Early life and work Born in
Vânju Mare,
Mehedinți County, he was the first child of
Romanian Orthodox priest Gheorghe and his wife Ana. He attended primary school in his native village, followed by
Traian High School in
Turnu Severin from 1893 to 1900. Between 1900 and 1905, he studied at the medical faculty of the
University of Bucharest. Meanwhile, he rose steadily through the hospital ranks, from extern at
Colțea Hospital in 1903 to intern there in 1905 to apprentice doctor at Bucharest's central military hospital in 1910. Gomoiu was a disciple of anatomist
Thoma Ionescu. Alongside
Dimitrie Gerota,
Ernest Juvara, and
Victor Papilian, he continued Ionescu's work in descriptive anatomy as well as, in some instances,
physical anthropology. In 1906, Gomoiu published in
Bucharest the first volume of his
Istoricul Societăței Studenților în Medicină ("History of the Medical Students' Society"), with a plate by
Ary Murnu; also that year, his study on eye disease among the rural population saw print at
Târgu Jiu. Affiliated with the left-wing agrarian current, or
Poporanism, he established in that city the literary magazine
Șezătórea Săteanului ("Villager's Sitting"), joining an editorial office which also included
George Coșbuc and G. Dumitrescu Bumbești-Jiu. It was here that he published some of his first contributions in
ethnomedicine. He took his first trip outside the country in 1908, visiting states from
Austria-Hungary to
Great Britain. Gomoiu published steadily, and also lectured at the Medical Students' Society and the Surgical Society. Topics included
meningoencephalitis,
cerebral atrophy,
facial nerve paralysis,
fibrous tissue neoplasm,
lipoma, the anatomy of the
endothelium,
corneal transplantation,
skin grafting,
dental implants,
hysterectomy, various types of cysts and "rare tumors", and
talus bone expulsion. These works were taken up in
Eraclie Sterian's magazine,
Spitalul, of which Gomoiu was co-editor, or published as brochures. His doctoral thesis, on facial
anaplasia, was awarded a
magna cum laude in 1909, and published the same year. It was followed in 1910 by Gomoiu's introduction to
inguinal hernia surgery, his reviews of surgery as applied to genital tuberculosis, vaginal
hydrocele,
urethrocele, and
varicocele, and a work on the physiological role of
cholesterol. A winner of the
Manoah Hillel scholarship, that year and the next also saw his first contributions as a medical bibliographer and librarian, with catalogues of entries for the University of Bucharest's graduation papers in medicine. For his service in the
Romanian Army, Gomoiu was concentrated in
Medgidia. This inaugurated a ten-year practice at various hospitals, during which Gomoiu patented various new surgical techniques. In November, after a disagreement with medical inspector Gheorghe Proca, who suggested that the sanatorium was unhygienic, Gomoiu handed in his resignation. In 1913, a second-class surgeon at
Filantropia Hospital, Gomoiu published a piece on "the radical treatment of vaginal hydrocele" in the French journal
Lyon Chirurgical, and his opening lesson on "small surgery" (
Mica chirurgie). That year, he also performed his military obligation by accompanying the ambulatory health service sent to the
Ottoman Empire during the
Second Balkan War and performing surgery within the unit. In 1916, he and Ionescu together discovered the link between
stellate ganglion removal and
sympathectomy.
Rise to prominence For his work as a military physician during the
Romanian Campaign of World War I, Gomoiu was decorated with the
Order of the Crown (1917), the
Order of the Star of Romania (1918), and the
Queen Marie Cross (1919). Between 1919 and 1942, he was a surgeon at the
Oradea war hospital and at two hospitals in Bucharest, also working at
Brâncovenesc Hospital. Meanwhile, he held various leadership roles in medical societies and administrative bodies, The former essay, reissued in 1940 as
Biserica și medicina ("Church and Medical Science"), showed Gomoiu as a
deist, philosophically inspired by
Isaac Newton and
Giovanni Battista Morgagni. The work, which suggested that priests could work as "doctors of the soul", earned him a special prize from the
Ministry of Health, led at the time by the priest
Ioan Lupaș. Gomoiu also issued
Istoricul presei medicale din România ("A History of Romania's Medical Press", 1925), and the second volume of
Istoricul Societăței Studenților (1926). His first contacts with the
International Society for the History of Medicine (ISHM) came in 1927 and 1928, when he sent in presentations on the first physicians active in the
Danubian Principalities and the roots of Romanian ethnomedicine. In late 1927, on a visit to northern Europe, Gomoiu was impressed by
Danish education. His article covering Danish libraries, and in particular the one
Nikolaj Tower, saw print in
Cuvântul daily and was also taken up in
Școala Noastră. Gomoiu also became a trusted supporter of
King Ferdinand I, managing the charity set up by his daughter,
Princess Ileana. He was one of the specialists who assisted Ferdinand during his losing battle with
colorectal cancer. In 1927, under Ileana's patronage, he set up the Sfânta Elena Hospital, in the working-class suburb of Bariera Vergului, Bucharest. He personally oversaw the pledge drive, collecting private donations and public money from the
National Bank, the Ministry of Health and
Căile Ferate Române, offering free medical services to the donors. For a while in 1930, Gomoiu served as secretary general in the Ministry of Health. In this capacity, he attended a conference on social hygiene in the French industrial hub of
Tergnier, meeting with the organizer,
Raoul Dautry. After losing his government office, he returned to the ISHM and, in 1933, was elected its vice president. During this period of his wife, Gomoiu emerged as "one of the best known critics of [Carol's]
camarilla". In March–April 1934, Gomoiu created a stir by publishing a manifesto against Carol and his circle of politicians. He was briefly arrested on charges of
lèse-majesté, alongside far-right politicians suspected of having conspired with the
Iron Guard, which had just assassinated
Prime Minister Ion G. Duca. Gomoiu was also investigated for an alleged plot to assassinate Carol, but he rejected the charges, and insisted that he only wanted Queen Helen to be allowed back in the country. His account was backed by the Union of Reserve Officers, which staged a public protest; its influence, insiders speculated, explained by Gomoiu was treated leniently in court. In May 1936, Gomoiu was called upon by the Iron Guard to be a defense witness for
Viorel Trifa, Alecu Cantacuzino, and other Guardista accused of conspiracy against the state. He had by then established inside the international body a Cantacuzène Commission, named after (and presided upon by)
Ion Cantacuzino. It tasked with researching and inventorying European medical folklore—although this subject was of marginal interest to Cantacuzino himself. Gomoiu also returned to his anatomical research, publishing in 1938 a definitive monograph of the
connective tissue (
Țesutul conjunctiv), co-authored by his student V. Plătăreanu. Also that year, the two also presented a report on "the cross in Romanian medical folklore" to the ISHM Congress in
Zagreb; with Al. Raicovicianu, Gomoiu also published the bibliographic corpus
Histoire du folklore médical en Roumanie ("A History of Medical Folklore in Romania"). By that moment in history, Carol had established his
National Renaissance Front dictatorship, and, in 1940, appointed
Ion Gigurtu to lead a government that included some Iron Guard members. Gomoiu also joined, serving as Gigurtu's Health Minister from July 4 to September 4. In this capacity, and also as a member of the
Crown Council, he was marginally involved in the major international crisis which saw the cession of Romanian land to the
Soviet Union and the
Axis powers. On the night of August 29–30, he was among a majority of ministers who voted to
peacefully cede the regions of
Northern Transylvania to
Regency Hungary. Gomoiu kept his ministerial office during the first government of
Ion Antonescu, from September 4 to 14, until the establishment of the
National Legionary State and Carol's flight from the country. Reportedly, he resented Antonescu's alliance with the Iron Guard, and avoided politics altogether. Upon the end of World War II and a 6-year hiatus, Gomoiu was finally replaced as head of the ISHM by Laignel Lavastine. Shortly after the establishment of a
communist regime in December 1947, Gomoiu was removed from teaching. Incarcerated at
Sighet prison from 1950 to 1953, Released in 1954, he refused a position in the communized Health Ministry offered to him in 1956, viewing it is a form of collaborationism. ==Main writings==