Dr. Alberto Oehling Ruiz has passed away at the age of 85. Clínica Universidad de Navarraat the age of 85. He was the driving force behind the launching of the department of Allergology and Immunology of the Clinic, the first to be founded from the specialization program in a Spanish university. Dr. Oehling was thus a pioneer in the teaching of the specialization program of Allergology in Spain.

Married to Blanca Durán and father of six children, given his extensive and important professional activity, Dr. Oehling has been included in the list of the hundred best Spanish doctors, in addition to being four times academic of Medicine and honorary doctor by the University of Montevideo (Uruguay). His great international professional recognition led him to be called on two occasions as advisor of the committee of the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Born in Granada in 1928, in 1955 he graduated in Medicine from the University of Granada where he obtained the degree doctorate a year later. From September 1955 to December 1956 he was assistant physician at the Polyclinic of the University Medical Clinic of Granada. From July 1955 to June 1957 he was scholarship recipient of the committee Superior de InvestigacionesCientíficasand from May 1956 to December of the same year he was head of the Allergology Section at the aforementionedclinic. In January 1957 and for one year, he was assistant physician at Prof. Hansen's clinic in Lübeck (Germany). During this period he worked in Internal Medicine, with special dedication to Allergology. From January 1958 to November 1961 he worked as a physician consultant at the Allergie-Forschungs Institut u. Asthma Klinik in Bad Lippspringe (Germany).

Encouraged by his professor and teacher, Dr. Eduardo Ortiz De Landázuri, in 1961 he moved to Pamplona to create the department of Allergology at Clínica Universidad de Navarra where he held the position of director until 1998.

Professional activities

In addition to directing the Clinic's Allergology Department department , his main professional activities include the period between 1982 and 1984 when he was Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine at the South Florida University Medical School, Tampa, Florida (USA).

His main academic activities began in 1961, when he was appointed Professor of Allergology. In 1984, he became the Full Professor of Allergology and Clinical Immunology of the School of Medicine of the University of Navarra.

His participation in national and international congresses is noteworthy, with a total of 322 lectures and papers delivered. His scientific and literary activity is supported by the essay of more than a hundred book chapters and a total of 8 published books. Under his direction 17 doctoral thesis were developed.

Main awards

Among the main distinctions Dr. Oehling received during his lifetime, the "Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande" (Cross of Civil Merit with Sash) of the Federal Republic of Germany (1965) stands out. He was also awarded the Gold Plaque and the "Albert Oehling Lecture" of the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (Paris 1992).

Alberto Oehling was president of the World Allergy Organization from 2004 to 2007, and director and publisher of the Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology.

Outstanding contributions

For Dr. Marta Ferrer, director of the department of Allergology and Immunology of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, and Dr. María Luisa Sanz, director of the laboratory of Allergology of the same entity, "all this baggage offers an idea of some of its main contributions, that of raising the specialization program of Allergology to the level of the university teaching , the elaboration of the program professor of the university subject , the establishment of the specialization program of Allergology in Spain, as well as the development of the program of the residency program in Allergology and Clinical Immunology".

The allergists recall how "under his direction, more than a hundred specialists have been trained, many of whom are now directors of Departments of Allergology and occupy positions of great relevance, such as the presidency of the World Allergy Organization and Interasma, among others". Both specialists agree that Dr. Oehling "has been able to transmit to us his love for the profession, something that has lasted until the end of his days".