Tudor Oprea, MD PhD
Drug hunter. Cacciatore di farmaci.
Fourty years ago (6/29/1986), having finished 2nd year of medical school at the Victor Babeș University of Medicine and Pharmacy, I started as a volunteer nurse with Spitalul Clinic Județean de Urgență Pius Brînzeu Timișoara, under the guidance of emergency physicians Prof. Dr. Aurel Mogoșanu and Dr. Suzana Dumele.
Within days, I was drawn into intensive care and emergency medicine. To their credit, they mentored me for nearly 1½ years. Then, in 1987, the aggressive policies implemented by Nicolae Ceaușescu, aimed at paying Romania's national debt, hit the medical sector. Suddenly, 100 mg hydrocortisone acetate vials, were no longer available.
Emergency medicine turned into No medicine overnight. I walked away from a clinical career because I lost confidence in my ability to help patients back in 1987.
Through a series of fortunate coincidences, catalyzed by Prof. Dr. Francisc Schneider and Acad. Zeno Simon, as well as Prof. Philip M. Dean (Cambridge, UK), I discovered basic science, physiology, pharmacology and QSAR, as a career path for research. The elements of #AIML in drug discovery were there in 1989.
Fast forward to today, I am working in #AI in #drugdiscovery at Dompé, expanding the #Exscalate program. And thanks to Marcello Allegretti, I am an #RnDeepThinkerDoingScience.
Let's Go!!!