Waldemar Lech Olszewski (3 September 1931 – 8 November 2020) was a Polish lymphologist. His main area of study is the human

lymphatic system The lymphatic system, or lymphoid system, is an organ system in vertebrates that is part of the immune system and complementary to the circulatory system. It consists of a large network of lymphatic vessels, lymph nodes, lymphoid organs, lympha ...

. Clinical and research interests comprise

vascular surgery Vascular surgery is a surgical subspecialty in which vascular diseases involving the arteries, veins, or lymphatic vessels, are managed by medical therapy, minimally-invasive catheter procedures and surgical reconstruction. The specialty evolve ...

, transplantation,

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

and surgery of the lymphatic system and

immunology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...

. He discovered fundamental processes in human tissues connected with function of the lymphatic system. Olszewski published around 600 publications, seven scientific books and is a member of numerous medical bodies.U- PubMed - NCBI">

Early life

Waldemar Lech Olszewski was born on 3 September 1931 in

Piastów Piastów is a town in central Poland in the Masovian Voivodship, within the Warsaw metropolitan area, with 23,331 inhabitants (2006 est). With 3963 persons/km², it is the second most population density, densely populated township in Poland (afte ...

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

into a family of landowners, his father was a linguist and a banking specialist. He received his

General Certificate of Education The General Certificate of Education (GCE) is a subject-specific family of academic qualifications used in examination board, awarding bodies in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Education in the Crown dependencies, Crown dependencies and a few ...

in 1948 in Warsaw and undertook university studies, first in the Faculty of Law,

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well as 100 specializat ...

from 1948 to 1950 and then in the Faculty of Medicine at Warsaw University. Graduating in 1954, Olszewski passed the Board in Surgery exams in 1962 and received his PhD in 1962 and D.Science in 1968. From 1970 Olszewski was an associate professor at the Department of Surgery, the Medical Academy, and the Medical Research Center at

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...

in Warsaw. In 1978 he was made a full professor at the same centers, and chairman of the Clinical Department of Surgery, Ministry of Internal Affaires/Polish Academy of Science Hospital, Warsaw. Olszewski later worked at the Medical Research Center, Polish Academy of Sciences (Head of Dept) and Ministry of Internal Affaires Clinical Hospital, Warsaw, Poland (Chief Consultant). Olszewski was the father of one daughter. He died on 8 November 2020, at the age of 89.

Research

Olszewski received postgraduate training and carried out research studies at

Hammersmith Hospital Hammersmith Hospital, formerly the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, and later the Special Surgical Hospital, is a major teaching hospital in White City, London, White City, West London. It is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the ...

, London from 1962 to 1963, then at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

in Boston, United States of America, from 1968 to 1970. He worked at City Hospital, Warsaw, and then Dept. of Surgery, Medical Academy, and Medical Research Center, Warsaw as head of Dept. of Surgical Research & Transplantation and since 1997 as Chief of Clinical Department of Surgery, Ministry of Internal Affaires/Polish Academy of Sciences Hospital, Warsaw. Other professional positions include Visiting Professor at

Radiumhospitalet Oslo University Hospital, Radiumhospitalet () is one of the four campuses of Oslo University Hospital in Oslo, Norway, and is dedicated to cancer treatment. This part of the hospital is the most specialized hospital in Norway for cancer therapy and ...

, Oslo, (since 1976-), St. Bartholomew's Medical School, London (since 1994-), Research Officer

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

, Madras-Pondicherry-Benares, India (since 1992-). * Served as President of European Society for Surgical Research in 1977-78 * President of International Society of Lymphology in 1989-91 * President of Polish Society for Immunology in 1995-98 Olszewski served as a member of editorial boards of many international medical journals, including: * ''Lymphology'' (USA) * '' International Angiology'' (GB) * ''Central European Journal of Immunology'' (Poland) * ''Phlebolinfologia'' (Spain) * ''Cell Transplantation'' (USA) * ''Lymphatic Research and Biology'' (USA) * ''US-Chinese Journal of Lymphology and Oncology'' (China) * ''Indian Medical Research'' (India) * '' Annals of Transplantation'' (Poland). Main scientific contributions include designing and introducing into clinical practice the surgical lympho-venous shunts (1966), discovery of spontaneous rhythmic lymphatic contractility in humans (1980), proving that bacterial factor is responsible for development of human limb lymphedema (1994), introducing low-dose, long-term penicillin administration for prevention of chronic dermatitis and lymphangitis in Asian countries (1996), detecting the phenomenon of non-specific elimination of cell grafts (1990), preservation of tissues for transplantation in dehydrating sodium chloride (2003).

Awards and honors

* 1975 International Society of Lymphology (USA) * 2005

Doctor Honoris Causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

Universita di Genova, Italy * 2006 National Lymphedema Network USA * 2006 Lymphatic Research Foundation NIH (USA) * 2006 Polish Academy of Sciences * 2007

American Society of Lymphology The Lymphology Association of North America, formerly known as the American Society of Lymphology, is a non-profit organization based in Kansas City, Missouri. The society provides current information and resources for professionals and patients in ...

USA * 2012 Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Phlebologie Ratschow Medal * 2013 Bene Merito Medal - by Polish Foreign Ministry for contribution to world medicine * 2013 Theodor Bilharz Research Institute * Awards of the Czech Medical Society-Purkynie Medal * Italian Surgical-Society-Carlo Erba medal Honorary member of: * The Society of Polish Surgeons * Polish Transplantation Society * Japanese Surgical Society * Korean Medical Society * Argentinian Medical Society * Italian Society of Lymphology * Brazilian Society of Angiology

Books

* * * * *

References

External links

Waldemar Lech Olszewski Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olszewski, Waldemar 1931 births 2020 deaths Lymphology University of Warsaw alumni Physicians from Warsaw Polish vascular surgeons