Get to know the stories of people who have been associated with the Silesian Medical University many years ago - first by studying, now by working. These are recollections of exceptional people - full of passion and eagerness to share their knowledge with more SUM students today.
Prof. Maciej Misiołek, MD, PhD - Chairman of the Medical Sciences Disciplinary Board and Head of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Laryngological Oncology of the WNMZ in Zabrze. Privately - a sports enthusiast, especially alpine skiing, tennis and cycling. Loves long walks with his beloved dog, Nestor, an Irish setter.
I joined the Silesian Medical Academy, and later the Silesian Medical University in Katowice, in 1978. After passing the entrance exam, I became a student at the Faculty of Medicine in Zabrze. After six years of struggling with the "elements", I obtained the coveted diploma in medicine. I have very fond recollections of my time as a student, although it was not a time filled exclusively with pleasures and pleasant events. I was active in sports. I represented our university in alpine skiing, taking part in many editions of the Polish Championships of Universities and Medical Academies. Together with my colleagues from the Telemark ski club we were very successful. Our club was seen as one of the top teams in Poland. My studies were also a time of change and a student strike that took place during my third year. It was then that I met many older colleagues who were leaders of the NZS. Today, they are well-known professors (Prof. W. Pluskiewicz, Prof. K. Gołba, Prof. R. Cichoń, Prof. Zenon Halaba), active in their respective medical disciplines and well recognised in Poland and abroad. I was fortunate enough to be included in student group no. 5. As fate would have it, I met people with similar ideas about life and outlooks on life, which has resulted in my remaining friends with many of them to this day. A number of independent members of staff at our university have come from this group. They include a paediatric surgeon and urologist, Prof. T. Koszutski; an anaesthesiologist, Prof. D. Szurlej; and a cardiac surgeon, Prof. J. Pacholewicz.
After obtaining my diploma in 1984, I took up a job at the 2nd Chair and Clinic of Laryngology in Zabrze, where I have been working ever since. It was at this centre that I went through all stages of my professional and scientific development. My bosses were doc. K. Szymczyk and prof. G. Namysłowski. For the past 8 years, I have had the pleasure of serving as Head of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Laryngological Oncology Clinical Division of the Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze. In the years 2007-2012, I was also Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine with the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry in Zabrze. In turn, I had the honour of being Dean of the Faculty from 2012 to 2019. Since 2019, I have been the chairman of the Medical Sciences Discipline Council of the Silesian Medical University in Katowice.
I have many reasons to feel fulfilled - as a doctor, a scientist, a didactician and also as a person active in the administration of the University. Not only did I have the opportunity to get to know a great many people who held significant positions at our University, but also to learn about the mechanisms and structure of the University's functioning. I recall this very well.
Without a doubt, I am a proud alumnus of our Alma Mater, and now I hope that I am useful as an already experienced person. A fact that allows me to feel fully fulfilled is also the fact that I will leave several post-doctoral professors and more than twenty doctoral students in my "body of work". Ensuring continuity is a key issue for me, especially as the team I have the pleasure of working with within the Department and Clinical Division is my second family. And it is this fact that I see as my greatest success of these almost 45 years in the ranks of SUM.
I wish all my colleagues, at the threshold of their imminent retirement, to have the same sense of comfort and satisfaction as I have. At this point I would like to thank my parents, my children - Agnieszka, Ola and Maciek - my wife Hanna, and the great teachers from whom I have drawn my role models, for making this the end of my long path at SUM. Among the professors I would like to mention Professor Kazimierz Oklek, Professor Lech Poloński, Professor Władysław Grzeszczak and Professor Janusz Skalski.
