Professor Laurentiu M. Popescu (MD, PhD, Dr.h.c.mult.) is an exceptional cardiovascular scientist who was valedictorian of his graduating MD class at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest. He completed his PhD in 1971 at the Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, and completed his post-doctorate at the University of Leiden in The Netherlands. He has   held numerous distinguished positions including being the General Director of “Victor Babes” National Institute of Pathology in Bucharest, Vice- President of the International Society for Adaptive Medicine, and the President of the Medical Sciences Section of the Romanian Academy of Sciences. He is currently the President of the Federation of European Academies of Medicine. In addition, he has been a member of numerous organizations including the American Society for Cell Biology, the International Committee of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, the International Society for Heart Research, and is currently serving as part of the Steering Committee for Regenerative Medicine of the European Science Foundation.


The majority of his progressive, high-caliber research focuses on caveolae regulation of intracellular Ca2+ in smooth muscles, the role of cGMP and vasodilation via G-kinase, and most recently, his discovery of novel interstitial cells known as telocytes. He has published more 125 articles in over 40 international peer-reviewed journals including American Journal of Physiology, Cardiovascular Research, Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry, Autophagy, Journal of Cell Biology, and Circulation. He is also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine which has an impressive 5-year impact factor of 5.043. He has also been on the editorial board of numerous international journals such as Cell Transplantation, the International Journal of Translational Medicine, and the World Journal of Stem Cells.


Professor Popescu has been recognized for his work at an international level as indicated by his many awards, invitations to international symposia and as a speaker at world-class institutions. He has received Doctor Honoris Causa from ten different universities in Italy, Hungary, and Romania. His prizes include the Gold Medal of the Paris Academy – “Rene Descartes” University (1998), the Gold Medal of the “Albert Schweitzer” International Academy (2002), and has been elected as one of the Top 100 IBC Health Professionals (2009).His many invitations to speak about his research include the Chinese Heart Congress/ International Heart Forum in Beijing, China (2010) and the 4th Global Conference on “Recent Advances in Cardiovascular Sciences” at the Delhi Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Research in New Delhi, India (2010). He has also been an invited lecturer to world-class university institutions including Harvard Medical School, USA (2010), the University College of London, UK (2011), and the University of Edinburgh, UK (2011).