Vavro Šrobár

Vavrinec Ján Šrobár, known as Vavro Šrobár (1867-1950), was a Slovak medical doctor who became a leading politician of Czechoslovakia. Born in Lisková, he studied medicine at Charles University in Prague, then returned to Ružomberok, where he founded and edited the journal Hlas and continued to work as a doctor. In 1909 he published Ľudová obrázková zdravoveda, an illustrated guide to public health. After he signed the Czechoslovak declaration of independence in October 1918 he served as the new state's minister of health and later as minister for public health and physical education. In 1923 he submitted a post-doctoral thesis in social medicine at Comenius University in Bratislava, and in 1935 the university made him a tenured professor of the history of medicine. He died in Olomouc in 1950.