PROFESSIONAL-SCIENTIFIC CURRICULUM VITAE
Dr. Róbert János Bánhegyi was born on 8 May 1975 in Mosonmagyaróvár. He graduated in general medicine from the University of Debrecen in 2000, in 2006 in internal medicine, in 2008 in haematology and in 2010 in clinical oncology. In 2011 he obtained a licence in general practice and in 2014 in hospice palliative medicine. In 2016, he graduated from Corvinus University of Budapest as a healthcare management certified specialist. Subsequently, he obtained his PhD at the Doctoral School of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Pécs. In 2023, he presented his Ph.D. thesis on the topic of oncodiabetology, which he coined and applied in 2022, becoming the world's first author to issue a publication and write a scientific dissertation.
After graduating from medical school, he worked at the Department of Infectology (Hepatology and Immunology) of the Central Hospital of Békés Vármegye in Gyula. From January 2004 he has worked in the Chronic Inpatient Department, and from May 2004 he joined the Oncology Centre team. From 2009-2010, in parallel with working in the Oncology Department, he was in charge of the Aftercare Unit of the Hospital in Mezőhegyes. Since 2015, he has been a teacher at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences at Gál Ferenc University (formerly Szent István University) in Gyula, and from 2024 he has been an adjunct professor.
In 2010, he was honoured with the Hospital Director General's award for his work and successful management of the Mezőhegyes Aftercare Unit. In the same year, he was granted the research grant of the Hungarian Society of Clinical Oncology for his research on the association between type 2 diabetes and malignancies, entitled "Anti-tumour applications of insulin-sensitising antidiabetics". In 2018, he was elected "Oncologist of the Year" by nationwide vote and awarded with the Dollinger Memorial Medal in acknowledgement of his medical work. In 2023, he earned the Richter Medal Special Prize for "Specialist Physician of the Year for the Most Distinguished Scientific or Pioneering Work of the Year" for his research topic "Introduction to Oncodiabetology". In 2024, he was honoured with the Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical Award in public voting in the South-East and Central Hungary region, and in the same year he was again praised for his pioneering scientific and professional organization-building work by the Chief Director General of the Central Hospital of Békés County.
The focal point of his professional and academic activities is the framing of oncodiabetology as a new frontier specialty, and the establishment of its foundations and making the related professional approach as widely known and accepted as far as possible.
His broader scientific interests include the investigation of the epidemiological, metabolic, genetic and therapeutic relationships between obesity (and cachexia), type 2 diabetes and cancer. He first collected data on the association between diabetes and cancer in 2001 and presented his results at a hospital symposium in 2002. His first paper on this issue was presented in 2010. On 1 March 2024, he established the world's first medical association in oncodiabetology, called the Hungarian Onco-Diabetology Association, and on 11 October 2024, he will organise a Hungarian event, also in terms of the same title, topic and set-up, called the First Hungarian Oncometabolic and Onco-Diabetology Conference. It is his belief that the new medical association and its systematic events will become a source of praise not only for the City of Gyula and Békés County, but also for the wider region of Southern Great Basin and for Hungary, thus enhancing the prestige and scientific reputation of the Békés County Central Hospital and in particular the Oncology Centre.
Gyula, 1st July 2024.
