Ettore Marchiafava

Ettore Marchiafava was an Italian physician, pathologist and neurologist. He spent most of his career as professor of medicine at the University of Rome . His works on malaria laid down the foundation for modern malariology. He and Angelo Celli were the first to elucidate living malarial parasites in human blood, and able to distinguish the protozoan parasites responsible for tertian and benign malaria. In 1885 they gave the formal scientific name Plasmodium for these parasites. They also discovered meningococcus as the causative agent of cerebral and spinal meningitis. Marchiafava was the first to describe syphilitic cerebral arteritis and degeneration of brain in an alcoholic patient, which is now eponymously named Marchiafavas disease. He gave a complete description of a genetic disease of blood now known Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria or sometimes StrbingMarchiafavaMicheli syndrome, in honour of the pioneer scientists. He was personal physician to three successive popes and a

Ettore Marchiafava born in Rome to Francesco Marchiafava and Marianna Vercelli. He graduated in medicine and surgery from the University of Rome in 1869. He earned doctorate degree in 1872. He won gold medal from his medical course. He immediately worked as assistant to Tommasi Crudeli at pathology department of the University of Rome. He was appointed Associate Professor in 1881, and became full Professor fromApril 1885. In 1886 he succeeded Crudeli as chair of the department. In 1916 he succeeded Guido Baccelli as chair of medicine, and in 1917 he was given additional appointment of Professor of medicine. He retired onJuly 1922 and continued as Professor Emeritus.

Source: Wikipedia