Julián Podoba (9 January 191631 August 2005) was a Slovak

endocrinologist Endocrinology (from ''endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental events ...

. His research into

iodine deficiency Iodine deficiency is a lack of the trace element iodine, an essential nutrient in the diet. It may result in metabolic problems such as goiter, sometimes as an endemic goiter as well as congenital iodine deficiency syndrome due to untreated ...

and endemic goitre led to the introduction of

iodised salt Iodised salt (American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), also spelled iodized salt) is Salt#Edible salt, table salt mixed with a minute amount of various iodine salts. The ingestion of iodine prevents iod ...

in Slovakia.

Biography

Podoba was born in 1916 in western Slovakia. His father was a farmer and a member of parliament in the

First Czechoslovak Republic The First Czechoslovak Republic, often colloquially referred to as the First Republic, was the first Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak state that existed from 1918 to 1938, a union of ethnic Czechs and Slovaks. The country was commonly called Czechosl ...

. Podoba began studying medicine at

Comenius University Comenius University Bratislava () is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is named after Jan Amos Comenius, a 17th-century ...

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

in 1934 and graduated in 1940. During the Second World War, he was forced to resign from his post at the Martin University Hospital because he disagreed with Slovakia's alliance with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, and began working instead at the Hospital of the Workers Social Security Alliance in Bratislava. After the war, he studied

endocrinology Endocrinology (from ''endocrine system, endocrine'' + ''wikt:-logy#Suffix, -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the ...

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

under Josef Charvát, who was regarded as one of the founders of endocrinology in Czeschoslovakia, and Karel Šilink. When Podoba returned to Slovakia, he carried out research into endemic goitre based similar field studies conducted by Šilink in Czechia. His research, carried out from 1949 to 1953, showed that most of the Slovakian population was iodine deficient. In some regions, he found a prevalence of endemic goitre in women as high as 80% and cretinism (due to congenital iodine deficiency) as high as 3%. Unlike Šilink's investigations, Podoba also measured urinary iodine concentrations in his subjects, used

perchlorate A perchlorate is a chemical compound containing the perchlorate ion, , the conjugate base of perchloric acid (ionic perchlorate). As counterions, there can be metal cations, quaternary ammonium cations or other ions, for example, nitronium cat ...

and

phenylthiocarbamide Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC), also known as phenylthiourea (PTU), is an organosulfur thiourea containing a phenyl ring. It has the unusual property that it either tastes very bitter or is virtually tasteless, depending on the genetic makeup of ...

tests, and attempted to identify genetic factors involved in the development of endemic goitre. The Slovak Ministry of Health established the Institute of Endocrinology in 1951 and Podoba was appointed its first director. The institute was incorporated into the

Slovak Academy of Sciences The Slovak Academy of Sciences (, or SAV) is the main scientific and research institution in Slovakia fostering basic and strategic basic research. It was founded in 1942, closed after World War II, and then reestablished in 1953. Its primary ...

in 1954 and renamed the Institute of Experimental Endocrinology in 1967. He became an associate professor of Comenius University in 1968, served as president of the Slovak Endocrine Society from 1967 to 1975, and founded the international medical journal ''Endocrinologia experimentalis''. He retired in 1987 and died in 2005.

Legacy

Iodised salt Iodised salt (American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), also spelled iodized salt) is Salt#Edible salt, table salt mixed with a minute amount of various iodine salts. The ingestion of iodine prevents iod ...

was introduced in Slovakia in 1951 as a result of Podoba's research on iodine deficiency. As a result, the incidence of endemic goitre declined significantly and cretinism disappeared completely in children. Podoba was awarded the Medal of the President of Slovak Republic in 2003 and was inducted into the Slovak Medical Society's Hall of Fame of Slovak Medicine in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Podoba, Julian 1916 births 2005 deaths Endocrinologists Slovak physicians Comenius University alumni 20th-century Slovak physicians Czechoslovak scientists Czechoslovak physicians