SUM - Medical University of Silesia in Katowice

Józef Bronisław GASIŃSKI (1903–1989)

Graduate of the Jagiellonian University (1928); specialist in surgery (1956); MD, PhD. 1939; Ass. Professor 1949, Full professor 1956; dr h.c. MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SILESIA

Initially he worked at the Department of Descriptive Anatomy and the Surgical Clinic of the Jagiellonian University, and then at the Social Insurance Institution in Kraków. From 1948, he was head of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at the Dr Anka Hospital in Krakow. In 1949, he moved to Silesia, where he became head of the 1st Clinic of Surgery at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Zabrze, which he organised from scratch, separating the following wards: general surgery, trauma surgery, paediatric surgery, vascular surgery and urology. After moving the clinic to Katowice (1963), he expanded it with new operating theatres, teaching rooms with wired television connected to the operating theatre, outpatient clinics and a room for the needs of experimental surgery.

He was the founder of modern surgery in Upper Silesia, a master in the field of gastric surgery, with his phenomenal technique and absolute orientation in the operating field. He was the first in Poland and one of the first in the world to perform a kostopleuropneumonectomy in his own variant. He developed an original method of replacing the removed thoracic oesophagus by a gastric tube launched and guided through the anterior mediastinum. In 1955, he published his experience in oesophageal surgery based on material involving 121 operated patients (this was unique at the time). This method, based on detailed functional studies, represented a new chapter in the surgical treatment of this disease. Noteworthy was the method of creating an artificial stomach after removal of the stomach. In collaboration with a team led by Professor Leszek Giec, he performed the first implantation of a pacemaker in Silesia. In the field of urology, he is noted for his original method of operating on stool, which gained recognition both at home and abroad. He was the first in Poland to perform three kidney transplants from family donors, which initiated the development of transplantology in Silesia.

At his home clinic, he organised a centre for experimental surgery to develop the issue of vascular transplants. He designed new and original surgical instruments.

Professor Gasiński's published scientific output includes approximately 120 papers.

He was the supervisor of 42 doctoral theses and supervisor of 6 habilitation theses. Many of the Professor's students received academic titles of professor, became heads of clinics or heads of surgical wards in Silesia and other regions of the country.

Provincial specialist in surgery and chairman of the Team of Provincial Specialists in the Katowice Province.

Member of the Society of Polish Surgeons (honorary member), and honorary member of the International Society of Surgeons and the French Phlebological Society.

Awarded with, among others: Commander's, Officer's and Knight's Cross of the OOP (The Order of Polonia Restituta), Badge "For exemplary work in the health service", honorary title "Distinguished Teacher of the People's Republic of Poland", "Distinguished Doctor of the People's Republic of Poland".

In 1990, the Provincial Specialist Hospital in Tychy was named after Professor Józef Gasiński.

Source: Database of the Documentation Centre of the History of Upper Silesian Medicine and Pharmacy, [access 29.03.2023]:
https://katalog.sum.edu.pl/F?func=direct&format=999&doc_number=000004630&local_base=biograf

Kornel Stanisław GIBIŃSKI (1915–2012)

Graduate of the Jagiellonian University (1939); specialist in internal diseases (1949); gastroenterologist; PhD 1945; MD, PhD. 1950; Ass. Professor 1954; Collegium Civitas Prof. 1962; dr h.c. multi.

He began his professional work as early as 1935, as a student, in the Department of Physiology at the Jagiellonian University. During the war, he worked successively at the Second Internal Diseases Clinic of the Jagiellonian University and the Social Insurance Institution. For his activities in the ZWZ-AK (Union for Armed Struggle, Home Army), he was arrested and imprisoned in Montelupich prison in Kraków, and then transported to the Gross-Rosen camp, where he worked as a doctor in the Bautzen commando. In 1945, he returned to Krakow and took up a job at the Department of Physiology at the Jagiellonian University and at the St Lazarus Hospital. In 1945, he moved to Wrocław, where he was employed at the Third Department of Internal Medicine of the Medical Academy there. In 1953, he moved to Upper Silesia and took over the management of the 3rd Chair and Clinic of Internal Medicine at the Medical University of Silesia in Bytom. He was then director of the Institute of Internal Medicine. He established the first Polish Clinic of Gastroenterology at the Medical University of Silesia (ŚAM) in Katowice-Ligota, which he headed until his retirement.

From 1957 to 1959, he served as Vice-Chancellor for Science at the Medical University of Łódź.

He was the founder and doyen of Silesian gastroenterology and clinical pharmacology. His scientific and research activities were focused on the problems of modern medicine, primarily internal medicine, cardiology and gastroenterology in the broadest sense. His scientific and research interests also included sweat gland function, atherosclerosis and cellular proteolysis, the effects of smoking on health, health policy and ethics.

He was the author of about 250 articles published nationally and internationally and co-author of almost 200. Noteworthy are the following monographic studies: "Outline of clinical gastroscopy", "Gastroenterological endoscopy" and "Endoscopy of the digestive system". Author of more than 30 chapters published in collective studies. Promoter of almost 50 doctoral dissertations and supervisor of several habilitation dissertations. The Professor's students and alumni, as independent research workers, are in charge of many departments and clinics at SUM and other universities.

Professor was active in numerous scientific societies, including: Polish Society of Gastroenterology (founder, honorary president), New York Academy of Science (active member), Royal Society of Medicine, European Association for Digestive Endoscopy, World Organization of Gastroenterology, International Society of Chronobiology, Polish Medical Society of Radiology, Society of Polish Internists and Polish Medical Association.

Honorary member of, among others, the Czech and Slovak Society of Gastroenterology and the French Society of Gastroenterology.

Decorated with, among others, the Commander's Cross with Star, Officer's Cross and Knight's Cross of the Commander's Cross, medals of 'Distinguished Doctor of the Polish People's Republic', 'Distinguished Teacher of the Polish People's Republic', 'Gloria Medicinae' medal. Honoured, among others, with the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Award, the Wojciech Korfanty Award and the "Lux ex Silesia" award.

Senates of Polish universities: AM in Poznań (1975), AM in Wrocław (1976), ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) (1983), UJ (2000), Military AM in Łódź (2001) and Albert Schweitzer Academy of Medicine awarded Professor Kornel Gibiński an honorary doctorate.

In 2006, the Independent Public Central Clinical Hospital of the Medical University of Katowice-Ligota was named after Professor Kornel Gibiński.

Source: Database of the Documentation Centre for the History of Upper Silesian Medicine and Pharmacy, [accessed 29.03.2023]:
https://katalog.sum.edu.pl/F?func=direct&format=999&doc_number=000004651&local_base=biograf

Leszek GIEC (1928–2007)

Graduate of the Wrocław Medical Academy (1952); 1st degree specialist (1954) and 2nd degree specialist (1957) in internal medicine and cardiology (1968); PhD 1960, MD, PhD. 1968, Ass. Professor 1979, Full professor 1989.

In 1975, he was appointed head of the 1st Cardiology Clinic in Katowice at Francuska Street, transferred in 1977 to the Central Mining Hospital in Katowice-Ochojec. In 1978 he began efforts to build an Upper Silesian Cardiology Centre. By the decision of the Katowice Governor, he became Director of the nascent centre, which was opened for use in 1987. Director of the Institute of Cardiology of ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia).

He was a member of the Senate of ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) from 1993 to 1996.

He was a co-founder of cardiology in Silesia. His scientific interests focused on the important issue of the effect of high ambient temperature on the human organism, in particular, on sweat gland function, maintenance of water and electrolyte balance, the role of certain hormones in maintaining homeostasis of the human organism during heat stress (the results of the research were practically applied in prevention and treatment of overheated states of the organism in conditions of exposure to high temperatures). He was one of the first in the country to conduct a thorough vectocardiographic analysis of right bundle branch blocks. He was the first in the country to publish observations on the course and treatment of sick sinus syndrome. He also directed his interests towards pharmaco- and electrotherapy of heart diseases and cardiac resuscitation. He initiated a method of bedside insertion of an endocavitary electrode under electrocardiographic control. He and his team developed and used, as the first in the country, a high-pressure automatic syringe for angiography. He initiated research into the epidemiology of coronary heart disease in relation to the harmfulness of the industrial environment. He devoted much attention to the enzymological diagnosis of myocardial infarction, electrophysiological diagnosis, as well as the evaluation of new cardiovascular drugs and the permanent implantation of artificial pacemakers.

He has published nearly 350 articles (50 of them in foreign journals) and more than 100 abstracts and conference reports. He was the supervisor of 15 doctoral theses and supervisor of six postdoctoral theses.

He served as a national, regional and provincial consultant in cardiology. He participated in the work of scientific societies, including the Polish Medical Association, the Polish Society of Cardiology (honorary member), the Society of Polish Internists (honorary member). He was also a member of the National Specialist Group in Cardiology, the Scientific Council of the Institute of Cardiology in Warsaw, a full member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and a member of the KBN (State Committee for Scientific Research).

Honoured with, among others: Commander's Cross with Star, Knight's and Officer's Crosses of the OOP (The Order of Polonia Restituta), Gold Cross of Merit, gold badge "For merit in the development of the Katowice Province", badge "For exemplary work in the health service", Medal of the Commission of National Education, Medal of the Polish Medical Association "Gloria Medicinae", gold badge "Merited in the development of the Silesian Medical Academy", Order of Honour "Laurel of the 50th anniversary of the Medical University of Silesia", Platinum Laurel of Skills and Competence.

Since 2008, the Independent Public Clinical Hospital No. 7 SUM in Katowice Upper Silesian Medical Centre has borne the name of Professor Leszek Giec.

Source: Centre for Documenting the History of Upper Silesian Medicine and Pharmacy, access [29.03.2023]:
https://katalog.sum.edu.pl/F?func=direct&format=999&doc_number=000004655&local_base=biograf

Bożena Maria HAGER-MAŁECKA (1921–2016)

Graduate of clandestine classes at the Jagiellonian University (1949); 2nd degree specialist in paediatrics 1953; PhD 1951; MD, PhD. 1963; Ass. Professor 1969; Full professor 1976; dr h.c. MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SILESIA (1994).

At the Medical University of Silesia (ŚAM) she held the posts of Vice-Chancellor for Clinical Affairs (since 1975) and Vice-Chancellor for the Development of the Faculty of Medicine in Zabrze (since 1978).

After graduation, she worked at the Social Insurance Hospital in Kraków, then at the Children's Hospital in Zabrze, at the 1st Paediatric Clinic in Warsaw (specialised training in paediatric diagnostics and therapy).

Employed at the Medical University of Adam Mickiewicz since 1952, initially as a senior assistant at the Department of Paediatrics in Zabrze, then as assistant professor, associate professor, associate professor and associate professor at the Institute of Personnel Improvement in Rabka, she underwent training in paediatric phtysiopaediatrics and bronchoscopy and a scientific internship at the Hospital des Enfants Malades, Hospital L. Bernard Brevannes, Institut Pasteur in Paris.

She took steps to develop a model children's hospital clinic and was involved in the organisation of paediatrics in Poland. In her scientific and research work she focused mainly on clinical immunology and tuberculosis. For the first time in Poland she used immunoelectrophoresis to study cerebrospinal fluid proteins and to study proteins excreted in faeces. She was the first in world medicine to demonstrate the qualitative composition of these proteins in new-borns and premature infants with diarrhoea and other clinical syndromes. In 1974, she detected mass cases of chronic lead among children living in the vicinity of the Independent Metals Plant in Katowice-Szopienice, subsequently leading a treatment and prevention campaign. She was the author of pioneering studies on the impact of air pollution on the health of Poles, with particular emphasis on the immune status of children.

It was on her initiative that the Extended Therapy Unit in Katowice-Ligota and the first Paediatric Resuscitation Unit in the country were established. She was director of the ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) Institute of Paediatrics in Zabrze. She worked on the organisation of the Neonatal Pathology Clinic, Dialysis Ward for children, Day Rehabilitation and Revalidation Ward for profoundly disabled children, Provincial Cardiac Rehabilitation Centre for children in Murcki and Provincial Child Psychiatry Centre in Zbrosławice.

She has a total of more than 200 publications of which she is author or co-author. She has educated many generations of doctors, and under her supervision first and second degree specialists in paediatrics, PhDs and post-doctoral fellows have been educated. She has reviewed postdoctoral and doctoral dissertations as well as the entire scientific output of researchers in proceedings for the title of professor.

Prof. Hager-Małecka was a member of the Sejm of the People's Republic of Poland in 1976-1989, serving as, among others: chairwoman of the Standing Subcommittee on Health in the Committee on Social Policy, Health and Physical Culture, chairwoman of the Committee on Environmental Protection and Natural Resources. In addition, she was a member of, among others: Family Affairs Council, Scientific Council of the Children's Health Centre in Warsaw, Man and Environment Committee at the Presidium of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

She has been active in numerous scientific societies and organisations, including: Polish Paediatric Society, Polish Phtysiatry Society, Association for Paediatric Education in Europe, Central Qualification Committee for Academic Titles and Degrees.

Awarded among others: Commander's, Officer's and Cavalier's Cross of the OOP (The Order of Polonia Restituta), Cross "For merits for the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association", Medal of the Commission of National Education, Badge "Distinguished Doctor of the People's Republic of Poland", "Distinguished Teacher of the People's Republic of Poland", Medical Laurel.

Source: Database of the Documentation Centre of the History of Medicine and Pharmacy of Upper Silesia, [access 29.03.2023]:
https://katalog.sum.edu.pl/F?func=direct&format=999&doc_number=000004728&local_base=biograf

Zbigniew Stanisław HERMAN (1935–2010)

Graduate of the Medical University of ŚAM (1958); 1st degree (1962) and 2nd degree (1966) specialist in internal medicine, pharmacology (1970) and clinical pharmacology (1974); PhD. (1963); MD, PhD. (1971); docent (1971); Ass. Professor (1978); Full professor (1986); dr h.c. ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) (1993) and of the Medical University of Lublin (1999).

He was the first rector-elect in the history of the Adam Mickiewicz University (1980-1982) democratically elected by the University Electoral College and a long-standing member of the Senate (1983-2002).

From the time of his studies, he was associated with the Faculty of Pharmacology at the ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) in Zabrze, where he worked his way up the career ladder. In 1986 he took over the management of the Department of Pharmacology and the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at the Faculty of Medicine in Katowice-Ligota, which he organised from scratch. He also launched several innovative laboratories: Measurement of Drug Concentrations, Clinical Immunopharmacology and the Laboratory of Molecular Biology Methods. He was a co-founder of clinical pharmacology in Poland. It was on his initiative that a Clinical Pharmacology Department was established at the Central Clinical Hospital as part of the Second Chair and Department of Internal Medicine. He also established the first outpatient clinic for internal diseases and pharmacology in Poland.

The Professor's scientific and research activities initially focused on the development of models of experimental atherosclerosis and anti-atherosclerotic drugs, psychopharmacology, and clinical pharmacology. The most important scientific achievements include: the development of an original method of injection into the lateral ventricles of the brain in rats and mice, which contributed significantly to the development of psychopharmacology; the discovery of the action of tuftsin on the brain, which contributed to the important establishment of the hypothesis of the reciprocal effect of the central nervous system on the immune system; the discovery of completely new mechanisms of action of antipsychotic drugs; discovery of the effect of enkephalins on the immune system; discovery of the role of neuropeptide Y in the mechanism of action of antipsychotic drugs; acquisition of new facts on the effect of antiatherosclerotic drugs on the human immune system; description of new evidence supporting the hypothesis of the involvement of inflammatory processes in the formation of human atherosclerotic lesions.

He is the author of close to 700 publications, consisting of: short papers, chapters, articles and conference abstracts. He is listed among the 150 most cited Polish scientists in the field of medicine and biology. Promoter of 32 doctoral theses, supervisor of 11 habilitation theses.

Member of Polish and foreign scientific societies, including: European Society of Biochemical Pharmacology, New York Academy of Sciences, European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, European Behavioural Pharmacology Society, Polish Pharmacological Society, Polish Biochemical Society, Polish Physiological Society, Society of Polish Internists; honorary member of several Polish scientific societies.

He was an active member of the PAU (Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences), a correspondent member of PAN (Polish Academy of Sciences), as well as a member of the KBN (State Committee for Scientific Research), the General Council for Science and Higher Education and the Central Commission for Scientific Title and Degrees. He has served as national specialist in clinical pharmacology and provincial consultant in pharmacology.

He has been awarded, among others, the Commander's Cross with Star and Officer's Cross of the Order of the Holy Cross, Medal of the Commission of National Education, Medal of the Polish Medical Association "Gloria Medicinae", Order of Honour "Laurel of the 50th Anniversary of the Medical University of Silesia", medal of the Medical University of Silesia. He was awarded the dignity of Knight of the Order of Malta.

Jerzy HOŁOWIECKI (born. 1937)

Graduate of the Medical University of ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) (1962); first degree specialist (1966) and second degree specialist (1970) in internal medicine, specialist in haematology (1977) and transplantology (2002); PhD. (1968); MD, PhD. (1978); Ass. Professor 1988; dr h.c. Warsaw Medical University (2008).

At ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia), he served as Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Vice-Rector for Postgraduate Training, member of the Committee on Bioethics of Scientific Research and Chairman of the Senate Committee for the Development of Scientific and Teaching Staff.

He started his work at ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) in 1962, initially as an assistant in the Department of Physiology, then in the First Chair and Department of Internal Medicine, successively in the gastrology, nephrology and cardiology departments. Over the years, he has served as head in successively transformed units: Department of Haematology in the 1st Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Haematology, Department of Haematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation. In addition, he was employed and later took over the management of the Provincial Haematology Outpatient Clinic. During his research internships, he worked at, among others: Birch Hill Hospital in Wardle (Rochdale), King`s College Hospital in London, the Cantonal Hospital in Zurich, the Institute for Leukaemia and Haematology L. Boltzmann Institute for Leukaemia and Haematology in Vienna. He currently serves as a Department Consultant in the Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Oncohaematology at the National Institute of Oncology in Gliwice.

His scientific and research work focuses mainly on internal diseases, oncohaematology and bone marrow transplantation. The cladribine treatment regimen for acute myeloid leukaemia he developed increased the cure rate and became the so-called gold standard according to the recommendations of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (in 2013 recognised by the "Portrait of Polish Medicine" award). Prof. Hołowiecki's achievements include: performing the first transplants in the country using the positive immunoselection method in lymphomas and breast cancer, bone marrow transplants from unrelated donors (the first transplant from a foreign donor), preparing the first in the literature treatment programme for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia using GM-CSF. He developed and implemented numerous medical practices, including: the practice of original treatment modalities for acute lymphoblastic and myeloid leukaemias, introduced stem and progenitor cell transplantation after stimulation with cytostatic and recombinant cytokines.

While working at the ¦AM, he organised: the haematology laboratory, the Haematology Laboratory and the Haematology Department. He is the founder of the centre for bone marrow transplantation, he organised the Polish Adult Leukaemia Group - PALG and later turned it into an association. Prof. Hołowiecki founded and chairs the Polish School of Haematology.

He is the author or co-author of more than half a thousand publications, including dissertations, articles published in, among others: "Lancet", "Blood", "New England Journal of Medicine", "Leukemia", "British Journal of Haematology", "Haematologica", "Cancer", chapters in textbooks, scripts, conference reports, translations and chapters in books.

His teaching activities included: lectures on haematology, seminars on pathophysiology and methods of diagnosis and treatment in oncohaematology for medical students, participation in postgraduate training, supervision of doctors during specialisation. He was the promoter of doctorates and supervised post-doctorates.

Over the years, he has held many prestigious positions and has belonged or still belongs to numerous units, among others: Presidium of the National Transplant Council for Marrow Transplantation, Committee of Immunology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, committees of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Clinical Haematology, Interna and Parainterna of the Health and Environmental Complex, Clinical Pathophysiology, Experimental Haematology and Cell Engineering, scientific societies: International Society of Haematology in London, European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, American Society of Haematology, Polish Society of Transplantology, Polish Society of Haematologists and Transfusiologists, Polish Medical Society, Society of Polish Internists.

Awarded with, among others: OOP (The Order of Polonia Restituta) Officer's and Knight's Crosses, Golden Cross of Merit, medals - Commission of National Education, 40th anniversary of the Polish People's Republic, Golden Medal of the Congress of Polish Oncology, badge "For exemplary work in the health service", golden badge "Meritorious in the development of the Katowice voivodship", received the Award Sodalis Honoris Causa Associato Medicorum Bohemoslovakorum J. E. Purkyne, award for scientific and didactic activity of the MZiOS, Special Award of the Minister of Health, Award of the Scientific Secretary of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Marcin Walerian KAMIŃSKI (born 1941)

Graduate of the ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) (1965); MD, 1971; MD, PhD., 1977; Ass. Professor 1987; dr h.c. Medical University of Białystok (2007).

At ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) he held the office and dignity of rector from 1988 to 1990. In addition, he held many positions, including Vice-Chancellor for Science (1985-1988) and was a member of the Senate and Senate committees.

He has been affiliated with ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) since 1963, when, as a student volunteer, he started working at the Department of Histology and Embryology in Zabrze-Rokitnica. There he worked as a trainee technician, assistant, senior assistant, lecturer and docent. After the establishment of the new Faculty of the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice-Ligota, he worked in Katowice-Ligota, heading the Department of Histology and Embryology at the positions of associate and full professor. For several years before retirement, he headed the Department of Morphology and the Department of Histopathology of the Faculty of Medicine in Katowice. In addition, during his numerous internships he worked, among others: at the Academy of Sciences in Leningrad, at Swedish universities in Stockholm and Lund and at university centres in Göttingen, Heidelberg, Cologne and Münster.

His scientific work was mainly concerned with experimental toxicology, toxicology of organic solvents and metals (especially cadmium and lead), ischemia-reperfusion damage of the liver and kidneys. His research has addressed the biotransformation of drugs and xenobiotics in the liver, kidneys and lungs, under conditions of organism development and ageing. In recent years, he has studied the participation of liver stem cells in the regeneration of this organ.

He worked on the start-up of the Department of Cytology and Histology in Katowice-Ligota as a plenipotentiary of the Rector. He was the initiator and organiser of the Tissue Culture Laboratory and several laboratories forming part of the Department of Histology and Embryology: Morphometric, Morphological and Histochemical. He headed the Department of Environmental and Industrial Medicine of the Interdepartmental Biological and Morphological Institute. He served for one year as curator of the Department of Histology and Micromorphology of the Biological-Morphological Institute.

He is the author and co-author of numerous papers on experimental toxicology, environmental protection, histology and cytophysiology, abstracts and conference reports, as well as chapters in monographic studies. Within the scope of didactic activity he conducted classes in, among others, histology, embryology, basics of clinical sciences, basics of immunology for students, postgraduate training students, course participants and actively participated in student scientific movement (scientific circles). He was the supervisor of doctoral dissertations, supervisor of postdoctoral theses, reviewer of doctoral theses, postdoctoral theses and proceedings for granting the title of professor, as well as three proceedings for granting the title of doctor honoris causa.

Over the years, he has actively participated in the work of commissions, committees and scientific teams of the PAN (Polish Academy of Sciences) and KBN (State Committee for Scientific Research), e.g. in: Team of Medical Sciences of the KBN, Committee of Epidemiology and Public Health of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Central Commission for Scientific Title and Degrees, Advisory Team of the Minister of Science for Ordered Research Projects, he was a member of scientific councils, among others: scientific council to the Minister of Health, Scientific Council of the Institute of Occupational Medicine in Łódź, Scientific Council of the Institute of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health in Sosnowiec and editorial boards of journals such as: "Acta Poloniae Toxicologica", "Auxilium Sociale - Social Support", "Polish Journal of Environmental Studies", "Folia Medica Lodziensia".

He has been elected to a number of prestigious positions in scientific organisations including the Polish Medical Association, the Polish Society of Histochemists and Cytochemists, the Polish Anatomical Society, the Polish Society of Toxicology.

Honoured with, among others: Commander's and Knight's Crosses of the OOP (The Order of Polonia Restituta), Medal of the Commission of National Education, Prof. Karol Marcinkowski Medal (awarded by the ZG of the Polish Society of Gynaecology), Silver Medal of Merit of the Piastów Śląskich Medical Academy in Wrocław. He was a laureate of the 1st and 2nd degree team scientific and didactic awards of the Ministry of Mining and Energy, a 2nd degree team scientific award of the Ministry of Mining and Energy, several awards of the Rector of ŚAM for scientific and research work and didactic and teaching activities.

Franciszek KOKOT (1929–2021)

Graduate of the Medical University of ŚAM (1953); 1st degree specialist (1955) and 2nd degree specialist (1958) in internal medicine, specialist in nephrology (1987) and specialist in endocrinology (1998); MD, 1957; MD, PhD. 1962; docent 1963; Ass. Professor 1969; Full Professor 1982; dr h.c. multi.

At his alma mater, he served as rector (1980-1982) and vice-rector for postgraduate training (1982-1984), and was a long-standing member of the Senate.

He worked at the University during his studies (from 1949), and after obtaining his diploma, initially in the Department of Internal Medicine, then in the established Department of Nephrology, the Institute of Internal Medicine, and the 2nd Department of Internal Medicine. From 1975, he headed the Nephrology Clinic of the Institute of Internal Diseases, later renamed to the Chair and Clinic of Nephrology, Transplantation and Internal Diseases in Katowice.

Co-founder of the face of Polish medicine, creator of the Polish school of nephrology. His scientific work included clinical enzymology, pathophysiology of hypertension, active kidney stones and acute and chronic uremic intoxication. His major achievements include: demonstration of the presence of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase in the intestinal brushtail, the presence of endocrine dysfunction in patients with acute and chronic renal failure and in patients with various aetiological forms of hypertension, the establishment of the involvement of various hormones in the pathogenesis of active nephrolithiasis and the involvement of erythropoietin in the regulation of metabolic disorders and blood pressure in patients with spontaneous hypertension and in women with gestational poisoning.

He was the organiser of the Clinic of Nephrology in Katowice with its isotope laboratory, famous throughout Poland and Europe, which became the basis for his later scientific and professional achievements.

Organiser of the extracorporeal dialysis and transplantation centre at his alma mater's Department of Nephrology and a network of dialysis centres in southern Poland (Wysowa Zdrój, Nysa, Sucha Beskidzka, Olesno, Oświęcim, Cieszyn, Opole, Rybnik, Chrzanów).

Author and co-author of nearly 1,500 publications, including dozens of nationwide and international textbooks. He promoted 77 doctors of medicine and supervised 28 habilitations (including several foreign ones).

He held many positions in scientific societies, including the Polish and European Society of Nephrology. He was a member of the "Nominating Committee" of the International Society of Nephrology, and an honorary member of several Polish and foreign scientific societies.

He is a full member of PAN (Polish Academy of Sciences), an active member of the PAU (Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences), a member of the Scientific Council at the MZiOS (Health and Human Services), and a member of the KBN (State Committee for Scientific Research).

Honoured with (among others): Order of the White Eagle (posthumously), Grand, Commander's and Knight's Crosses of the OOP (The Order of Polonia Restituta), Medal of the Commission of National Education, Gold Medal "Medicus Magnus", International Distinguished Medal, John the Evangelist Purkyni Medal, Medal of the 900th anniversary of the University of Bologna, Louis Pasteur Medal, Medal "Gloria Medicinae", International Star "Merit for Medicine".

Winner of numerous awards including: Jędrzej Śniadecki Award of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Society of Friends of Silesia in Warsaw and the Wojciech Korfanty Upper Silesian Association. He received the honorary titles of "Eques Ordinis Sancti Silvestrii Papae" (conferred by Pope John Paul II), Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. In 2000, he was elected Honorary Silesian of the Year, recipient of the "Lux ex Silesia" award of the Metropolitan of Katowice, and received the Diamond Laurel of Skills and Competence.

Doctor h.c. at Wroclaw Medical University (1990), Adam Mickiewicz University (1993), Adam Mickiewicz University in Szczecin (1995), Adam Mickiewicz University in Lublin (1997), P. J. Šafařik in Košice (1997), Medical University of Warsaw (1999), Jagiellonian University (2000), Medical University in Białystok (2001), Medical University in Łódź (2004), University of Opole (2017).

Source: Database of the Documentation Centre of the History of Medicine and Pharmacy of Upper Silesia, [accessed 29.03.2023]:
https://katalog.sum.edu.pl/F?func=direct&format=999&doc_number=000004594&local_base=biograf

Florentyna ŁABISZEWSKA-JARUZELSKA (1913–2007)

Graduate of the Academy of Dentistry in Warsaw (1936) and ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) (1955); second degree specialist in orthodontics (1957); MD in Stomatology 1951; MD, PhD. 1960; Ass. Professor 1973; Full professor 1983; organiser of orthodontics in Silesia.

Until the outbreak of the Second World War, she worked in surgical and dental clinics in Warsaw. During the occupation, she was a member of the Home Army of the Warsaw-Central District (pseudonym "Ines"). During the Warsaw Uprising she worked in hospital as a doctor; wounded in the uprising, she was sent to a camp from where she was deported to Miechów.

After the war, she arrived in Katowice. In March 1948 she undertook the organisation of the Chair and Department of Orthodontics of the newly established Medical Academy in Bytom. She was the head of this department for many years. In 1950, she started to organise open orthodontic treatment centres in the Katowice, Bielsko and Opole provinces.

In her scientific activity, she focused on the treatment of unilateral and bilateral clefts in infants, telerentgenography used in orthodontics, orthodontic prophylaxis and the purposefulness of the use of orthodontic appliances in various occlusal abnormalities.

She initiated and promoted the treatment of orthodontic malformations in Silesia, with particular emphasis on the prevention and early treatment of disorders of the stomatognathic system. Thanks to her efforts, as early as 1959, the Developmental Defects Outpatient Clinic was established at the Department of Orthodontics of the Medical University of Silesia.

Author and co-author of approximately 150 publications, including articles in national and international journals, several scripts and textbooks.

She was an Educator of many generations of orthodontic specialists, promoter of doctoral dissertations, reviewer of doctoral and postdoctoral theses.

From 1964 to 1985 she served as a national consultant in orthodontics.

She was a member of the Polish Medical Association and the Polish Dental Association, founder of its Orthodontic Section, chairwoman of the Katowice branch.

She was awarded, among others, the Knight's Cross of the OOP (The Order of Polonia Restituta), the Cross of the Home Army (established by General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski in 1966 in London), as well as the medal of the Commission of National Education and the badge "For exemplary work in the health service".

In 2013, a plaque commemorating Prof Florentyna Łabiszewska-Jaruzelska was unveiled at the Academic Centre for Dentistry and Specialised Medicine in Bytom.

Source: Database of the Documentation Centre for the History of Upper Silesian Medicine and Pharmacy, [access 29.03.2023]:
https://katalog.sum.edu.pl/F?func=direct&format=999&doc_number=000004110&local_base=biograf

Ewa Maria MAŁECKA-TENDERA (born 1949)

Graduate of the Medical University of ŚAM (1972); specialist in first degree (1975) and second degree (1978) of children's diseases and in endocrinology (1996); MD, (1980); PhD. (1994); Prof. (2001).

At the ŚAM then SUM (Medical University of Silesia) , she held the office and dignity of rector (terms: 2005-2008 and 2008-2012). In addition, from 1996 to 2002, also for two terms, she was Vice-Dean for doctoral dissertations at the Faculty of Medicine in Katowice, and in the following years, among other things, she served as Dean and was a member of the Senate and Senate committees.

She joined ŚAM after completing her postgraduate internship at the Municipal Hospital in Gliwice (1972-1973). She worked successively in the 2nd Department of Children's Diseases, Department of Paediatric Endocrinology, the 2nd Department and Department of Pathophysiology, Department of Health Promotion and Obesity Treatment in the Department of Pathophysiology, Department and Department of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology, in most of these units acting as deputy head or head. During her internships, she worked, among others: at Orange Memorial Hospital in Orlando (internal medicine-pediatrics internship) and at Vanderbilt University in Nashville (endocrinology training).

Her research interests include pubertal disorders (e.g. abnormal genital development, growth disorders, excessive body hair, polycystic ovary syndrome in girls) and thyroid diseases (nodular thyroid disease in children, simple goitre, hyperthyroidism). He deals with simple obesity in children, especially lipid metabolism disorders and insulin resistance, the impact of obesity on the cardiovascular system and obesity risk factors. She is seeking new pharmacological treatments for simple obesity. Her research work also focuses on primary prevention of atherosclerosis in children (population-based studies of lipid concentrations in primary school children and children with a family history of cardiovascular disease) and regeneration in the central nervous system.

Prof. Małecka-Tendera's published scientific output includes more than half a thousand items (scientific articles, chapters and books, translations, papers and congress abstracts), in which she addresses topics related to, among others, obesity and atherosclerosis in children, endocrine disorders, sexual maturation. She is an active educator and has delivered and continues to deliver, among others: lectures, exercises and seminars in paediatrics, pathophysiology, health promotion (also for American students), postgraduate courses, lectures in specialisation courses. She was a promoter and reviewer of doctoral and postdoctoral theses, as well as head of specialisation in paediatrics and endocrinology.

Prof. Małecka-Tendera was appointed to the Human Development Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences, where she serves as deputy chair (term 2020-2023). She serves on the editorial boards of journals including: " Paediatric Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism", "Medical Advances".

She has held many prestigious positions over the years and has been and is a member of numerous national and international organisations, including: Polish Medical Society, Polish Paediatric Society, Polish Society of Endocrinology, Polish Society of Paediatric Endocrinology, Reference Committee on Epidemiology, Diagnosis and Treatment of Thyroid Cancer, Polish Society of Obesity Pathogenesis and Therapy, New York Academy of Sciences, European Association for Children in Hospital, European Childhood Obesity Group, European Society of Paediatric Endocrinologists.

Honoured with, among others: Medal of the Commission of National Education, scientific award of MZiOS (Health and Human Services), Prof. Tadeusz Pawlikowski Medal, scientific award of Tomasz Romer, Knight's Cross of OOP (The Order of Polonia Restituta). Included in the Puls Medycyny "List of One Hundred" ranking of the most influential people in Polish medicine.

PPM: https://ppm.sum.edu.pl/info/author/SUMa786165bb623454991f3b620d744c6f7/

Władysław Wojciech NASIŁOWSKI (1925–2022)

Graduate of the Academy of Sciences in Poznań (1950); first degree specialist in pathological anatomy (1952), as well as first degree (1954) and second degree (1958) in forensic medicine; M.D. 1952; Ph.D. 1965; Docent 1967; Ass. Professor 1977; Full professor 1990; dr h.c. SILESIAN MEDICAL UNIVERSITY (2011).

After graduation, he started to work at the Department of Pathological Anatomy at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, then moved to the Department of Forensic Medicine, headed by Associate Professor Tadeusz Pragłowski, a witness to the Katyn massacre. In 1975 he became head of the Department of Forensic Medicine, creating one of the best centres in Poland, which he headed until his retirement.

In the first democratic election of the University authorities, he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in Katowice (he resigned in protest against martial law repressions).

A doyen of Polish forensic medicine. An outstanding forensic physician, an expert in forensic toxicology, especially in ethanol toxicology. His published research results made the Professor a recognised authority in this field. He also took up important problems in the field of medical ethics and issues related to patients' rights.

He is the author of more than 100 articles in Polish and foreign journals, a monograph ("Research on the distribution and combustion coefficients of alcohol in humans"), and co-author of several books.

He issued expert opinions for beatification and ecclesiastical purposes (related to the exhumation of the remains of priests: Bishop Stanisław Adamski, Jan Alojzy Fick, Franciszek Blachnicki and nuns: Teresa Kierocińska, Laura Meozzi, Helena Hoffmann), as well as expert reports and opinions in cases conducted by the judiciary and the Institute of National Remembrance (concerning miners in the "Wujek" mine, Stanisław Pyjas, priests Sylwester Zych, Tadeusz Zaleski, Jerzy Popiełuszko).

He supported the trade union movement NSZZ "Solidarność" (The Independent and Self-Governing Trade Union „Solidarność”), which was taking shape at the University. As an oppositionist, he was persecuted by the communist authorities and kept under surveillance by the Security Service (SB).

Promoter of numerous doctoral and postdoctoral theses. He participated in postgraduate training of doctors, prosecutors and judges in forensic medicine and medical ethics.

He represented ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) in the General Council of Medical Colleges, was the chairman of the Supreme Medical Court, the Supreme Chamber of Physicians, and a member of the World Association of Home Army Soldiers.

He was a provincial specialist in forensic medicine in the Katowice and Bielsko-Biala provinces, as well as chairman of the National Specialist Team for Forensic Medicine.

Awarded with, among others: Cross of Valour, OOP (The Order of Polonia Restituta) Officer's Cross, Golden Cross of Merit, Cross of the Home Army, National Education Medal, Medical Laurel. Awarded with the "Distinguished Advocacy" badge, the Distinguished Teacher of Physicians award and the "Lux ex Silesia" award.

Witold Adam NIEPOŁOMSKI (1916–2006)

Graduate of the University of Warsaw (1940); second degree specialist in pathological anatomy (1954); M.D. 1948; MD, Ph.D. 1952; Docent 1954; Ass. Professor 1958; Full Professor 1966; dr h.c. Medical University of Silesia (1990).

Initially, he worked at health care institutions in Warsaw: Department of Pathomorphological Anatomy at the University of Warsaw, Wolski Hospital, Radium Institute and Infant Jesus Hospital. He took part in the Warsaw Uprising. From 1946 he was an assistant professor at the Department of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Łódź, and later the head of the Pathological Institute in Łódź, in the organisation of which he participated. In 1950 he arrived in Silesia. He was the creator and for many years the head of Department of Pathological Anatomy in Zabrze, then the 1st Department of Pathology, as well as the director of the Institute of Pathology and the head of the Department of Cytodiagnosis and the Department of Pathology operating within its structures.

He was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in Zabrze. During his term as rector (1962-1971), he continued the idea of his predecessor, Professor Władysław Zahorski, to establish a Faculty of Medicine in Katowice. In 1966, in Katowice-Ligota, he presided over the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the University's new academic centre, which would later provide theoretical and clinical facilities for the second Faculty of Medicine. He was a member of the ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) delegation that submitted a project for the establishment of a Faculty of Pharmacy to MZiOS (Health and Human Services) in 1971 (the project was positively evaluated by the ministerial experts).

Founder of Silesian pathomorphology. He studied the influence of harmful working conditions on changes in the organs of workers and inhabitants of Upper Silesia. His works on changes occurring in silicosis complicated by tuberculosis are of particular importance for the mining district. He has devoted 90 publications to this subject.

Provincial specialist for pathomorphology in the Katowice and Opole provinces. During the period in which he held these posts, 12 full-profile pathomorphology units and 58 hospital prosectories were organised. They were located in the then Katowice, Opole, Bielsko and Częstochowa provinces. He trained specialists in this field for the Silesian region, and chaired the commission conducting examinations for the first degree of specialisation in this field.

He was active in the Polish Medical Association, the Polish Society of Pathologists, the Polish Society of Oncology, the European Society of Pathologists.

Honoured with honorary membership of the Polish Society of Pathologists, the Polish Society of Oncology and the Association of Alumni of Warsaw Medicine and Pharmacy.

He was a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute of Oncology in Warsaw, as well as Chairman of the Higher Disciplinary Commission for employees of scientific and research institutes at the MZiOS.

Decorated with, among others, the Commander's, Officer's and Knight's Crosses of the Order of National Defence and the Medal of the Commission of National Education.

Andrzej NOWAK (1935–2019)

Graduate of the Medical University of ŚAM (1958); 1st degree specialist in internal medicine (1962) and 2nd degree specialist (1966) and 2nd degree specialist in gastroenterology (1992); MD (1963); MD, PhD. (1977); Ass. Professor 1984; dr h.c. at the Medical University of Wrocław (2005).

At the Medical University of Łódź he held the posts of Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Clinical Affairs, Pro-Dean and Dean of the Faculty of Nursing; he was a member of the Faculty Committee for the Development of Scientific and Teaching Staff, the Senate and Senate committees.

He joined ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) after graduation, initially as a volunteer in the 3rd Clinic of Internal Medicine in Bytom, headed by Prof. K. Gibiński, and then as a full-time employee of ŚAM from 1961. He subsequently moved to the 2nd Internal Diseases Clinic in Katowice and then to the Gastroenterology Clinic, where he held the position of head since 1985. From 1965, he headed the Provincial Gastrological Endoscopy Clinic (later: Provincial Gastrological Clinic). During his numerous placements and training periods, he worked, among others: in gastroenterology clinics in Hamburg, Charles University in Prague, St Anthony's Hospital in Paris, General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, University Hospitals in Aarhus and Tokyo.

His research interests focused on gastroenterology with endoscopy, coagulology and fibrinolysis. He conducted research on intravascular coagulation, the phenomenon of fibrinolysis in atherosclerosis of the lower limbs, the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of coagulation disorders in kidney disease, liver disease and coronary heart failure. Professor developed and implemented numerous medical practices that have become a standard in international medicine. To him we owe, among other things: the introduction of endoscopic sphincterotomy into routine therapeutic management and the widespread use of ranitidine in the treatment of haemorrhage from gastric and duodenal ulcers. Together with Prof. Gibiński, he was the first in Poland and one of the first in the world to use prostaglandins in the treatment of peptic ulcer disease.

He created numerous projects under grants from the Committee for Scientific Research. In cooperation with the University of Lausanne, he conducted work on the proper use of gastrointestinal endoscopy. He participated in the scientific programmes of the MZiOS and the Central Research and Development Programme (cancer control). He has collaborated with scientific centres including: the Universities of Leeds and Minneapolis, the European CAPO-Group in Denmark and the European Early Gastric Study in Switzerland.

Prof. Nowak's published scientific output includes a total of nearly half a thousand items, including numerous papers on endoscopy presented and awarded at international scientific congresses. He conducted extensive didactic activity: not only did he hold classes with students, train postgraduate students and run specialisation courses, but also chaired national gastroenterology examinations conducted by the CMKP (Medical Centre for Postgraduate Education), and gave lectures at the invitation of foreign scientific centres. He was the supervisor of doctoral theses, supervisor of postdoctoral theses, reviewer of dozens of applications for the title of professor and the degree of dr hab. and applications for the title of professor at foreign universities (Chicago, Rome, Bratislava).

He served as secretary of the Science and Teaching Commission of the Health Care Council to the President of the Republic of Poland. For many years he held honorary positions in Polish and foreign scientific societies, editorial colleges and the Polish Academy of Sciences. He was a member of numerous committees and commissions of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Polish societies such as: Gastroenterological, Medical, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Child Nutrition, as well as foreign and international societies, including: the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis, European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Yugoslavian Society of Gastroenterology, Slovakian Society of Gastroenterology, American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

Honoured with, among others: Knight's and Officer's Crosses of OOP (The Order of Polonia Restituta), Golden and Silver Crosses of Merit, Medal of the Commission of National Education, Jędrzej Śniadecki Medal, Medal of the 30th anniversary of ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia), Order of Honour "Laurel of the 50th anniversary of ŚAM", badges - golden badge "Merited in the development of the Katowice Province", "For exemplary work in the health service". For his scientific and didactic achievements he has received, among others: individual 2nd degree award and several 1st degree team awards of the Ministry of Health and Social Sciences, numerous rector's awards and team awards of the European Society of Gastroenterology.

Source: Documentation Centre of the History of Upper Silesian Medicine and Pharmacy, [access 29.03.2023]:
https://katalog.sum.edu.pl/F?func=direct&format=999&doc_number=000003960&local_base=biograf

Brunon Antoni NOWAKOWSKI (1890–1966)

Studied medicine in Leipzig and Munich, where he received his medical degree in 1914; Dr. of all medical sciences 1922; MD, PhD. 1937; Docent 1937; Ass. Professor 1937; Full Professor. 1948; Dr. h.c. Medical University of Silesia (1960); organiser and first Rector of the Medical University of Silesia (1948-1951).

Pioneer of Polish hygiene and occupational medicine. Organiser of the Department of Occupational Hygiene at the School of Hygiene in Warsaw (1926). Head of the Department of Hygiene at the Faculty of Medicine, Jagiellonian University (1939). Participated in the September campaign. Interned in Romania, where he performed medical duties (including at the Polish Embassy in Bucharest). Then through Cyprus, he arrived in Great Britain. He participated in the establishment of the Polish Faculty of Medicine at Edinburgh University, acting as head of the Department of Hygiene. He was appointed by the Polish émigré authorities as head of the Health Service Department at the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. After the end of hostilities, he represented Polish interests at the UN Health Commission for Relief and Reconstruction. In 1946, he returned to the country and took over the chair of the Department of Hygiene at the Faculty of Medicine of the Jagiellonian University. In 1948, he was entrusted with the organisation of the Medical Academy in Silesia and the dignity of its first rector. He organised the Department of Hygiene in Rokitnica.

In addition to the organisation of the Medical Academy, the Professor's aim was to organise an Institute of Occupational Medicine in Silesia. In 1950, he received a mandate from the Minister of Health to carry out preparatory work aimed at establishing an institute on the basis of the Research and Treatment Centre for Occupational Diseases and the Medical University of Silesia. Established in 1950, the Institute of Occupational Medicine in the Coal and Steel Industry had the status of a unit of the ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia), and Professor Nowakowski was its first director.

The Professor's research interests included all areas of hygiene, sanitary administration, environmental pollution, lighting, heating, ventilation of workplaces and dwellings, medical labour inspection, epidemiology of occupational diseases, issues of insurance medicine and healthy food. He also dealt with the issue of medical labour inspection and industrial health services (he was the author of the first Polish textbook in this field).

The Professor's published scientific output includes several textbooks, over 150 articles and many reviews, abstracts, papers delivered at national and international congresses. An outstanding educators: he developed a programme of lectures on general hygiene, authored a script on this subject for students; his organisation of exercises was a model for chairs and departments of hygiene at other medical universities in Poland. Promoter and reviewer of 40 doctoral and postdoctoral theses.

He was a member of the Institute of Social Affairs in Warsaw, a correspondent member of the PAU (Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences), a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, a member of the Scientific Council at the MZiOS (Health and Human Services), the Scientific and Medical Council of the Social Insurance Institution, the Polish Medical Association, the Medical Council of the Central Board of the Metallurgical Industry. He was also a member of the Standing Committee of the International Association of Occupational Medicine in Geneva and the Finnish Association of Occupational Medicine.

Awarded with, among others: Commander's Cross OOP (The Order of Polonia Restituta), Gold Cross of Merit, Cross of Independence and Independence Medal.

In 2018, a commemorative plaque in honour of Prof. Bruno Nowakowski was unveiled at the Department of Environmental Medicine and Epidemiology in Zabrze-Rokitnica (former Department of Hygiene headed by the Professor).

Zbigniew Eugeniusz RELIGA (1938–2009)

Graduate of the Warsaw Medical University (1963); specialist in general surgery 1st degree (1968), 2nd degree (1972); MD 1973; MD, Ph.D. 1981; Ass. Professor 1990; Full Professor 1998; dr h.c. multi.

He held the office and dignity of rector at the ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) (1996-1999), and was, among others, a member of the Council of the Faculty of Medicine in Zabrze.

He worked at the Medical University of Silesia for 20 years: 1984-1999 he was Head of the Chair and Department of Cardiac Surgery, 1999-2004 he was Head of the Chair and Department of Mechanical Circulatory Support at the Faculty of Medicine in Zabrze. Outside ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia), he was employed, among others, in the Department of Cardiac Surgery at the CSK MSWiA (Central Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Interior and Administration) in Warsaw, in the Surgical Ward of the Warsaw City Hospital (Stępińska Street), Surgical Ward of the Warsaw County Hospital, Surgical and Urological Ward of the Wolski Hospital, and during foreign internships he worked, among others, at Mercy Hospital Rockville Centre in New York (scholarship), Massachusetts General Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, Sinai Hospital in Detroit and Deborah Heart and Lung Center.

Outstanding cardiac surgeon and transplantologist. He researched and perfected treatments for, among others: ischaemic heart disease, paroxysmal ventricular tachycardia, coronary artery disease. He created his own model of a biological heart valve and developed a stentless mitral valve. He worked on a new heart valve model from zoonotic tissue and led a programme to build an implantable artificial heart. His pioneering achievements include the first lung and heart transplant operations in Poland, the first successful heart transplant after mechanical assistance, the first heart transplant in a two-and-a-half-year-old girl, the first single-lung transplant, the first pig heart transplant in the world, the first successful coronaroplasty in a heart transplant patient.

He was co-organiser of Polish cardiac surgery clinics at, among others: ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) Institute of Cardiology in Katowice Ochojec, AM in Białystok, AM in Wrocław, the Department of Cardiac Surgery of the Voivodship Hospital in Wrocław and the CSK MSWiA in Warsaw. Under his supervision, specialist laboratories were established at the Faculty of Medicine in Zabrze, including: artificial heart, valves, Polish biological valve, biofluidics and the Institute of Heart Prostheses. He was the founder and president of the Foundation for Cardiac Surgery Development in Zabrze.

He was an author and co-author of numerous scientific papers in the field of cardiology, cardiac surgery and transplantology published in Polish and foreign medical journals and book publications, as well as an editor and co-editor of textbooks and monographs. He has headed surgical specialisations and conducted postgraduate training for teams of young doctors at home and abroad, e.g. at clinics in Zabrze, Katowice, Łódź, Białystok, Wrocław, Warsaw, Tbilisi, Kaunas, Lviv and Kiev. He was the supervisor of doctoral theses and supervisor of habilitation theses.

As a politician, he was twice a senator of the Republic of Poland, held the office of the Minister of Health in the governments of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz and Jarosław Kaczyński, was the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Health and the Head of the Ministry, and sat on numerous presidential and ministerial councils.

For many years, he was a member of many national and international scientific societies, including: the Society of Polish Surgeons, the Polish Cardiac Society, the Polish Transplantation Society, the Society for Heart Transplantation, the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, the International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, the European Association for Cardio Thoracic Surgery, the European Society for Heart Transplantation, the Polish-American Medical Society.

Honoured with numerous awards, including: Order of the White Eagle, Grand Cross, Commander's Cross with Star, Knight's Cross OOP (The Order of Polonia Restituta), medal of the National Education Commission, Tadeusz Orłowski medal of the Association of Polish Surgeons, Gloria Medicinae medal of the Polish Medical Association, Tadeusz Kotarbiński medal, the medal of the Association of Polish Physicians "Medicus" in New York, badges - "For merits for health care", "For merits for the Silesian Voivodship", awards - Alfred Jurzykowski, MZiOS (Health and Human Services) and a special award for special achievements for health care.

Doctor h.c. in Medicine from the Medical University of Lviv (1997), the Medical University of Białystok (1998), the Medical University of ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) (2000), the University of Opole (2002) and the Medical University of Warsaw (2005).

Aleksander Romuald SIEROŃ (born 1948)

Graduate of the Silesian University of Technology and the Medical University of Silesia (medical diploma 1977); specialist in internal medicine first degree (1980) and second degree (1983), specialist in cardiology (1987), in balneoclimatology and physical medicine (1998), in angiology (2003) and specialist in hypertensiology (2006); MD 1979; MD, PhD. 1996; Full Professor 1999; dr h.c. National University of Ukraine in Uzhgorod (2005) and Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice (2017).

At the Medical University of ŚAM (later SUM – Medical University of Silesia), he served two terms as Vice-Chancellor for Science (1999-2005), was a member of the Faculty Committee for the Employment of Academic Teachers at the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry in Zabrze, a member of the Senate and Senate committees, including: Senate Budget Committee, Senate Committee for the Development of the Scientific and Didactic Staff of the SUM.

He has been affiliated with the Medical University of Silesia/SUM since 1971, initially with the Department of Biophysics in Zabrze-Rokitnica (also as its acting head), then moved to the 3rd Chair and Clinic of Internal Medicine in Bytom, which name was changed several times in the following years (he managed these units for many years). At the Specialist Hospital No. 2 in Bytom, he established and managed the Centre for Cancer Diagnostics and Laser Therapy, as well as the Central Endoscopy Laboratory and the Cancer Genetic Laboratory. During his internships and training, he stayed at, among others: Harvard Medical School in Boston (USA), Mayo Clinic in Rochester (USA), British Columbia Cancer Agency in Vancouver (Canada), Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia (USA), Hong Kong Baptist University (China).

The Professor's scientific and research achievements have received national and international recognition. These include the demonstration of the causes of the analgesic effect of lasers and magnetic fields, the determination of the usefulness of autofluorescence in the study of tumour lesions, the determination of the usefulness of CPK BB in the diagnosis of subendocardial infarction, the description of net fields as a risk factor for coronary artery disease. He has implemented the following into clinical practice: low-energy laser therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, magnetotherapy, magnetostimulation and photodynamic diagnostics and therapy.

He has held and continues to hold a number of prestigious posts, including national and provincial consultant in angiology and internal medicine, representative of the Supreme Medical Council in the Union of Medical Specialists Division of Angiology/Vascular Medicine affiliated with the Council of Europe.

He actively publishes, among others, in national (author of columns published in "Pro Medico", a monthly magazine of the Silesian Medical Chamber) and foreign journals, and his scientific output totals more than a thousand items (books, editorials, scripts, chapters in monographs and printed publications). He has educated many generations of doctors: he has given lectures, exercises, talks, seminars for students and lectures for postgraduate students; he is the supervisor of more than 30 PhDs and several post-doctoral theses.

Over the years, he has been and is a member of numerous societies, committees, commissions and councils, and has served as president or chairman in many organisations, including. Polish Society for Photodynamic and Laser Medicine, Polish Angiological Society, Scientific and Technical Committee on the Application of Magnetic Fields in Medicine of the SEP and Section on the Application of Lasers and Magnetic Fields in Medicine of the Polish Medical Association, Committee on Medical Physics, Radiobiology and Imaging Diagnostics of the 5th Department of Medical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Council of the Polish Synchrotron Consortium, Polish Medical Association, Polish Cryotherapy Society (co-founder), Steering Committee of the European Platform for Photodynamic Medicine.

For his work, contribution to the development of medicine, innovation and invention, Prof. Sieroń has received, among others: awards from the Minister of Health for scientific achievements, the title "Ambassador of Polish Science", the Grand Prix of the Innova Jury 2014 for the best global invention at the World Innovation Exhibition "INNOVA", the Award of the Minister of Science and Higher Education for outstanding inventive achievements on the international arena, the Gold Medal at the International Intellectual Property, Inventions, Innovation and Technology Fair IPITEX 2016 in Bangkok. Received the Silesian Quality Award in the category 'Innovation in Practice' and the Badge of Honour 'For Merit for the Development of the Polish Economy'. Awarded the Crystal Laurel of Skills and Competence and the distinction "Distinguished Teacher of Physicians".

Andrzej Jan WIĘCEK (born 1955)

Graduate of the Medical University of Silesia (ŚAM) (1980); specialist in internal medicine first degree (1983) and second degree (1987) and nephrology (1993); MD 1983; MD, PhD., 1990; Full Professor 1996; dr h.c. Semmelweis University, Budapest (2011).

At the Medical University of ŚAM (later SUM – Medical University of Silesia), he held the office of Vice-Chancellor for European Union Integration and International Cooperation (2002-2005), is the Chairman of the Scientific Area Council and a member of the Senate.

He has been affiliated with the University since 1980, initially as an assistant in the Chair and Clinic of Nephrology, then as a senior assistant, assistant professor, associate professor, associate professor, associate professor and professor. Currently employed as a research and didactic professor at the Chair and Clinic of Nephrology, Transplantology and Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice. During his internship and training, he worked, among others, at the Department of Nephrology of the University of Heidelberg.

Prof. Więcek's research interests include nephrological problems, primarily: endocrine organ function in patients with hypertension, the pathophysiology of endocrine disorders in patients with acute or chronic renal failure, the aetiopathogenesis of endocrine disorders in patients after renal transplantation, the relationship between malnutrition and inflammatory processes and the development of atherosclerosis in uremic patients. In recent years, research interests have included renal disease with skin manifestation, complications in the living kidney donor with obesity, impaired excretory function of the transplanted kidney, and in patients with chronic kidney disease: metabolic acidosis, mineral and bone disorders, and hypertension. He is also interested in the pathophysiological and therapeutic aspects of osteoporosis and renal osteodystrophy.

As part of his activities in the European Society of Nephrology, he co-organised the postgraduate training in nephrology in Central and Eastern Europe and initiated the Young Nephrologist's Platform. In addition, he co-organises the conferences in the series "Interna in GP practice" and the Katowice seminars "Progress in nephrology and hypertension". He serves on the editorial boards of journals such as "Nephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation" and "Hypertension".

Prof. Więcek publishes actively, and his output to date is nearly 2,000 items. In total, he is the author and co-author of more than 800 articles published in Polish and foreign journals, more than 200 chapters in books, several dozen textbooks and many papers and conference abstracts. He is a promoter and reviewer of doctorates and post-doctorates, as well as applications for the title of professor.

For many years he has held and continues to hold prestigious positions in national and international scientific societies, including: member of the Board of Directors, Secretary-Treasurer and then President of the European Society of Nephrology (ERA-EDTA), member of the Board of Directors of the Polish Society of Transplantation, President of the Polish Society of Nephrology, the Polish Society of Hypertension, is an honorary member of the Romanian Society of Nephrology, the Czech Society of Nephrology and the International Association for the History of Nephrology. He serves as Vice-Chairman of the General Council for Science and Higher Education and is an active member of the PAU (Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences), Corresponding Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences - President of the Katowice Branch (term 2019-2022, elected for a second term in November 2022).

Honoured with, among others: Golden Cross of Merit, Medal of the Commission of National Education, Order of Honour "Laurel of the 50th anniversary of ŚAM". He is the recipient of many awards including: the "2018 ERA-EDTA Award for Outstanding Contributions to ERA-EDTA" of the European Society of Nephrology for outstanding contributions to this association, the scientific award of the Polish Society of Hypertension, the Crystal Laurel with Diamond of the Laurels of Skills and Competence for 2018, awards of the Minister of Health and several times awards of the Rector of ŚAM for achievements in teaching and scientific work. Included several times in the ranking of Puls Medycyny - "List of One Hundred" - presenting the most influential people in Polish medicine.

Tadeusz Marian WILCZOK (1934–2015)

He began his studies at the University of Wrocław, and then continued them at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, obtaining the degree of M.Sc. in chemistry (1956); molecular biologist, biochemist; MD in natural sciences, 1960; MD PhD., in natural sciences, 1963; Ass. Professor 1974; Full Professor 1985; dr h.c. at the Medical University of Silesia (2003) and at the Wrocław Medical University (2003).

He was Rector of the Medical University of Silesia for two terms (1999-2002 and 2002-2005) and held numerous positions, including Acting Dean and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Department of Medical Analytics, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Scientific Affairs, multiple member of the Senate and Chairman of Senate committees and faculty recruitment committees.

He has been affiliated with ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) since 1966, initially heading the Department of General Chemistry at the Faculty of Medicine in Zabrze-Rokitnica, then serving as the rector's plenipotentiary for the organisation of the Faculty of Pharmacy in Sosnowiec, where he worked as director of the Institute of Medical Chemistry and Physics, at the same time acting as head of the Department of Bioorganic and Biophysical Chemistry. In subsequent years, he headed newly established or reorganised departments, clinics and departments of biochemistry, biophysics, pharmaceutical biochemistry, biopharmacy, molecular biology and genetics. Outside ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia), at various times he has worked in: WSP in Katowice (College of Education in Katowice), the Biochemistry Laboratory of the Department of Cancer Biology of the Institute of Oncology in Gliwice, and during numerous internships he stayed in renowned centres in, among others: Gutenberg University in Mainz, Institute of Biology of the University of Frankfurt, Sloan-Kettering Laboratory for Cancer Research in New York, Rockefeller Institute, Department of Biochemistry University of Illinois in Chicago, Kings College in London, Institute of Biological Physics and Institute of Crystallography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in Moscow, Institute of Biology of the University of Leningrad, Harward Medical School.

His scientific and research work has focused on biochemistry, molecular biology and genetic engineering, with particular emphasis on biopolymer research. He conducted research on the clinical diagnosis of cancer. He assessed the transcriptional activities of genes involved in, among other things, cell proliferation, apoptosis, fibrosis, cirrhosis, regeneration or tumour transformation. He has dealt with viral and bacterial infections. He investigated the application of molecular biology and genetic engineering techniques in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He evaluated the biological activities of drugs and xenobiotics.

Prof. Wilczok has more than half a thousand publications to his credit, which have appeared in prestigious national and international medical journals, and is the author of scripts, textbooks and chapters in textbooks. He has taught and lectured on biochemistry, molecular biology, genetic diagnostics. He was a supervisor of more than 100 master's theses and a total of more than 50 PhDs theses written at the ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia), Jagiellonian University, University of Wrocław, University of Lódź. As part of his teaching activities, he supervised postdoctoral theses, reviewed doctoral theses and postdoctoral dissertations, as well as scientific achievements in proceedings for granting the title of professor. In addition, he was the supervisor and applicant in the proceedings for the title of Dr. h.c. of Prof. Zbigniew Religa, among others.

He was a member of the committees of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Drug Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Medical Physics, Biochemistry and Biophysics Committee and belonged to the Scientific Council of the Minister of Health.

For many years he belonged to, among others: Polish Biophysical Society (founder), Polish Oncological Society, Polish Biochemical Society, Polish Pharmaceutical Society, Polish Society of Scientific Film, Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, The New York Academy of Sciences, International Society of Magnetic Resonance, European Association of Pharma Biotechnology.

Honoured with, among others: Commander's and Knight's Crosses of OOP, Golden Cross of Merit, medals - Commission of National Education, 40th anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland, Golden Apple given by the American Medical Students Association, badges - "For exemplary work in health service", gold and silver badge "Meritorious in the development of the Katowice Voivodship", Order of Honour "Laurel of the 50th Anniversary of the Medical University of Silesia (ŚAM)", and honoured with awards - from the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), team award of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), MZiOS (Health and Human Services), several times awards of the Rector of the Medical University of Silesia for scientific and teaching activities, Fullbright Award, Daymon Reunion Award of the Foundation for Cancer Research and British Council Award.

Witold Władysław ZAHORSKI (1908–1995)

Graduate of the University of Warsaw (1932); MD 1935; MD, PhD. 1949; Ass. Professor 1950; Full Professor 1957; dr h.c. Medical University of Silesia (1982). At the Medical University of Silesia (ŚAM) he served as Rector (1957-1962) and first Vice-Chancellor for Clinical Affairs.

He spent the war period in Warsaw, where he worked in the Department of Internal Medicine at the university there. In 1945, he came to Silesia - he became the head of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Social Insurance Hospital in Zabrze. He was the organiser and for many years the head of the 2nd Department of Internal and Occupational Diseases at the Medical University of Silesia.

Co-founder of Polish occupational medicine, organiser of occupational medicine in Silesia. In his scientific and research work he focused on occupational diseases, especially on the problems of pneumoconiosis and heavy metal poisoning. He developed a radiographic pattern of pneumoconiosis, on the basis of which a group of international experts made the first international radiological classification of pneumoconiosis. He developed his own clinical classification of occupational lung diseases. He initiated a working group of the International Labour Office, which developed a definition and classification of pneumoconiosis under his chairmanship at the Bucharest International Conference on Atherosclerosis.

He initiated the establishment of specialised facilities that became the main centre for scientific clinical research on pneumoconiosis and the most advanced clinical occupational medicine unit in Poland. He organised an industrial health service at the Coke Chemical Industry Works and the Treatment and Research Centre for Occupational Diseases in Zabrze. He was the initiator of the Preventory for Miners in Szczawnica and the organiser of the Research Centre for Treatment of Occupational Respiratory Diseases in Szczawnica. Together with Prof. Bruno Nowakowski, he created the Institute of Occupational Medicine in the Coal and Steel Industry in Zabrze. He initiated the establishment of the University campus in Katowice-Ligota.

Author of nearly 160 publications, including the collective work "Outline of occupational diseases and occupational hygiene". - the first of its kind in the Polish literature - and the author of a monograph commissioned by the US National Library of Medicine.

Promoter in 17 doctoral theses and supervisor in 11 postdoctoral theses.

He co-founded the Silesian branch of the Polish Society of Internal Medicine and the Zabrze circle of the Polish Medical Society. On his initiative, the Polish Society of Occupational Medicine was separated from the Polish Medical Society, of which he was the first president.

He was an honorary member of the Polish Medical Association, the Polish Society of Occupational Medicine, the Polish Medical Aliance in USA, the Polish Society of Internal Medicine and the Polish Ergonomic Society.

Awarded with, among others: Commander's and Officer's Crosses of the OOP (The Order of Polonia Restituta), as well as the Golden Cross of Merit.

In 2008, lecture theatre A3 at the Faculty of Medicine in Katowice-Ligota was named after Professor Witold Zahorski and a plaque with his image was unveiled in its central part.

Marian ZEMBALA (1950–2022)

Graduate of the Wrocław Medical University (1974); specialist in general surgery first degree (1977), second degree (1981) and in cardiac surgery (1988); MD, 1979; MD PhD., 1992; Full Professor 1998; dr h.c. Medical University of Wrocław (2018).

At ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia), he was actively involved in, among other things, the Senate Committee for the Development of the Academy.

In 1985, he joined the Chair and Clinic of Cardiology in Zabrze as a WOK (permanent assistant) (Regional Cardiology Centre in Zabrze)and from 1987 as an assistant professor at the ŚAM. He soon began his duties at this unit as deputy head and then head of the clinic. In 1993, he became director of the Regional Cardiology Centre (now the Silesian Centre for Heart Diseases) in Zabrze. During his numerous internships, he worked in, among others: AM in Wrocław, Catholic University of Leuven, Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills (New Jersey), University of Aachen, Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, Broussais Hospital in Paris.

Prof. Zembala's scientific and research interests focused on cardiology and cardiac surgery as well as transplantation and circulatory failure. He assisted in the first heart transplants performed in Poland, heart and lung transplants and procedures to implant an artificial heart into a human being. He initiated lung transplantation in Poland. He led teams performing simultaneous heart and kidney transplants. He continuously searched for new medical solutions, e.g. he initiated the use of two internal thoracic arteries in coronary artery bypass grafting procedures, and in cooperation with Prof. Paweł Buszman, he was the first in Poland to introduce intraoperative mapping and surgical treatment of paroxysmal ventricular tachycardia in ischaemic heart disease.

Prof. Zembala participated in the launch of the Department of Cardiac Surgery in Katowice-Ochojec. Creator of many international programmes, e.g.: programme for transplantation and treatment of cardiac insufficiency, programme for surgical ablation in permanent atrial fibrillation, Polish-Dutch programme "Polen-Project" (scientific and training cooperation in paediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery).

Prof. Zembala's published scientific output totals over 2,000 articles, books, editorials, chapters, papers, abstracts and translations. He has carried out extensive teaching activities: he has educated medical students, postgraduate students, doctors in the course of specialisation, and each year he has given guest lectures and performed demonstration surgeries in many research centres at home and abroad. Many scientific papers have been written under his supervision. He received the Congratulatory Diploma for Supervisor of the Best Scientific Paper "The Best Prize" at the International Review of Medical Scientific Papers in Houston.

As a politician, he held the office of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Poland in the government of Ewa Kopacz and, among others: he was the Chairman of the Scientific Council to the Minister of Health, national consultant in cardiac surgery. One of the founders of the Foundation for Cardiac Surgery Development in Zabrze.

For many years he was a member of many scientific societies, including: Polish Society of Cardiology, Society of Polish Surgeons, Polish Society of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, Polish Society of Transplantation, Polish Physiopneumonological Society, European Society of Cardiovascular Surgery, European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, World Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery, International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, International Society of Cardio-Thoracic Surgeon, Cardiomyopathy Association of Great Britain and Ireland.

Professor has been repeatedly awarded among others: scientific prizes and distinctions of the Ministry of Health and Consumer Protection for outstanding scientific achievements and contributions to the development of cardiac surgery in Poland, distinctions of the European Council of Hospital Directors for organisational and managerial activities (Maastricht, the Netherlands), Congratulatory Letter from the Rector of Utrecht University for developing a Polish-Dutch cooperation programme.

Honoured with, among others: Knight's Cross of the OOP (The Order of Polonia Restituta), Silver Cross of Merit, Ukrainian Order of Merit Third Degree, Medal of the Commission of National Education, Papal Medal "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice", badge "For exemplary work in health care", title "Honorary Hippocrates 2016", Diamond Laurel of Skills and Competence, Medical Laurel, award of the Society of Friends of Silesia in Warsaw and Medal of the 100th anniversary of regaining independence. Honorary Citizen of Zabrze. In 2021, he was awarded the title of Honorary Professor of SUM (Medical University of Silesia).

Jerzy ZIELIŃSKI (1914–2000)

Graduate of the University of Lvov (1937); specialist in surgery (1952) and in urology (1952); MD, 1949; MD, PhD., 1963; Docent 1963; Ass. Professor 1972; Full Professor 1985; dr h.c. Medical University of Silesia (ŚAM) (1990).

He began his work in hospitals in Lvov. During the war, as a result of racial persecution, he lost the opportunity to practice medicine and was forced to change his name to Jerzy Zieliński. He moved to Warsaw and took part in the Warsaw Uprising. From 1945 he lived in Kraków, where he took up a job at the Urology Department under Professor Emil Michałowski. He then moved to Upper Silesia, where he initially worked in hospitals in Bytom and Katowice. In 1955, he joined the Medical University of Silesia: he was appointed an assistant professor at the Second Surgical Clinic in Zabrze (he headed the Urological Ward). After moving the Clinic to Katowice (1959), he became the head of its Urology Ward and then (1964) the head of the ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia) Urology Clinic, which he organised from scratch. He contributed to the establishment and opening of independent urology departments in Zabrze, Bytom, Tarnowskie Góry and Bielsko.

In 1981-1982 he served as Vice-Chancellor for the Development of the Medical University of ŚAM (Medical University of Silesia), and was removed from this post at the beginning of martial law as part of the repressions applied to activists of the Solidarity Trade Union.

Co-creator of today's face of Polish urology. His main areas of scientific and research activity were urological oncology and urological traumatology, in particular the treatment of traumatic injuries and strictures of the urethra. He worked out the epidemiology of urolithiasis in Upper Silesia and Poland. He established the management of fresh traumatic urethral injuries associated with pelvic fracture and acute diabetic renal papillary necrosis. He contributed to modernising and improving the results of treatment of urogenital cancers.

The Professor's scientific output includes 215 publications, including in foreign journals. He was the editor and main author of the first "Urological Oncology" in Poland and co-author of several textbooks. Promoter of 9 doctoral dissertations and supervisor of 2 habilitations.

He was actively involved in Polish and foreign scientific urological societies: Polish Urological Society (president), Polish Medical Society, European Urological Society, International Urological Society. Honorary member of several Polish and foreign urological scientific societies.

He was a member of the board of directors of the Civic Committee against Cancer and president of the Upper Silesian Intercollegiate Academic Society "Universitas" (founder). He was active in the Society of Lovers of Lvov and the Club of Catholic Intelligentsia.

For many years he was a provincial consultant in urology in the Katowice Province and a member of the National Specialist Team in urology.

Awarded with, among others: Knight's Cross of the OOP (The Order of Polonia Restituta). He received the Archbishop of Katowice Metropolitan Award "Lux ex Silesia".

He initiated the construction of the Doctors' House in Katowice, and an auditorium was named after him.

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