Born: 1 January 1897
Died: 20 May 1988
Nationality: Romanian
Ana Aslan was a medic and physician who is still considered to be one of the pioneers of the geriatrics. She founded the world’s first Institute of Gerontology and Geriatrics (Bucharest, Romania). The anti-aging drugs she invented (Aslavital, GerovitalH3) are still used by people who want to delay the signs of aging all over the world.
Ana Aslan lived in a period when a medical career was not very suitable for a young lady, but she graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in her home country. During her studying years she worked as a nurse for the Romanian soldiers injured in the First World War. After a while, working in endocrinology, she began studying the effect of procaine in treating arthritis. Having incredible results, she extended her research area on studying the procaine effects on ageing process. In 1952 she founded the world’s first Institute of Geriatrics and Gerontology, which was recognized by the World Health Organization. Her work was famous all over the world and many personalities of the time came to her to delay the signs of aging of their bodies (among them were Charles de Gaulle, J.F. Kennedy, Salvador Dalí, Marlene Dietrich or Charlie Chaplin). She dedicated a lot of her time treating elderly people who were abandoned by their families, improving the quality of their lives. Because she wouldn’t ask them a penny, the political regime of that time initiated a long trial which she eventually won a few years before she passed away.
Her researching made a great change in the treatment of elderly people and social medicine. Her receipts (Aslavital and GerovitalH3) are still used for producing pills and cosmetics products. Her scientific activity was rewarded with many awards and distinctions. Ana Aslan was a member of several academies and medical forums (member of The Romanian Academy, Science Academy of New York, honorary member of European Center for Medical Research, president of International Association of Gerontology and president of Romanian Society of Gerontology), although the advances she made in geriatrics were so precious that there is no distinction to give her for the gift she left to us, finding a way to delay aging, something we’re all afraid of.