The University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” is the first medical school founded in Romania in 1857. It is currently the largest medical school in Romania. Its founder was Charles Davila (1828-1884), a prestigious French physician, practicing in Romania. His statue, created by sculptor Carol Storck, can be seen in front of the school’s main entrance. The school’s building was designed in French neoclassical style by Louis Blanc.
 

Charles Davila graduated from the historic University of Paris in February, 1853. A month later he moved to Romania in order to help organize the military medical service of Romania.

Even though the public healthcare system in Romania had been in existence since around 1700, doctors attended medical school abroad. As a side note, currently, Romania is known for its medical schools, and many aspiring physicians attend medical school in Romania and practice abroad. Davila, partnering with Nicolae Kretulescu, commenced the first medical training in Romania in 1857, by founding the University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila". Along with medical training, Davila is credited for other scientific associations such as: the Medical Society (1857), the Red Cross Society (1876), the Natural Sciences Society (1876); and medical journals such as: the Medical Register (1862) and the Medical Gazette (1865). Davila is also responsible for the invention of the Davila tincture for the treatment of cholera. His well known works are Syphilis Prophylaxis (1853), and Athmospheric Air (1871).

In 1873, the first doctoral degrees were awarded at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila". The university is currently a state-run university in the capital city of Romania, Bucharest. Bucharest is the most industrialized and commercial city of Romania. The honorary president of the University is the well known Professor George Emil Palade, M.D., PhD, and Nobel Prize Winner. Palade, a cell biologist, received a M.D. in 1940 from the “Carol Davila” University and continued to be part of the University’s faculty until 1945 when he pursued the postdoctoral studies in the United States at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. He continued his career by being a professor at the Rockefeller Institute (1958-1973), Yale University Medical School (1973-1990), and University of California, San Diego (1990-2008). Palade won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the vacuole. In 1961, Emil Palade was elected a Member of the National Academy of Science. In 1986, he received the U.S. National Medal of Science in Biological Sciences for distinguishing the configuration and function of organelles in cells. He is known for his study of the internal organization of the cell and a storage organelle is named Weibel-Palade bodies, named after Palade and Weibel, a Swiss anatomist.

“Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy has acquired high prestige for its history, teaching staff, academic accomplishments of the graduated medical students, and the clinical hospitals and laboratories it uses. The University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” is famous for its academic achievement. Other great personalities that have started their academic careers at the “Carol Davila” University are Victor Babes, Nicolae Paulescu, Gheorghe Marinescu, Thoma Ionescu, Ion Cantacuzino, Grigore T. Popa. They are well known for their breakthrough contributions in medical sciences.

The three major programs which are part of the university “Carol Davila” are the Medical School, School of Dental Medicine and School of Pharmacy. The University allows its students to carry out their clinical training in over 30 university hospitals in Bucharest. Through the years, the doctors who have studied at “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy were acknowledged by the worldwide medical community.