Franc Erjavec

Prof. dr. Franc Erjavec was born in 1925 in Ljubljana, Slovenia where he received an M.D. from the University of Ljubljana in 1952. After graduation he joined a newly established Department of Pharmacology at the Medical School in Ljubljana. In 1972 he became Professor of Pharmacology and Head of the Department of Pharmacology which he led until 1995. He received a number of fellowships during his pre and postdoctoral training and used them to study at various institutes and universities (Vienna and Graz, Austria; Paris and Nancy, France; Bethesda, USA). It was during this time that he became interested in histamine research, in particular the existence of non-mast cell histamine, histamine metabolism, where he introduced new isotopic techniques, and the role of histamine in exocrine secretion. On returning to Ljubljana, he continued researching on histamine with the younger members of the Department of Pharmacology, enabling their research on histamine to become internationally recognized. He has published work on histamine storage and release from isolated mast cells and its modulation by many drugs, metabolism of histamine, the role of histamine in gastric secretion, and histamine receptors. In 1978 at the invitation of Professor Maslinski, he joined the EHRS (known at that time as the Histamine Club). In 1983 he organised the EHRS meeting in Bled, Slovenia. He died on 13th August 2004.