Prof. Dr. Adrian Streinu-Cercel
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health
A renowned infectious disease specialist, researcher, university professor, healthcare manager, and currently the Chairman of the Health Committee of the Romanian Senate, Professor Adrian Streinu-Cercel is in a position to transform the experience accumulated over more than four decades of medical practice into reform projects with nationwide impact.
Throughout his career, Adrian Streinu-Cercel has been associated with some of the most important infectious disease control programs in Romania. Trained at the “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, he has dedicated his clinical and research activity to essential fields such as HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, vaccinology, antibiotic resistance, and the management of emerging infectious diseases. At the same time, he has built one of Romania’s most influential schools of infectious diseases, contributing to the training of numerous generations of specialists.
For many years, his name was closely linked to the “Prof. Dr. Matei Balș” National Institute of Infectious Diseases, an institution he led and transformed into a reference center for research, diagnosis, and treatment. Under his leadership, the institute became one of the main pillars of the Romanian healthcare system in managing major epidemiological challenges, from HIV infection to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, however, Adrian Streinu-Cercel speaks less about the past and more about the future.
The future he envisions for Romania’s healthcare system is one that is deeply digitalized, interconnected, and capable of utilizing artificial intelligence for the benefit of patients.
One of the most ambitious initiatives he supports is the creation of an integrated digital healthcare infrastructure, a project planned for phased implementation through 2034. In his vision, the
healthcare system must permanently abandon paper- based bureaucracy and transition to a single digital platform accessible to all healthcare providers.
The central element of this transformation is the introduction of a personal health identification code, assigned to every citizen from birth. This code would consolidate the patient’s entire medical history, including consultations, investigations, laboratory results, treatments, hospitalizations, and medical recommendations. As a result, any authorized physician would have rapid access to the information necessary for establishing an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment plan.
“The medicine of the future must be based on information that is accessible in real time,” Professor Streinu-Cercel argues. In his view, the time lost retrieving medical records and the lack of access to a patient’s complete history generate delays, additional costs, and, in some cases, medical errors.
Another important component of the project is the use of voice recognition technologies and artificial intelligence. Instead of manually completing forms, physicians could enter information through voice commands, significantly reducing the time devoted to administrative tasks and increasing the time available for patient care.
Professor Streinu-Cercel believes that artificial intelligence should not be viewed as a competitor to physicians but rather as a support tool. Modern algorithms can analyze vast amounts of medical data, identify patterns, and suggest possible diagnostic pathways, providing clinicians with additional information to support decision-making.
One of the practical applications he proposes focuses on access to healthcare services in rural areas, where the shortage of specialists continues to represent one of the greatest vulnerabilities of the Romanian healthcare system. From this perspective, AI-assisted devices could perform an initial assessment of symptoms and direct patients toward the appropriate medical specialty.
Complementing this model, Streinu-Cercel advocates for the development of mobile medical units equipped with modern diagnostic technologies. These units could reach communities where access to healthcare services is limited. Tests and investigations performed on-site could be interpreted both by physicians and with the assistance of artificial intelligence algorithms, while results would be transmitted instantly to family physicians and specialized medical centers.
His vision of reform, however, extends beyond digitalization. In recent years, Adrian Streinu-Cercel has drawn attention to several structural challenges facing the healthcare system, including the migration of medical personnel to the private sector or to
other European countries, delayed patient access to innovative therapies, and the need for new healthcare legislation.
One of his constant concerns is reducing the gap between Romania and the rest of the European Union regarding access to innovative medicines. According to him, there are currently delays of approximately three years between the approval of a new molecule at the European level and its actual availability to Romanian patients. In his opinion, administrative procedures must be simplified and accelerated so that the benefits of medical progress reach patients more quickly.
In the field of prevention, Professor Streinu-Cercel remains a strong advocate of vaccination and preventive medicine. He believes that the healthcare system must move away from a model focused exclusively on treating disease and toward one centered on maintaining health and identifying risk factors at an early stage.
His professional activity is complemented by a significant academic and scientific contribution. Author and co-author of numerous specialized publications, participant in national and international research projects, and university professor with extensive teaching experience, Adrian Streinu-Cercel remains one of the leading figures of contemporary Romanian medicine.
