Youth Meetings with Medicine

29.11.2024

Nearly 700 students from schools in the Tricity and the Pomeranian region participated (both online and in person) in the 14th edition of the Youth Meetings with Medicine (MSM). MSM is a joint initiative of the Medical University of Gdańsk (MUG) and the District Medical Chamber in Gdańsk, specifically the head of the Division of Preventive Medicine and Education at the MUG, Prof. Tomasz Zdrojewski, and the Vice-President of the Medical Chamber, Roman Budziński, M.D., Ph.D.

The first speakers on the stage of the Atheneum Gedanense Novum were Emilia Ługowska and Piotr Kozioł, 4th grade students from the VIIIth High School in Gdańsk. They presented a talk entitled Motylki, which focused on eating disorders. They mainly discussed bulimia and anorexia, disorders particularly affecting their peers. – In these social diseases, social media plays a significant role in promoting their development, as they create a certain image of our bodies. Today, all young people, regardless of gender, can fall into a spiral that leads to addiction to social media and causes eating disorders, said Emilia Ługowska. The VIIIth High School speakers also showed images from social media of individuals suffering from anorexia. Among them was a young girl whose battle with the illness ended in suicide.

The second lecture was delivered by Dr. Habil. Jacek Siewiera, M.D., Colonel, Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland and head of the National Security Bureau. The presidential minister presented a talk titled The First Weeks of the Pandemic in Light of the Mission to Italy. Jacek Siewiera shared his experience of traveling to Bergamo, a city that became the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. The head of the National Security Bureau went to a hospital there with several doctors to assist in the fight against the spreading pandemic. In addition, he observed how the Italian state functioned during a crisis.
– As one of the few countries, we gained access to valuable knowledge. We later used the experiences from our stay in Italy here at home, and our country shared this knowledge with several other nations, Siewiera said.

The conference concluded with a lecture by Dr. habil. Tomasz Smiatacz, head of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the MUG and the regional consultant in infectious diseases, entitled Is it worth getting vaccinated? Dr. Habil. Smiatacz answered this question with a strong affirmative. He also spoke about the tremendous role vaccines have played in the development of humanity.