Background
He was born in Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš into a family of professional tanners and teachers.
He was born in Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš into a family of professional tanners and teachers.
He was educated in his hometown, Prešov and Kežmarok, and later, he studied medicine at college in Budapest and Berlin, earning a degree in 1912.
At first, he worked as a doctor in Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš, but during World War I he also worked as a wartime doctor. After the war, he returned to his hometown, and became an editor of magazine Boj o zdravie (Struggle for Health). In 1933, he became a regional health inspector and in 1938 - 1939 worked at Ministry of Health in Prague.
In 1946 he earned a degree of lecturer of social pathology.
In 1951 he worked in Bratislava, but in the same year he was illegitimately sentenced and imprisoned for eight years, but he was freed two years later as a result of amnesty. Since 1954, he lived in Piešťany as a pensioner.
In 1967, he earned a title of national artist. He died at the age of 89 on 26 March 1977 in Piešťany.
He is now interred in the National Cemetery in Martin.