Honorary doctorate for professor emeritus Paul Luiten

On 15 November in Budapest, Paul Luiten received an honorary doctorate from the Semmelweis University. Luiten (The Hague, 1948) is professor emeritus of Molecular Neurobiology and Biological Psychiatry, specializing in research into the molecular processes causing Alzheimer’s disease.

Below is the eulogy given at the award ceremony:

Doctor Honoris Causa Prof. P.G.M. Luiten

Professor Paul Luiten, the former chair of the department of Molecular Neurobiology at the Institute CBN (Centre for Behaviour and Neurosciences) started his research career as neuroanatomist pioneering on the hypothalamic autonomic nervous system. He received his PhD degree in 1977. Later he extended his research activities towards the neurobiology of learning and memory, afterwards to studying neuronal aspects of dementia, neuroprotection and neurodegeneration with special emphasis on the cholinergic brain. He is one of the most honored scientists in the world in the field of studying brain vascular neurobiology and pathology. Recently one of his major interests is how to preserve a healthy brain aging by applying a broad research area including human studies as well by means of cooperating with research experts from different countries.

His exceptionally rich scientific scientometric record includes a large list of scientific publications in international journals with more than 9000 citations and an Hirsh index of 50. Together with Hungarian authors he has more than a 130 international publication based on the continuous cooperative research with a number of university groups in Hungary. It may be mentioned here that Prof. Luiten was a very regular guest of Hungarian Universities during the last 30 years. We may recall here also three NWO-OTKA collaboration grants among the dozens of common research grants between the two countries. Recently, he is also supporting another emerging research field in our collaboration related to movement science in both human and animal research.

Professor Luiten, as PhD promotor, supported four Hungarian PhD students, including two students graduated at Semmelweis University, to receive a PhD degree at the Groningen University. The fifth promotion is on the way these years.

Professor Luiten is an internationally well-known neuroscientist, who helped research activities at different Hungarian Universities especially at the Semmelweis University in a great degree, and he is worth to have the awardDoctor Honoris Causa Universitatis de Semmelweis Nominata.

The collaboration between Semmelweis University (Budapest, Hungary) and RUG will continue. Currently joint projects are running and planned between the department of Molecular Neurobiology (Profs. Eisel and Van der Zee) and the Research Institute of Sport Sciences (Prof. Nyakas). These enterprises can be seen as an important legacy of Prof. Luiten, who retired in the summer of 2013.