Portraits of Polish Medicine awarded

18.10.2023

Specialists representing the Medical University of Gdańsk and the University Clinical Centre, the MUG’s clinical hospital, won in two of the three categories of this year’s edition of the Portraits of Polish Medicine competition. By the decision of the Award Chapter, Dr. Habil. Tomasz Stefaniak, Director of Medical Affairs of the UCC, received the highest award in the Health Market Manager category, while Prof. Witold Rzyman, Head of the Department and Clinic of Thoracic Surgery of the MUG – in the Health Market Doctor category. The awards were presented on 16th of October 2023, during a gala closing the first day of this year’s Health Market Forum. On behalf of the University authorities, congratulations were conveyed to the winners by Prof. Edyta Szurowska, Vice-Rector for clinical affairs of the MUG.

from the left: Jakub Kraszewski, Dr. Habil. Tomasz Stefaniak, Prof. Witold Rzyman, Prof. Edyta Szurowska, Dr. Habil. Jacek Wojarski

In the Health Market Manager category, two equivalent Portraits of Polish Medicine were awarded. The winner of the plebiscite ex aequo with Maciej Miłkowski, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Health, was Dr. Habil. Tomasz Stefaniak, appreciated for introducing a common and accessible system for monitoring adverse events at the UCC and his own system for analytical assessment of clinic activity. The implemented innovations allowed the MUG’s clinical hospital to, among others, increase patient safety and improve profitability through quality-oriented policies.

Dr. Habil. Tomasz Stefaniak

– It’s teamwork. I’m glad that there are so many places in Poland trying to do more than the minimum. Every day our entire team comes a little closer to the ideal – said Dr. Habil. Tomasz Stefaniak, Director of Medical Affairs of the UCC.

Awarding the award in the Health Market Doctor category to Prof. Witold Rzyman, the competition jury appreciated the multidisciplinary concept of care for patients with lung cancer developed by him, from screening through diagnostics to the implementation of the so-called tailor-made treatment. The Professor also initiated the creation of the Lung Cancer Unit at the University Clinical Centre, which made it possible to accelerate the process of diagnosing the disease and selecting the appropriate therapeutic method.

Prof. Witold Rzyman

– Medicine is no longer an individual field; it’s a team field. Our team is made up of many important personalities. Without teamwork, it is impossible to manage a cancer patient properly – emphasized Prof. Witold Rzyman, Head of the Department and Clinic of Thoracic Surgery of the MUG.

The most important event in the health market was the first liver transplant in Polish transplantology, after the division of an organ taken from one donor, carried out at the Department of General, Transplant and Liver Surgery of the Medical University of Warsaw. Distinction in this category was awarded to two simultaneous lung and heart transplant surgeries performed at the University Clinical Centre in Gdańsk. The statuette was received on behalf of Gdańsk specialists by Dr. Habil. Jacek Wojarski from the Department of Cardiac & Vascular Surgery of the Medical University of Gdańsk, coordinator of teams performing surgeries.

Dr. Habil. Jacek Wojarski

– The combination of the team’s experience and the environment that UCC turned out to be, resulted in the fact that after many years we were able to return to the activities we had previously undertaken. The niche of patients requiring simultaneous heart and lung transplantation still exists. I am glad that transplantology in our hospital has developed to such an extent – said Dr. Habil. Jacek Wojarski from the Department of Cardiac & Vascular Surgery of the MUG.

More information about the seventeenth edition of the competition, as well as a video recording of the awards gala, is available on the Polish-language website of Rynek Zdrowia (Health Market) journal.

photos by Małgorzata Gałązka-Sobotka, Ph.D./Lazarski University, PTWP