The Order of the Rising Sun – with Gold Rays and Neck Ribbon has been awarded to Professor Jack Perry Strong, Boyd Professor of Pathology, Louisiana State University, New Orleans, USA and former President of the IAP and long time Hon. Treasurer of the USCAP and the IAP.
The Order of the Rising Sun was inaugurated by the first Meiji Emperor in 1875 to recognise distinguished service to the country by Japanese citizens. Since 1981 it has been conferred on a select number of non Japanese citizens who have made significant contributions to friendly relations between Japan and other countries.

The Honourable Koichi Funayama, Deputy Consul of Japan presenting the Order of the Rising Sun to Jack Strong on behalf of Emperor Akihito. Note the Botanical Gardens in the background.

Detail of the insignia of the Order of the Rising Sun. Note how the red ‘sun’ reflects light rays.

Jack Strong with his wife, Mihoko.

Jack Strong with Pat, his secretary for the past 25 years.

From 2003 women have been awarded this honour. (In 1888 the Emperor inaugurated a special award for women only, called the Order of the Precious Crown. It has 8 classes, class one being reserved for royalty.)
In 1878 the Emperor inaugurated a higher order called The Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum. This is reserved for the emperor himself and for Heads of State of specially selected foreign countries.
Within the Order of the Rising Sun there are 10 classes, class one being the top award.

The main feature of the ‘decoration’ is an eight pointed medal made of gilt metal (that is metal covered by a thin layer of gold leaf.) In the centre there is a red enamelled sun disc from which spread enamelled white rays. The medal is suspended from three enamelled paulownia leaves by a white ribbon with red borders. This is worn around the neck.
Jack was one of 5 foreign nationals in the United States, and one of 15 worldwide chosen in 2008 to receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. It was presented to him at a formal conferment ceremony hosted by the Consular Office of Japan on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 in the Pavilion of the Two Sisters, New Orleans Botanical Garden, City Park, just steps away from the Japanese Garden he led the efforts to build.

Robert Osamura, Past President of the Japanese Division of the IAP with Jack Strong in Athens. Bob and his team strongly supported Jack’s nomination for the Imperial award.

Jack being congratulated by his eldest daughter, Mary Lou. She is wearing a Mikimoto pearl necklace given to her by Patty, Jack’s first wife who died in 1996. Jack is wearing his University tie.

The decoration recognizes Jack’s outstanding contributions to academic and cultural exchanges between Japan and the United States of America. The decoration was presented by the Honourable Koichi Funayama, Deputy Consul of Japan on behalf of His Majesty Emperor Akihito who wanted the recipients to receive this prestigious honour on their own soil.
Jack Strong was recognized primarily for his 40 year contributions to academic exchanges between American and Japanese doctors and researchers. Jack welcomed the first of his many Japanese postgraduate scholars in 1968. Since that time he became interested in Japanese culture and learned some basics of the language. He was active in fostering cultural exchanges between the sister-cities of New Orleans and Matsue, Japan.
He has helped the Japanese Division of the IAP over many years, especially in the lead up to their successful hosting of the International Congress of the IAP in Nagoya in 2000.

In recent years as President of the Japanese Garden Society of New Orleans he led the efforts to build a Japanese garden within the New Orleans Botanical Gardens. This was named the Yakumo Japanese Garden after a renowned author and journalist who lived and wrote in New Orleans and Matsue, Japan. This garden now offers the people of Cyclone Katrina-weary New Orleans a place of peace and serenity.

(Information for this article, and a number of the pictures were supplied by Leslie Capo, Director of Information Services, LSU Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, and Emily Winckler, Office of the Consulate-General of Japan, USA. General information about the Japanese Imperial awards was obtained from Wikipedia.)

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Lajos Aranyi (1812-1887) was a student of Carl Rokitansky in Vienna. He returned to his home town of Budapest in 1844 and founded the Institute of Pathology at the University of Budapest. This was the fifth formally constituted University Institute of Pathology in the world. He received no salary for 2 years and earned money by embalming famous people. However, he immediately set about preparing pathology specimens for display in a teaching museum in the tradition of Rokitansky. In spite of the upheavals that have occurred in Budapest since 1844, about 700 of these specimens are still available for teaching students in the first Institute of Pathology of the University. No microscopic examinations were done on these specimens, but there is a handwritten catalogue of the specimens preserved in the department.

Lajos Aranyi (1812-1887) founded the first Institute of Pathology in 1844.

Odon Krompecher (1870-1926) who described the microscopic features of BCC in 1903.

A courtyard inside the main Semmelweis University building. There is a statue of Semmelweis in the square. the Institute of Pathology building is partly in the right of the picture.

The statue of Ignaz Semmelweis. The Institute of Pathology building is the cream building on the right of the picture.

Budapest Castle and reflections in the Danube

A view of the Danube as it winds through Budapest.

Another Hungarian from Budapest who made an enduring reputation following his studies with Rokitansky in Vienna was Ignaz Semmelweis. Puerperal fever was causing a high mortality among women at the time of childbirth. He demonstrated that it was transmitted by the unwashed hands of the doctors and medical students who went from the post mortem room straight to the labour wards. He, too, returned to Budapest to work. The University of Budapest is now called the Semmelweis University after him. Hungary has adopted another tradition from the Vienna medical school, and that is the establishment of two departments in most of the medical disciplines. In pathology there is a first and a second Department of Pathology.

Plastinated specimen of a haemopericardium from rupture of an acute myocardial infarction.

Some hearts.

Gross specimens in glass display jars in one of a number of small rooms adjoining the mortuary. These 19th century specimens are still used for regular teaching. No histology was done in those days.

Close up of a case of bacterial (infective) endocarditis.

Brown marble dissecting tables in the mortuary of the First Department of Pathology. They do 800 post mortems each year.

Staff of the Second Department of Pathology in the Library. First row from left: Dr. Andrea Farkas, Dr. Tibor Glasz, Dr. Janina Kulka, dr. Gábor Lotz, Dr. Eszter Székács, Dr. Attila Fintha.
Second row from left: a PhD student, Dr. Gabriella Arató, Dr. Attila Zalatnai, Dr. Béla Szende, Dr. Anna Kádár, Dr. György Illyés, Dr. Judit Halász, Dr. Adrienn Ildikó Tóth, Dr. Julia Németh, Dr. Margit Kovács.
Third row left: 2 PhD students
Third row right: Dr. Zsuzsa Gábor and behind her two PhD students.

Margaret Island in the Danube, Budapest

Another tradition from the Vienna medical school that has endured in Hungary and in many other countries in Europe is the high rate of post mortem examinations. As a result of this, medical students attend many post mortems, and learn most of their gross pathology in this way. The old mounted specimens are used to complement the gross pathology taught at the post mortems. Tibor Glasz at the second Institute of Pathology has begun to plastinate some specimens to help with the teaching of gross pathology.
The medical course lasts for 6 years. Between the two departments there are about 600 students in each year. A large proportion of these students are from other countries. The foreign students pay for their tuition, and this money is an important source of revenue for the University. The teaching staff has a heavy lecturing load on top of their routine service work. Lectures are given in Hungarian, German and English.

Delegates at the meeting in Visegrad.

Robin Cooke and Attila Zalatnai (Secretary of the Hungarian Division)

Zsuzsa Schaff (seated), President of the Hungarian Division chairing a session at the Visegrad meeting in May, 2008.

News from the Hungarian Division of the IAP

In 2005 the Hungarian Division of the IAP decided to start a series of meetings under the title Central European Regional Meetings on ‘Technology Transfer in Diagnostic Pathology.’
The first meeting on Liver & Pancreas Pathology took place from June 1-3, 2006 in the thermal spring resort town of Eger, 100km north east of Budapest. There were 115 attendees from 15 different countries.
The second meeting on Haematopathology - Lymphomas was held in Pécs in the south of Hungary from 21 to 24 June, 2007 with 110 participants from 16 different countries.

The third meeting on Breast Pathology took place in Visegrád, from 12 to 14 May, 2008. There were 168 participants from 25 countries.
Visegrad is one of the oldest and smallest towns in Hungary. Situated 30 kms north of Budapest it was the site of a Roman fortress, and in the 14th and 15th centuries it had a Royal castle.

The fourth meeting on Soft Tissue and Bone Pathology will be held again in the city of Eger, April 19-21, 2009.

The Education Committee of the IAP granted 3,000 USD towards the cost of the 2006 meeting, and 3,600 USD for the costs of the invited speakers for the 2007 and 2008 meetings.

Andras Kiss, IAP councillor of the Hungarian Division presenting a poster at the IAP International Congress in Athens, 2008.

Andrea Farkas in the small, old town of Szentendre (north of Budapest) in front of a shop selling traditional dresses.

Szentendre plague monument.

General News from the Division

Jellinek Memorial Medal
The Jellinek Medal (inaugurated in 2006 to honour the memory of Prof. Harry Jellinek, founder and first president of the Hungarian Division) was awarded to Lilla Lukács, for her achievements in the Scientific Student’s Circle of the Semmelweis University. She also won the 1st prize of the Krompecher Award. (Krompecher was the Hungarian pathologist who in 1903 described the microscopic appearances of Basal cell carcinoma of the skin.)

As of 1 July 2008 Dr. József TÍMÁR was appointed Professor in the 2nd Department of Pathology, Semmelweis University, Budapest.

Office Bearers of the Hungarian Division of the IAP
President
Dr. Zsuzsa SCHAFF
Professor of Pathology
2nd Dept. of Pathology
Semmelweis University, Budapest
Immediate Past President
Dr. Anna KÁDÁR
Secretary
Dr. Attila ZALATNAI
Treasurer
Dr. Gabriella ARATÓ
Number of Members
104 (seniors 94; juniors 10)

(Information for this article was kindly provided by Anna Kadar, Bela Szende, Attila Zalatnai, Zuszsa Schaff, Gyorgy Illyes, Tibor Glasz, Janina Kulka, Andrea Farkas.)

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The Portuguese way to Santiago de Campostela
Along the Way to Santiago de Campostela
May 21-28, 2010

The first of these International Pathology meetings was held in May, 2004. It was so successful and so much enjoyed by the participants that the original organisers decided to do it again. Only this time they would use the Southern Portuguese route rather than the French route from the North that was used the last time. The Portuguese route begins in Porto and follows the Atlantic coast of Portugal and Spain passing through some stunningly scenic areas.

A day of lectures is followed by a day of walking. The walking days will be part walking (about 12 kms) and then the rest of the day by motor coach. Small buses will be available for those who cannot do all the walking. The lectures will be held in local lecture facilities along the way.
The Course Directors are Juan Rosai, Milan, Italy; Manuel Sobrinho-Simoes, and Fatima Carneiro, Porto, Portugal; and Jeronimo Forteza-Vila and Jose Cameselle-Teijeiro, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Contact:
Ms Rossana Couto Lago
Rua Alfonso Senra, 175 4°B, 15680 Ordes. A Coruna, Spain
rossana@coutolago.com or
info@coutolago.com
www.waytosantiago-pathologymeeting.com

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