Prof. Jerzy Szaflik MD (Pharm)
Prof. Jerzy Szaflik MD is the contemporary father of the Warsaw school of ophthalmology.
His former students include four professors and six associate professors, he has been the promoter of 26 doctoral theses and reviewer of many doctoral and post-doctoral dissertations.
Seventy three doctors have acquired specialisations in ophthalmology under his care at the ophthalmology hospital he runs.
Prof. Jerzy Szaflik successfully applies innovative surgical techniques in corneal transplantology, cataract removal, glaucoma treatment and complicated conditions of the eyeball.
He is one of the first ophthalmological microsurgeons in Poland. He was the author of the first Polish textbook dedicated to the technique of extracapsular cataract extraction operations and popularised this technique in Poland.
He was one of the first microsurgeons to introduce modern phacoemulsification of cataracts and femtosecond laser removal of cataracts in Poland.
He has carried out over 20,000 operations and several times as many diagnoses, treatments and long processes of saving patients from a life of darkness.
He was the initiator, organiser and first director of the Eye Tissue Bank in Warsaw and of the Ophthalmology Hospital which he ran for 22 years.
Prof. Jerzy Szaflik’s scientific achievements are:
- over 380 publications, including 71 in foreign periodicals, as author or co-author,
- 325 appearances and lectures at domestic and international medical conventions and scientific conferences,
- author or co-author of 16 textbooks and chapters in textbooks for students,
- development of 3 patents,
- 10 expertises and scientific opinions.
He is also editor-in-chief of two national periodicals (Okulistyka, Kontaktologia i Optyka Okulistyczna) and member of the editorial boards of three national periodicals (incl. the scientific quarterly “Klinika Oczna”, organ of the Polish Ophthalmological Society).
Prof. Jerzy Szaflik MD is a member of the following national and international Scientific Associations:
Polish Society of Ophthalmology (as Chairman from 2004-2010),
American Academy of Ophthalmology,
European Contact Lens Society of Ophthalmologists,
International Council of Ophthalmology,
Deutsche Ophthalmologische Gesellschaft,
European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons.
Prof. J. Szaflik is also a member of the Clinical Sciences Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) and served as vice-chairman of the Central Commission for Academic Degrees and Titles in its 2013-2016 term.
He has received many important awards and distinctions for outstanding scientific, educational and organisational work in the field of medicine.
The most important of these include:
- Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta,
- Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta,
- Award of the Capital City of Warsaw for 2002,
- Albert Schweitzer Gold Medal awarded by the World Academy of Medicine,
- National Education Commission Medal,
- Gold Medal for long-term service awarded by President Bronisław Komorowski,
- Gloria Medicinae Medal awarded by the Polish Medical Association,
- Laudabilis, the highest distinction of Warsaw Medical Chambers,
- Honorary Badge of the Polish Blind Association,
- Medal of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Prof. J. Szaflik, guided by his supreme motto expressed as “SERVING PATIENTS IS AN UNENDING MISSION”, has throughout his professional life successfully combined his work as a doctor with his organisational and managerial activity. He has held many positions and functions in the health service with great success.