II Chair of Internal Diseases of Jagiellonian University’s Medical College has a patron

On the 23^rd of September, the II Chair of Internal Diseases at the Medical College of Jagiellonian University at ul. Skawińska 8 will be named after professor Andrzej Szczeklik. The professor was not only an outstanding medical doctor and a renown scientist, but also a friend to many artists and a writer – he wrote a number of essays on the border of medicine and art, compiled into three volumes, Katharis. O uzdrowicielskiej mocy natury i sztuki [Catharsis: On the Art of Medicine], Kore. O chorych, chorobach i poszukiwaniu duszy medycyny [Kore: On Sickness, the Sick and the Search for the Soul of Medicine] and Nieśmiertelność. Prometejski sen medycyny [Immortality: A promethean Dream of Medicine], which have been very popular in Poland and translated into foreign languages. It is no coincidence that after a new inscription over the main entrance will be revealed, guests, including many writers, will proceed to the lecture hall where artistic performances will take place. A programme hosted by Bronisław Maj will feature Anna Szałapak, Zbigniew Preisner, Jerzy Trela, and Jacek Wójcicki. The hospital, called the “hotel of dreams” by Piotr Skrzynecki, is considered an unusual place. This is the only clinic with a statue devoted to its patient in front of the building and with a white piano in its lecture hall. Professor Szczeklik had a distinct approach to medicine as a field related to art which constantly tries to surpass the limits of cognition just like art does. This attitude is still abided by at the clinic, especially because all ten professors and PhDs employed there are his students.

Pic. Jerzy Sawicz (from private archive of professor Andrzej Szczeklik)