Medicine of Lyon and, in 1906, a Medical Doctor by the same faculty. From that year onwards, he occupied the position of “Chef de Clinique Chirurgicale” (1906-1909), “Agrégé de l’ Université” (1910), “Chirurgien des Hôpitaux” of Lyon (1919), “Chargé de Cours de Chirurgie Expérimentale” (1920), “Professeur de Clinique Chirurgicale” of the Faculty of Medicine of Strasbourg, “Professeur de Pathologie Chirurgicale” of the Faculty of Medicine of Lyon (1932), “Professeur de Clinique Chirurgicale” of the Faculty of Medicine of Strasbourg (1934), substitute of the Professor Charles Nicolle at the Collège de France (1936) and “Professeur” at the Collège de France). He was the first surgeon to take on these last duties.

He was also “Professeur de Chirurgie pro tempore” at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (Harvard, Boston), professor at the Lakeside Hospital (Western University, Cleveland) and obtained the degree of Doctor of Sciences by Harvard University (1929).

At an early stage of his research René Leriche became interested in the problem of pain and provided surgeons with a better knowledge of the nervous system, subsequently diverting his attention to bones and blood vessels. He wrote numerous publications, particularly scientific articles. He was also distinguished as a speaker and a philosopher.

He was a member of international scientific academies and societies and received several awards and honours. He was awarded the title of Honorary Doctor by the universities of Coimbra, Porto (1932), Montevideo, La Paz, Lima, Oslo, Geneva, Vienna, Prague, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Turin. He received the Lannelongue medal (from the Société de Chirurgie of France, in 1932), the Mialhe medal from the Société de Chirurgie of Oslo (1933), the medal from the Open University of Brussels (1936) and the Lister medal from the Royal College of Surgeons of England (1939). He was “Grand Officier de La Légion Française”, “Commandeur de la Santé Publique” and of the orders of Gustava Vase (Sweden), of Léopold (Belgium) and Santiago (Portugal); “Grand Officier de Honnuer e Mérite” (Haiti), “Officier de L’Ordre de Saint-Sava“ (former Yugoslavia) and received the Croix de Guerre 1914-1918 and the Croix de mérite sanitaire de Roumanie. He was “Honorary Fellow” of the American College of Surgeons, of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the American Surgical Association, the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland and of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and was honorary member of the academies of Medicine of New York, Roma, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Havana, Barcelona and Mexico.

He died on 29 December 1955, in Cassis, near Marseille, and was buried in Sainte-Foix. His book “Souvenirs de ma morte”, written in 1956, was published posthumously.
(Universidade Digital / Gestão de Informação, 2013)