Marius Nasta (4 December 1890 – 6 April 1965) was a Romanian physician and scientist renowned for his work in the field of tuberculosis. He was a titular member of the Romanian Academy and President of the Union of Societies of Medical Sciences.After the fall of the communist regime in Romania, the Union of the Societies of Medical Sciences changed its name to the "Romanian Medical Association".
He reduced mortality from tuberculosis in Romania and played a leading role in the development of a national strategy involving the research, prophylaxis and treatment of tuberculosis, as well as the establishment of a network of sanatoria and clinics for the treatment of pulmonary diseases in Romania. Nasta laid the foundations for the teaching of modern epidemiology of tuberculosis, set up the first Chair of Phthisiology at the Bucharest Faculty of Medicine and fostered research in the field of bacteriology. Romania's Stalinist rulers put him in charge of a leading hospital and research center in the field of respiratory medicine called Institutul de Ftiziologie. In 1959, they "exposed" Marius Nasta for his "cosmopolitan behavior". After the fall of communism in Romania in 1989, the institute was renamed Institutul de Pneumoftiziologie Marius Nasta in his honour. He is regarded as "one of the fathers of the care, treatment, and study of tuberculosis of the lung in Romania".See "The personality of Marius Nasta" by Prof. Dr. Constantin Anastasatu in "Marius Nasta – Centenary of his birth – record of lectures held during the commemorative meeting at the Marius Nasta Institute of Pneumophthisiology", R.D. Shelden Enterprises, Inc. 1990 , p. 6.
Early life and education Marius Nasta was born in Bucharest in 1890. He was the third of four children born to Alexandru and Irene Nasta. Alexandru Nasta, a bank clerk turned factory manager, had Aromanians origins.Alexandru Nasta, Marius's father, was born in Sibiu in 1859 to Naum Spiridon Nasta, a master road paver and his wife Susanne, nee Wallner, daughter of a German pastor. Susanne was owned several houses in Sibiu and Naum Nasta is known to have paved strada Lipscani, Bucharest's then main commercial thoroughfare. After graduating from Brasov's Commercial School in 1877, Alexandru moved to Romania at the end of the decade. He was one of the National Bank of Romania's first employees where he worked between 1880 and 1888. He became a Romanian citizen in 1886. The Nasta family (originally called "Derra") originated from Ohrid (Macedonia) and Moscopole (Albania). By the 18th century, members of the family can be found in the Austrian Empire at Vienna and in the Kingdom of Hungary at Pest. Several members of the family are ennobled by Austrian Emperor during that century for their philanthropy (they contribute to the building of churches and owned printing houses). The Derra family was also prominent due to its wealth which was derived from the trading of furs. The ennoblement of one of the family's members in 1743, triggered a change of name to Derra de Moroda (Moroda is a village near Arad in the Crisana county of Transylvania). For further details on the origins of the family see Anastase N Haciu, "Aromanii: comert, industrie, arte, expansiune, civilizatie; Focsani 1936; Max Demeter Peyfuss, "Die Leser griechischer, serbischer un rumänischer historischer Bücher um 1800, Ein Vergleich von Subskribenten listen, "RESEE", XXIII, 4, 1985), and a Romanian language biography of notable Romanian families "Cu gândul la lumea de altădată" ("Thinking of a bygone world") by Mihai Sorin Radulescu, the chapter called "The genealogy of Marius Nasta" p. 259, Albatros Press, Bucharest, 2005; . For further information on Naum Nasta, the master road paver, see Andrei Pippidi "Ce primarie am avut?" published in Dilema Veche no. 382, 9-15th June 2011
Alexandru's wife Irene (born Constantinidis), descended from a Greek family which counted linguists, writers and diplomats among its members.Irene Nasta was born in Brasov (Kronstadt in German) which was then part of Transylvania, a province of the Austro-Hungarian empire. She and Marius's father Alexandru got engaged in December 1884 and married in 1885. Irine Nasta's brother was Noti Constantinide, a well known Romanian diplomat; see "Cu gandul la lumea de altadata" ("Thinking of a bygone world"), chapter called "The genealogy of Marius Nasta", p.259, Albatros Press, Bucharest, 2005 The early death of Alexandru Nasta in 1898, caused the family to fall on hard times and forced Irene to teach piano lessons in order to support and raise her four children. His mother's hardship, left a powerful impression on the young Marius whose hard work and modesty were to become hallmarks of his life. After attending primary school in Bucharest between 1896 and 1900, Nasta entered Gheorghe Lazăr High School, then one of the Romanian capital's leading secondary schools, from where he graduated in 1908. That same year, he enrolled as a medical student at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Bucharest.Nasta's resume including his education and employment history was written in his own hand and is set out in file no.1979 called "Individual dossier relating to Marius Nasta" opened by the Romanian Securitate on September 1st 1958 which was released by the National Council for the Study of the Archives of the Securitate (CNSAS) to Marius Nasta's grandson Marius Ion Nasta
Ioan Cantacuzino and the "Cantacuzino School"
At the Bucharest Faculty of Medicine, Nasta was taught by Ioan Cantacuzino who took him under his wing and who had a major influence on his early professional career and personal life.Of his meeting with Professor Cantacuzino, Marius Nasta is quoted as saying that "this was the most important and decisive moment in my professional life"; see "The personality of Marius Nasta" by Prof. Dr. Constantin Anastasatu in "Marius Nasta – Centenary of his birth – record of lectures held during the commemorative meeting at the Marius Nasta Institute of Pneumophthisiology", R.D. Shelden Enterprises, Inc. 1990, pp. 91-126 , p. 6; Professor Cantacuzino was Marius Nasta's best man at his wedding to Lucia Băicoianu in 1922; see "Personal life" An outgoing and complex personality, Cantacuzino combined outstanding teaching with a passion for rigorous scientific research, a vast clinical experience, and wider interests which included music and the etchings of baroque French printmakers.For an overview of Professor Cantacuzino's personality and career see also his orbituary published by one of his followers, George Magheru, in 1934: "Profesorul Cantacuzino" by G. Magheru, Revista Fundațiilor Regale, Bucharest, 1934 p. 66 Inspired by Élie Metchnikoff (on whose staff he had served for several years at the Pasteur Institute), Cantacuzino's courses explored new areas of experimental medicine and offered his students the opportunity to carry out cutting edge fundamental scientific research in a laboratory that he set up in 1901 within the confines of the Bucharest-based Institute of Pathology and Bacteriology. As early as 1904, Cantacuzino's laboratory engaged in the production of the anti-streptococcal serum followed, in 1906, by the production of the Anti-Dysentery (Shiga) serum as well as the production of other vaccines to combat diseases such as cholera and typhus.Cantacuzino Institute
By integrating Cantacuzino's team, Nasta joined a group whose members left an indelebile mark on the Romanian scientific and medical world. Also known as "Cantacuzino School" or "Cantacuziniști", early members of the school included Alexandru Slătineanu (Cantacuzino's deputy), Ștefan Irimescu (regarded as the founder of Romanian pneumo-phthisiology and a member of the Romanian Academy) and Mihai Ciucă (a leading bacteriologist of his time and member of the Romanian Academy and of the Royal Society). They were followed by other distinguished personalities such as Constantin Ionescu-Mihăești (a leading bacteriologist and immunologist, a member of the Romanian Academy), (a veterinary physician, member of the Romanian Academy), Daniel Danielopolu (a leading physiologist, clinician and pharmacologist, member of the Romanian Academy), , Gheorghe Zotta, Ion Bălteanu, , and Nicolae Gh. Lupu.
Early career During his medical studies, Nasta worked as a medical extern at the Eforia Spitalelor Civile between 1911 and 1913 and as a medical intern at the "Brâncoveanu" hospital in Bucharest between 1913 and 1918. His internship was interrupted by the Second Balkan War and by World War I (see Military service section). After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine with top marks in 1918, Nasta worked and studied at the Pasteur Institute between 1918 and 1920.Nasta worked and studied at the Institut Pasteur under Professors Georges-Fernand Widal and Bessaude His work in France earned him several French medals including the Legion of Honour (see Orders and Medals section) and on his return in 1921, he took up the position of assistant researcher at the Institute for Serum and Vaccines, renamed that year Cantacuzino Institute. The latter was now state funded and its work was considered critical for the Romanian health service. It combined scientific research in fields such as microbiology, experimental pathology, epidemiology and hygiene with the production of vaccines to protect against a number of human diseases such as intestinal infections, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, typhus, and malaria. In 1926, Marius Nasta was appointed head of the newly created tuberculosis section at the Cantacuzino Institute. That same year, he spent several months in Paris, working at the and in the laboratory of Albert Calmette.Nasta worked at the Laënnec Hospital under Éduard Rist and carried research under Albert Calmette himself in his laboratory In 1927, a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation enabled him to travel to the United States where he visited and worked in several treatment centers including at the Saranac Lake center for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.Nasta studied and worked in the United States from May 1927 until December of that year; his trip included stints at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene in Baltimore, at the Phipps Clinic in Philadelphia, at the Lymanhurst Hospital in Minneapolis, and at the Rockefeller Institute in Princeton; see records which have been kindly been made available by the Rockefeller Institute to Marius Ion Nasta, Marius Nasta's grandson in January 2016 Between 1928 and 1934, Nasta continued his scientific research at the Cantacuzino Institute and practiced as a physician specialised in pulmonary diseases at the Casa Asigurărilor Sociale.
Later career After Cantacuzino's death in 1934, Nasta left the Cantacuzino Institute to head a department specialising in the treatment of various forms of tuberculosis and in the surgery of other heavy pulmonary diseases at Pantelimon Hospital in Bucharest. Alongside his clinical practice at Pantelimon Hospital, Nasta worked assiduously on behalf of the "League for the combat against tuberculosis" (see 1920–1939 section), taught at the Faculty of Medicine (see Academic career section), and carried out outpatient consultations at Filaret Hospital and in his own private practice. In 1944, he moved from Pantelimon Hospital to Filaret Hospital where he taught and practiced as head of clinic until 1949. That year, he founded the "Institutul de Ftiziologie" and served as its director until his forced retirement in 1959.
Academic career Nasta's academic career started in 1927 when he was appointed assistant lecturer to Ioan Cantacuzino at the Chair of Experimental Medicine of the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Medicine. Promoted to lecturer in 1930, he set up the chair of phthisiology at the Faculty of Medicine in 1943, when he became an associate professor. He was appointed a full professor in 1946.