Discover the stories of people who became associated with the Silesian Medical University many years ago - first studying, now working. These are memories of exceptional people - full of passion and willingness to share their knowledge with more SUM students.
Andrzej Tomasik, MD, PhD - professionally: doctor, teacher, scientist, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze. Privately - husband, father, grandfather, owner of two dogs, skier, cyclist.
What course of study was to choose the child of two doctors, to whom throughout high school his father repeated like a mantra: "Nulla res tam necessaria est omni generi hominum quam medicina" (No thing is so necessary as medicine).
And if medical studies, at which university? Since my parents graduated from the Silesian Medical Academy, and my aunt and cousins lived in nearby Bytom....
For 1986, my plan was simple: to pass the baccalaureate and the entrance exam to the Silesian Medical Academy, majoring in medicine. A lot of studying, preparatory courses for medical candidates organized by the Academy at the Reymonta Hospital in Katowice - home, station, train, book, course, station, train, book, home. Baccalaureate passed, the mischievous will say that the person was lucky, or on the opinion "rode". The entrance exam will be a challenge - an impartial verification of knowledge... So much preparation, so many alternative scenarios for adult life, moments of euphoria, moments of doubt. Suddenly there is a notice in the mail - the Examination Commission at the Elementary School on Budowlana Street in Zabrze-Rokitnica. Together with a high school friend we get in... The head, ba whole body is filled with great joy and relief. Adult life begins - to begin with SPRs - Student Labor Practices. In our case it was cleaning work in the Library in Ligota. We must have made a very good impression, because in those difficult times we were provided with a full set of books for the first year of study.
Classes, home, study, credits, exams, completed semesters - interests begin to form and in the third year a colleague and I enroll in the Scientific Circle at the Department of Biochemistry. In the fourth year, we have classes in internal medicine at the Second Department of Cardiology in Zabrze. Prof. Tendera talks about echocardiography of the mitral valve - cosmos. Biochemistry, cardiology, atherosclerosis - I'm cooked, that's what I want to study. In the afternoon I went to the reading room - I flip through the Journal of American College of Cardiology - with baked cheeks I read the first report on Doppler echocardiography and color coding. I fell head over heels. In my fifth year, I was hired at the Silesian Medical Academy for a technical position in the Department of Biochemistry, and with Prof. Tarnawski's approval, I stood on the other side - I started teaching biochemistry exercises to second-year students. And, of course, I enrolled in the Cardiology Circle led by Prof. Ewa Nowalany-Kozielska.
I graduated in 1992 and started postgraduate training at the State Clinical Hospital No. 1 in Zabrze. That year, we move with my wife and older daughter, Magda, to Zabrze. In 1993, a second daughter, Ola, is born, and I take part in a competition for the position of assistant in the Department of Biochemistry. When asked by the committee what interests me and what I would like to do, I answer simply: to study atherosclerosis. The dream comes true - I get a full-time assistant position and start volunteering in the Department of Cardiology. Together with Wojtek Jachec, over the next years we expand the research facilities in the Department of Biochemistry with two liquid chromatographs and study patients with coronary artery disease, study atherosclerosis....
At the same time, I am beginning to implement myself in performing coronarography and in implanting pacemakers. In 1998, with the approval of the JM Rector, I have a full-time transfer from the Department of Biochemistry to the Second Department of Cardiology.
Since 2020, I have served as Vice Dean for Student Affairs of the Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze.
The year 2023 will mark 33 years of my continuous work at the Silesian Medical Academy/Silesian Medical University. I have been a participant/witness to tremendous transformations in teaching, scientific progress, and medical technology development. I am happy and immensely proud that as an employee of the Silesian Medical University I can participate in this development. When asked, if I had the opportunity to choose my professional path again, would I change anything? Nothing... Because I like my job...
