Physician, microbiologist and public-health organiser · 1863–1934
Ioan Cantacuzino
Cantacuzino built institutions and vaccination programmes that carried microbiological research into public-health practice.
A life behind the work
Cantacuzino studied philosophy, natural sciences and medicine in Paris before working with Élie Metchnikoff at the Pasteur Institute. Back in Bucharest, he became professor of experimental medicine in 1901 and built a research programme around infection and immunity. His investigations of cholera supported a vaccination method associated with his name. He also organised epidemic-control campaigns and biological-product manufacture. In 1921 he founded the Institute of Sera and Vaccines. His career joined laboratory investigation, medical teaching and the practical demands of public health.