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ePaper created 2014-09-15, 12:31:02 | version 1.32.01
Jan Roelof Prakken Jan Roelof Prakken (1897-1982) appointed in 1946 was, like Carol, an example of a dermatologist whose excellent diagnostic skills led him to be mainly clinically orientated. Nevertheless, he also saw that greater attention to the physiology of the skin could be the basis for an improved understanding of dermatological diseases. At his inaugural address he spoke on “Functional disturbances in skin diseases”. Continuing with tradition, Prakken published his dermatological textbook in 1963, having already published a venereological textbook in 1948. Typical of his management style, Prakken preferred staff members who held part-time positions in non-academic city outpatient clinics, alongside their part- time position at the University Clinic. Less concerned with research in familiar areas, he promoted diversity and the individual interests of his staff members. On his appointment, the clinic was in a particularly poor and outdated condition, with beds numbering to 100, divided into wards of sometimes more than 20. Although Prakken complained about this in his inaugural address, it was not until 1966 that the clinic was relocated to the Binnengasthuis, where the former obstetrician department was completely renovated to suit its new purpose. Shortly after this move, Prakken retired. Rudi Harold Cormane Rudi Harold Cormane (1925-1987) was born in Bandung, Indonesia, and studied medicine in Leiden. During an academic vacation period, Cormane became one of the victims of an epidemic of poliomyelitis. After partial recovery, he resumed his studies and began specialization in internal medicine. His chief interest was in mycotic infections, and he gained his PhD on a thesis about Candida albicans. After training as an internist, he became the medical director of a small nursing home in Limburg. Attracted by academia, he specialized in dermatology at Utrecht. During his training he began research on the application of immunofluorescence techniques in dermato-pathology. Cormane accepted his appointment in 1968 with the inaugural address “Tradition and imagination in dermatology”. Being an internist as well as a dermatologist, Cormane was often more interested in underlying pathogenic processes than in the sometimes extreme morphological-oriented differential diagnostics preferred by dermatologists. As a result, a creeping crisis of confi- dence emerged between the established dermatological staff and the relatively young Cormane. Prakken’s policy, allowing combined academic and peripheral activities of staff, was put to a stop. Cormane also had very different ideas about the organization of science-based research. The new sub-discipline of immunodermatology, in which he was indisputably an international pioneer, was the central theme of his professorial career. 30 BWEADVSMGFINCORR:Opmaak 1 21-07-2014 17:39 Pagina 30