Hygiene

The Department of Hygiene of the Faculty of Medicine in Timișoara was established in 1947 by Prof. Dr. Petru Râmneanțu (1947–1951), the first director of the Victor Babeș Institute of Hygiene and Public Health in Timișoara. Following the educational reform of 1948, the Faculty of Hygiene was created, within the following disciplines were taught: General and Community Hygiene (Prof. Dr. Petru Râmneanțu), Food Hygiene (Prof. Dr. Ilie Georgescu), School Hygiene (Senior Lecturer Dr. Isac Abramovici), Occupational Hygiene (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gheorghe Cădariu), Demography (Senior Lecturer Dr. Iosif Pod), and Medical Geography (Senior Lecturer Dr. E. Feichter, PhD in Geography).

The leadership of the Department of Hygiene was subsequently held by: Prof. Dr. Mircea Ancușa (1951–1953); Prof. Dr. Gheorghe Cădariu (1953–1962), Director of the Institute of Hygiene in Timișoara; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eugen Andriescu (1966–1972), Director of the Institute of Hygiene in Timișoara; Prof. Dr. Constantin Ursoniu (1972–1992), laureate of the Victor Babeș Prize of the Romanian Academy for the work Treatise of Hygiene (1986); Prof. Dr. Lucreția Pavkov (1992–1995); Prof. Dr. Sorina Doroftei (1995–2012); Prof. Dr. Brigitha Vlaicu (2012–2022); and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Corneluța Fira-Mladinescu (2022–present).

Hygiene is a preventive medical specialty, included in the Nomenclature of Medical Specialties approved by the Ministry of Health. Its primary objective is to promote and improve the health status of individuals and human communities in relation to environmental conditions and human behavior.

The specific educational objectives of the discipline include:

• understanding hygienic and sanitary conditions in environments with potential health risks;
• assessing environmental factors and their influence on population and individual health;
• learning methods for evaluating and preventing health risks associated with abiotic environmental factors (air, water, soil, housing) and biotic factors (food);
• using health-promoting environmental factors to improve public health;
• evaluating health status and environmental influences during childhood and adolescence;
• assessing lifestyle and promoting healthy lifestyle practices;
• developing practical skills such as laboratory testing, dietary surveys, outbreak epidemiological investigations, risk assessment, action planning, screening campaigns, and health promotion through educational measures.

Through these activities, hygiene education contributes to the development of preventive medical thinking in future physicians.

The Hygiene discipline is a mandatory subject within the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Nursing, and the Faculty of Dental Medicine, in programs taught in Romanian, English, and French.

The Department of Hygiene also offers professional development opportunities through doctoral and master’s programs, postgraduate courses, complementary training programs, residency programs, and specialist and senior specialist certification in Hygiene.

Within the master’s programs, the department teaches the following courses:

• Food Hygiene and Nutrition in Preventive Medicine (Master’s Program: Prevention and Rehabilitation in Cardiopulmonary Diseases)
• History of Food, Diet, and Nutrition
• Food Safety
• Research Methodology for Dietary Intake and Diet–Disease Relationships (Master’s Program: Clinical and Community Nutrition)
• Medical Education in Child Growth and Development (Master’s Program: Applied Auxology in the Growth and Development of Children and Adolescents)

The Department of Hygiene coordinates, within the Timișoara University Center, the Complementary Studies Program in School Medicine.

Under the guidance of the department’s academic staff, resident physicians from numerous specialties are trained and supervised, including hygiene, public health, medical microbiology, epidemiology, diabetes, metabolic diseases, nutrition, and pharmaceutical laboratory sciences.

Faculty members also carry out integrated activities within the Timiș Public Health Directorate, particularly within the Department for the Assessment of Environmental and Occupational Risk Factors and the Radiation Hygiene Laboratory.

The department’s academic staff have developed courses, practical training materials, specialized monographs, and educational resources available to students, residents, specialists, master’s students, and doctoral candidates.

In 2005, members of the department, together with colleagues from other specialties within the university, founded the Center for Studies in Preventive Medicine, accredited by CNCSIS as a Type C research center (Certificate No. 97/2005) and later established as a research center within the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Timișoara. This initiative enabled participation in national and international research projects obtained through competitive funding. Participation in national and international scientific events with original research has contributed to the recognition and dissemination of the department’s scientific achievements.