At the time of the Warsaw Uprising, hematology had not yet been fully recognized as a separate medical specialty, but it was already in the minds of the people who developed it and whose talents I later rubbed should be remembered, since they are no longer alive.
Hematologists in the Uprising
Published Aug. 1, 2023 08:00
FOT. ADAM STEPIEN / AGENCJA GAZETA
Przemyslaw Czerski took part in the Uprising as a teenage boy, and after the war, among other things, proved that bone marrow transplantation involves the implantation of donor cells (paper in Nature). He was a world expert on the biological effects of microwaves. And he was also one of the pioneers of Polish genetics, founding the Genetics Department of the Mother and Child Institute in Warsaw.
After spending three years in the Pawiak prison, Maria Kopeć worked in the hospitals of the Śródmieście district during the Uprising. After the war, together with her husband Edward Kowalski, she created Polish coagulology and radiobiology, bringing these fields to world salons. She was a full member of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Edward Kowalski, originally a pharmacist, head of the pharmacy at Wolski Hospital, in the Uprising as a doctor (but he formally finished his studies in 1946) at the hospital in the Old Town. After the war, he co-founded the Institute of Hematology in Warsaw (he was head of the Department of Internal Medicine and the Center for Coagulation Disorders). He died suddenly at the age of barely 55, but in addition to his fundamental work on blood coagulation, he managed to raise a huge group of excellent doctors. Americans, appreciating his achievements, had an "Edward Kowalski lecture" at scientific conventions for years.
Izabela Krzemińska-Ławkowicz, during the Uprising, a doctor at Point 102 in Żoliborz. After the war, at the Institute of Hematology, she co-created the first Polish Atlas of Hematology with her husband Wlodzimierz Lawkowicz, or more precisely, she painted it with her own hands using watercolors (at that time there was still no good color photography).
Zofia Kuratowska took part in the Uprising as a teenage girl. After the war, as a hematologist, she was educated by Edward Kowalski. She discovered the site of erythropoietin production. She established the Hematology Clinic of the Medical Academy in Warsaw. She was also an active politician, Deputy Speaker of the Senate and Ambassador to South Africa.
Jan Raszek (nicknamed "Jar") a doctor of the Baszta regiment. Even before the war, in 1938 in Lviv, he made the world's first attempts at bone marrow transplantation. After the war, he was a professor and head of the Clinic at the Institute of Mother and Child, and later at the Medical Academy in Gdansk.
Witold Rudowski (alias "Prus") associated with the "Parasol" battalion provided assistance at the Infant Jesus Hospital. After the war, Director of the Institute of Hematology and head of the Surgical Clinic of the Institute.
When it was necessary to fight for Poland they supported those fighting, when it was necessary to work: THEY WORKED.
Wieslaw W. Jedrzejczak
