Academician Gheorghe Paladi
(Born May 9, 1929, Chisinau)
Medic, scientific field: Obstetrics and Gynecology
Doctor in Medicine (1966), Professor (1967), Full Member of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova (1993)

Academician Gheorghe Paladi wrote a new page in the book of a scientific discipline called demography. Known because of his valuable contribution to the development of the obstetrics and Gynecology field of the national medicine, he always felt the void, the rift between the health sector and the study of human population dynamics.

A courageous personality with a thorough professional training, he connected the two areas which are equally related and different from each other. Being concerned about changes in the population that have developed very rapidly, on the initiative of academician Gh. Paladi, in the year 1997, within the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, the Centre for Medical and Socio-demographic Research of the Family had been established, later transformed into the Centre for Demographic Research of the National Institute of Economic Research of the ASM.

Under the leadership of academician Gh. Paladi, a multitude of national and international scientific events had been organized, events that had a remarkable success, contributing to the development of scientific researches in the field. These include conferences on Current medico-social, psychological and demographic issues of the family (1998) and The peculiarities of demographic processes and trends in the Republic of Moldova (2001), Socio-demographic processes in contemporary society: from meditation to actions, from 15 to 16 October 2009 (120 participants from 8 countries); conferences which discussed the most pressing issues concerning population development in the Republic of Moldova.

Valuable research in the medical sciences and demographics have deeply influenced the thinking of leading scientists, through focusing on and delimitation of deficiencies, but also through outlining possible solutions for our society.

With the direct participation of academician Gh. Paladi and under his editorial supervision, the following joint scientific monographs have been published: Family: social, demographic and psychological issues (2005), Demographic transformations, family life and public health (2007), Ageing in Moldova: economic and social consequences (2009), The Green book of the population of the Republic of Moldova (2009), Main challenges of demographic security: similarities and differences between Moldova and Belarus (2010); Teenage pregnancy (2015). 

Academician Gh. Paladi has worked hard for the development of the demographic science and for formation of the demographic school in the country. Young people whom he tutored and mentored, have created today a valuable team of experts in demography.

Under his guidance, a series of institutional projects had been developed: Social-demographic evolution of the working age population and its impact on socio-economic development of the , Republic of Moldova (2009-2010); Impact of changes in the demographic structure of the population on socio-economic development of Moldova: retrospective and prospective evaluation (2011-2014); bilateral project Main challenges of demographic security: similarities and differences between Moldova and Belarus (2010-2011).

In order to feel useful and heard by the authorities, whenever was necessary, he used the position of member in the national Commission for Population and Development (2009-present), to alert the Moldovan leadership of the need to adjust the strategies of social-economic development of the country to the dynamics of the main demographic processes, using demographic forecasts. For, what else defines a veritable scientist’s value, if not vocation, honesty and patriotism?!

Academician Gheorghe Duca, president of ASM