Joanna Maria Kopcińska (born 2 January 1967) is a Polish politician currently serving as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

for the

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( , PiS) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Refo ...

political party.

Career

A doctor by profession, Kopcińska graduated from the

Medical University of Łódź Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

in 1997. She completed postgraduate studies at the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in the fields of health care organization, management, and economics (2002), as well as public and environmental health (2003). In 2017, she completed a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

. She worked as a university lecturer and co-founded the Senior Health Academy. She is a member of the Polish Society of Public Health, the Polish Society of Hospital Infections, the District Medical Chamber, and the Social Council of the Władysław Biegański Voivodeship Specialist Hospital in Łódź. In the 2010 local elections, Kopcińska unsuccessfully ran for a position on the

Łódź City Council The Łódź City Council is the governing body of the city of Łódź in Poland. The council has 37 elected members elected every five years in an Local election, election by Voting, city voters through a secret ballot. The election of City Counc ...

as a part of the

Civic Platform The Civic Platform (, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a Centre-right politics, centre-right liberal conservative political party in Poland. Since ...

party. She was elected to the city council in 2011, replacing . In August 2013, she and a group of other city councilors left Civic Platform, and they formed their own group, titled "Łódź 2020". The same month, she was elected chairwoman of the city council as a result of support from the opposition Law and Justice and the

Democratic Left Alliance Democratic Left Alliance may refer to: * Democratic Left Alliance (Poland) The Democratic Left Alliance () was a social democracy, social-democratic list of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. It was formed on 9 July 1991 as ...

. In 2014, she left the position of chairwoman and became the Law and Justice candidate for the mayor of Łódź. She received 22.89% of the total votes, losing the election to Hanna Zdanowska of Civic Platform. In 2014, Kopcińska was elected to the 5th term of the Łódź Voivodeship Sejmik as a member of Law and Justice and eventually became vice chairwoman of the Sejmik.In the 2015 parliamentary election, she ran for the Sejm Constituency no. 9 seat on the Law and Justice list (initially as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, but she later joined Law and Justice). She won the election and became a member of parliament in the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

's 8th term. In the Sejm, she became vice chairwoman of the and joined the in 2016. In 2016, she became head of Law and Justice's Łodz

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

branch. In 2019, Kopcińska became spokesperson for the First Cabinet of Mateusz Morawiecki and Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister. She won the election for the 9th term of the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 23 and 26 May 2019. It was the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) we ...

for the Łódź district.

Personal life

Kopcińska is married and has a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kopcińska, Joanna Living people 1967 births MEPs for Poland 2019–2024 Law and Justice MEPs Women MEPs for Poland