Another award for our outstanding scientist!
At the most recent meeting of the Executive Committee of the Slovak Physiological Society, our long-time colleague MUDr. Fedor Jagla, CSc., received an award for extraordinary contributions to the development of the Slovak Medical Association (SMA). He accepted the silver “Tree of Life” badge from the President of the Slovak Physiological Society, Professor MUDr. Andrea Čalkovská, DrSc., and the Scientific Secretary, Professor MUDr. Kamil Javorka, DrSc.
The SMA silver “Tree of Life” badge is awarded to physicians and pharmacists as a special honor for merit and for supporting the fulfillment of the goals and mission of the SMA. Artistically, the badge depicts the structure of the human cerebellum, whose shape resembles a tree. In the SMA logo, it symbolically expresses the main focus of this society - transferring the latest scientific knowledge into practice through continuing education and development in individual disciplines and specializations.
Dr. Jagla has received several significant honors to date: inter alia the Commemorative Medal for the 200th anniversary of the birth of J. E. Purkyně; “J. Jessenius” Golden Honorary Plaque of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS) for merit in medical sciences; the Golden Medal “Propter merita” of SMA, and the SAS Medal for support of science. On the occasion of his 80th jubilee this year, he was also awarded the Cigánek Prize and the Medal of Prof. MUDr. Leodegard Cigánek, DrSc., for professional and scientific contributions in the field of neuropsychiatry.
Fedor has devoted his entire life so far to work at the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Already as a medical student at the Faculty of Medicine, he worked as an assistant researcher at the Institute of Experimental Endocrinology. Immediately after graduation, he began working at the Institute of Normal and Pathological Physiology, where he remains to this day. His research has focused on higher functions of the human brain - particularly attention and its role in sensory and motor processes - as well as brain mechanisms of visual imagery and eye movements. In studying brain activity, he uses a comprehensive approach and assessment through electrophysiological methods (EEG, EMG, electro-oculography).
From 1995, he headed the Department of Brain Physiology at the Institute of Normal and Pathological Physiology of the SAS (later the Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience) and held other important positions: institute scientific secretary, representative in the SAS Assembly, deputy director, and from 1999 to 2007 he led the institute as its director. In addition to leadership roles, he was the principal investigator of several national projects, a coordinator of international projects, and remains an active researcher to this day. He served as the main organizer and as a member of organizing committees for many scientific events, conferences, and symposia in Slovakia and abroad. He was a long-time member of the Executive Committee of the Slovak Society for Higher Brain Functions of the SMA, where he also served for a time as chair. He was active in other professional bodies as well - as a committee member of the Slovak Neuropsychiatric Society and the Slovak Physiological Society. The pinnacle of Dr. Jagla’s international recognition was his role as President of the Collegium Internationale Activitatis Nervosae Superioris (CIANS), the oldest international medical interdisciplinary organization in the fields of behavioral neurobiology, integrative physiology, and psychosomatic relationships (founded in 1960). He still serves as a member of the CIANS Executive Committee and is the editor-in-chief of the international scientific journal Activitas Nervosa Superior Rediviva. Fedor has also devoted considerable effort to teaching, supervising PhD students in normal and pathological physiology, and for nearly two decades overseeing neurophysiology teaching at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava.
For all his colleagues, Fedor embodies friendliness, openness, and a willingness to help selflessly at any time. He is an exceptional person full of empathy and humility. Through his passion for science and research, as well as his positive approach to work and life, he inspires future generations.
We warmly congratulate him on receiving these honors, as well as on his remarkable life jubilee, and we wish him good health and enthusiasm in the years to come.
Prepared by: Jana Kimijanová, Institute of Normal and Pathological Physiology, Centre of Experimental Medicine, Slovak Academy of Sciences
Photo: Slovak Physiological Society