This was one of the most important events of the 2022/2023 academic year. The International Medical Congress of Silesia SIMC 2023, organized by the SUM Students' Scientific Society in cooperation with the Student Self-Government of SUM in Katowice and the Polish Dental Students' Society Zabrze Branch, was held for the 69th time within the walls of the Silesian Medical University in Katowice. Every year, the conference is attended by hundreds of young scientists - students and doctoral students - who have the opportunity to present the results of their research. SIMC is one of the largest events of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe. This year, the conference was sponsored by the Minister of Education and Science, the Minister of Health and Scientific Societies and a branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences - Academy of Young Scientists, among others.
SIMC 2023 was held in a hybrid format. All sessions were held simultaneously within the University Campus in Katowice-Ligota and using the Zoom platform. Thanks to the excellent promotion and reputation of the event, this year's edition was attended by students from 15 academic centers in Poland and authors of papers from 11 countries, including India, Malawi, Portugal and Finland. The conference featured 24 thematic sessions on medical specialties, medical and dental specialties and other medical sciences, including pharmaceuticals, public health, physiotherapy, dietetics and nutrition. A total of 269 scientific papers were presented. As every year, the student sessions were the most popular, and there were also the largest number of them in the event's program. Since 2016, the conference has also included sessions designed for doctoral students in clinical and experimental medicine. Importantly, this year for the first time there were two additional sessions for high school students. Thus, this was the first SIMC conference to allow for intergenerational dialogue among participants.
In addition to the competitive sessions, conference participants also took part in numerous workshops, including laparoscopic and surgical suturing. Those interested were also able to test the old age simulator.
The closing ceremony of the SIMC 2023 conference was attended by the authorities of SUM - Vice Chancellor for Science and International Cooperation Prof. Dr. Katarzyna Mizia-Stec, Vice Chancellor for Students and Student Affairs Prof. Dr. Dr. n. med. Jerzy Stojko, Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice prof. dr. hab. n. med. Tomasz Francuz, Vice Dean for Student Affairs of the Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze prof. dr. hab. n. med. Andrzej Tomasik, and Superintendent of the STN SUM prof. dr. hab. n. med. Michał Holecki. The conference was crowned with an honorary lecture by Dr. Ali Jawaid of the Marceli Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
The past event was unique - for the realization of the conference, STN SUM received funding from the "Excellent Science" grant, implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science.
