(Constantinople, Ottoman Empire 1775 -1858)
Armenian physician

Son of Boghos, a famous Armenian doctor, Sciascian studied in Venice with the Mekhitarists, a congregation of Benedictine monks. He then enrolled in Padua where he graduated in medicine. He returned to Constantinople and embarked on a brilliant career at the court, becoming the personal physician of Sultan Abdul Medjid.

In 1832, during a cholera epidemic, he first proposed the isolation of the sick, to reduce the spread of the infection. He was an important doctor in Constantinople, founder of the hospital of San Giacomo, and promoted the foundation of the first higher institute of medicine of the Ottoman Empire.

Specializing in the field of nervous diseases, he received numerous awards and official recognition. Sciascian had twelve children, the third child, Pavlaki, followed in his father’s footsteps by graduating in medicine from the University of Padua in 1828.