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Enrico Sovena was born in Orvieto on 22 February 1904. He
graduated in medicine and surgery with top marks while still
very young. Immediately following his state professional licensing
examination, he won the national competition for a position
as assistant surgeon at the Ospedali Riuniti OO.RR. (City
Hospitals) of Rome and took up his post at the then newly
inaugurated Ospedale del Littorio (the present San Camillo).
Having completed his assistantship, he was summoned by the
City Council of Capranica to fill the position of chief surgeon
in the city hospital of that city. He was exceptionally young
to be offered such a position.
After winning the national competition for an assistant surgeon
position, he returned to Rome and worked under Prof. Puccinelli
as the assistant in one of the departments at the Policlinico
Umberto I° hospital. In 1936 he was a medical officer
in the Divisione Tevere (Tevere Division) and served in the
war in Ethiopia.
Drawing on this intense experience as a war surgeon for material
and inspiration, he wrote and published many scientific works.
After the war he returned to his work at the OO.RR. in Rome,
where he spent a great deal of time researching and compiling
scientific writings, in addition to expanding his surgical
practice.
Called to arms again during WWII, he was appointed to direct
the "Centro Mutilati" (Center for Amputees) in Rome.
During these years, he gained a wealth of experience in traumatology
and orthopaedic surgery. He qualified for "Libera Docenza"
(qualification for university teaching) in surgical pathology
as well as in clinical surgery.
After the war he left the OO.RR. and in the early fifties
won the national competition for the position of chief surgeon
at the Regina Margherita Children's Hospital in Rome. There
he gave his professional drive free rein, devoting himself
to children's surgery and to building up the image of that
small hospital in Trastevere.
In the early sixties the hospital, under his inspired leadership,
curtailed its activities for a radical re-building programme,
including in-patient wards, a section for operating rooms
and others for diagnostics and radi-ology. Prof. Sovena was
officially on duty during the rebuilding period but from the
start he had his salary signed over to beneficiaries of the
IRASPS Istituti Riuniti di Assistenza Sanitaria e di Protezione
Sociale. (institutions collectively working for medical assistance
and social rights for the needy).
In 1970, he had put all of his determination and will-power
to use so that the Nuovo Regina Margherita Hospital could
be inaugurated, as there were various attempts made to use
the facility for more lucrative purposes1.
While the hospital was closed, he was the surgeon (without
receiving a salary) at the Institute of Radiology at the University
of Rome and worked under Prof. Turano. There, Prof. Sovena's
work as an onocological surgeon never went unnoticed.
When the Nuovo Regina Margherita Hospital reopened, he retained
his position as head surgeon of the hospital until his retirement
in 1973.
After his retirement, Prof. Sovena continued to maintain and
cultivate his passion for surgery by keeping up to date with
all new technological and scientific breakthroughs and by
assiduously attending congresses and symposiums.
In addition to these professional qualities, Prof. Sovena
also stood apart for his decades-long passion for flying.
Moreover, he actively devoted himself to the problems of aeronautical
medicine.
When he died suddenly of a stroke on 18 December 1990, all
his possessions were bequeathed to the foundation that bears
his name and that of his wife Enrica.
Its aim is to give young surgeons, as well as researchers
in medicine and pharmacology, the chance to follow training
and specialisation courses in all branches of medicine.
Only the strength and determination of Prof. Sovena, evident
from all he accomplished, have so far been described.
But he was also an eminent scholar who kept abreast of the
most up-to-date technology and put the most sophisticated
techniques into practice in every branch of surgery.
In addition, he was a surgeon from the old school who believed
in the "old fashioned" way of working: total dedication
to his patients, even to the point of forgetting himself and
his personal needs. For example, he would often visit his
patients late at night.
It is impossible to draw up a list of all the services he
performed free of charge to the less fortunate to highlight
his humane qualities and the innumerable expressions of gratitude
from those that he helped2.
Dr. Elio Giambelli
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NOTES
1) It was thought that the Hospital
was going to be used for N.H.S. offices.
2) Among the various honours he
was awarded we have chosen to mention: - the gold medal for
merit conferred by the Public Health System (conferred by
decree on 12 June 1975) - the "Cavaliere di S. Maurizio e
Lazzaro" Awar
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