Marcel Sendrail born in Toulouse (31 August 1900 - 4 June 1976) was a French physician and writer.
Marcel Sendrail comes from a line of Languedoc farmers. His father became Director of the Toulouse Veterinary School. An intern in 1921, doctor of medicine in 1925, associate of the faculty of medicine in 1930. He taught general pathology and experimental medicine at the Faculty of Toulouse until 1971. After completing a thesis in experimental oncology, he turned his attention to endocrinology. Having carried out a number of experimental studies on diabetes, he was called upon from 1942 to 1946 to head the Regional Insulin Centre, which distributed the little insulin then available in the South-West counties.
In parallel with his experimental research (more than six hundred publications), Marcel Sendrail reflected on medical practice as a humanist. In his personal work and in the theses he inspired, he was particularly interested in the history of medicine, and took a medical look at the works of recent writers (Rilke, Paul Valéry...). A popular lecturer with the Toulouse public, he was an early member of the city's academies and learned societies, particularly the Académie des Jeux Floraux, of which he was principal for thirty-three years and perpetual secretary for eighteen years.
Against a scientific and technical conception, Marcel Sendrail defended a humanistic approach to medicine, in which he saw an instrument of culture and a source of wisdom. Against standardization, he emphasized the principle of individualization in biology. He gave a central place to illness, through which individuality is expressed.
His work as a medical historian takes the form of:
Finally, his most accomplished work, Sagesse et délire des formes, takes a doctor's look at the meaning of forms created by nature or art.
Contains an interesting anthology of some of his works.
Six papers dealing with various aspects of Marcel Sendrail's personality and work.