Masaryk University awarded honorary doctorates to two distinguished figures whose work has significantly shaped the development of medical sciences and informatics and earned them international recognition – Jakub Tolar from the University of Minnesota, where he serves as Dean of the Medical School and Vice President for Clinical Affairs, and Frank Mittelbach, who has led the research and development of the LaTeX system for four decades.
The event took place on Thursday 19 March in the Karel Engliš Great Hall at the Faculty of Law. At the ceremony, both Jakub Tolar and Frank Mittelbach were introduced by the deans of the faculties that nominated them for the honorary doctorate: Martin Repko, the dean of the Faculty of Medicine, and Jiří Barnat, the dean of the Faculty of Informatics, respectively. During the ceremony, both recipients took the traditional academic oath and received their diplomas and gold commemorative medals. The ceremony was led by Tomáš Kašpárek and Petr Sojka.
“I am pleased to note that both nominations were unequivocally approved by the Scientific Board of Masaryk University. Professor Tolar and Dr Mittelbach are leading figures in their fields with a strong international reach. They have also maintained long-term ties with Masaryk University. Awarding them honorary doctorates expresses our recognition of their lifelong work and achievements, and our gratitude for their contribution to the development of their disciplines at our university,” said Rector Martin Bareš.
Jakub Tolar: advancing medicine through cell therapy
Jakub Tolar is an internationally recognised authority in paediatric haematology and cell therapies. His research focuses on blood and bone marrow transplantation, stem cell failure syndromes, metabolic disorders and connective tissue diseases. He has shown that combining bone marrow transplantation with insights from molecular genetics can fundamentally change the prognosis for patients with severe genetic disorders.
“After moving to the United States, Tolar continued his training at the University of Minnesota, where he earned a PhD in molecular, cellular and developmental biology and genetics. With this step, he symbolically and practically connected clinical medicine with cutting-edge basic research – a connection that has become a hallmark of his entire career,” said Dean Martin Repko.
Repko also highlighted Tolar’s work in paediatric haemato-oncology, bone marrow transplantation and especially cell and gene therapies for rare genetic diseases: “Professor Tolar has made a significant contribution to developing treatments for children suffering from diseases that were, until recently, considered incurable. His research has shown that combining bone marrow transplantation with knowledge of molecular genetics can fundamentally change the prognosis for patients with serious hereditary disorders – for example, in certain devastating skin diseases, where transplantation of blood-forming cells has opened up a new therapeutic pathway.”
He described Tolar as someone who uniquely connects Czech roots, global-level research and the deeply human dimension of medicine. “His life story is a powerful and inspiring example of how Czech medical education can provide a solid foundation for a global research career,” said Repko.
Connecting science, medicine and humanity
In his speech, Jakub Tolar expressed deep gratitude for the honorary doctorate, describing it as an exceptional honour from an institution known for its intellectual courage, commitment to public service and research excellence. He praised the university’s tradition linked to figures such as Mendel, Janáček and Masaryk, and highlighted their role in discovering “patterns of knowledge” in nature, art and ethical thought. In his speech, he focused on the connection between science, medicine and humanity, stressing that real research progress only matters if it improves the lives of patients and their families.
“Our world is complex, uncertain and constantly changing. For those of us in medicine and research, humility and optimism are essential. Our work on both continents has the same goal – we must find our way to the patient’s bedside. Research progress only makes sense if it improves the lives of patients and their families. As a physician, I am aware of the limits of treatment. For patient families, knowledge alone is often not enough: we need to bridge the gap between understanding, science, biomedicine and care. True progress emerges where these areas come together. I see the lasting strength of the academic community in continuing the ‘patterns of knowledge’ left by great figures such as Mendel in biology, Janáček in music and Masaryk in moral life,” Tolar said.
He added that he accepts the award with gratitude, respect and confidence in the university’s continued mission. He described Masaryk University as an institution that, under Rector Bareš, has expanded its global influence and advanced biomedical research, medical education and international collaboration.
Frank Mittelbach: a pioneer of document engineering
For more than four decades, Frank Mittelbach has led the development of LaTeX, an open-source system for professional typesetting and structured document creation. He is widely recognised as a leading expert in document engineering and automated text processing.
“The excellence of Frank Mittelbach in advancing human knowledge is rooted in three key pillars: the pursuit of typographic quality, innovation in document and software engineering, and a commitment to accessibility – thereby ensuring the free dissemination of complex scientific documents across the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).” said Dean Jiří Barnat.
Barnat emphasised that Mittelbach’s early vision and long-term leadership of LaTeX development represent a significant and forward-looking contribution to the international community, with results still widely used by authors in technical fields today. He also pointed to Mittelbach’s connection with the Faculty of Informatics, where he first lectured on LaTeX portability as early as 1995.
“The founders of the Faculty of Informatics were acutely aware of the community’s needs and this pursuit of quality. Consequently, the support and daily use of LaTeX began on day one of the faculty’s existence. LaTeX was employed for all printed outputs and documents generated by the faculty’s information system, including diplomas, timetables, and official correspondence. Most of these technologies, with LaTeX at their core, have persisted for four decades within the Information System of Masaryk University. LaTeX has also proven indispensable for the high-quality typesetting of admission tests and course examinations, including complex mathematical formulae, as well as the publishing of theses and academic papers,” Barnat explained.
LaTeX, PDF and document accessibility
LaTeX has fundamentally transformed how technical documents are created and shared. As one of the first systems to transfer not only visual layout but also semantic structure directly into PDF format, it has significantly improved accessibility for people with visual impairments while enabling machine processing of documents.
Frank Mittelbach said he sees the honorary doctorate not only as a personal honour, but above all as recognition of the entire international LaTeX community. He recalled the historical development of these tools, from Donald Knuth’s visionary project and Leslie Lamport’s contributions to their current role in research communication across disciplines.
“What began as a fascination with typography on the one hand and the automation of document creation using computers on the other has developed into a lifelong commitment to researching and developing algorithms and tools that serve science in all disciplines,” he said.
Mittelbach stressed that future development of LaTeX must focus on making scientific documents truly accessible to all users, from correctly rendering complex equations through assistive technologies to producing PDFs that meet international accessibility standards.
“This work requires collaboration across Europe and beyond – bringing together expertise in semantic markup, assistive technologies, typography and design. But accessibility means much more than compliance with standards. It is about recognising that when we make documents more accessible to people with disabilities, we make them better for everyone,” he concluded, adding that efforts must continue to ensure that disability is never a barrier to participation in scientific discussion.
