History highlights

The existing parish hospital, located in today’s Ton Cinema building, received more equipment. Three extremely poor, crippled people, flops, those unable to earn money or to beg for bread were admitted to the hospital – as long as none of them had an infectious disease, while those capable of delivering service for the church were supposed to be of old age [...] All the women were expected to be old, elderly, not vain. In 1768, the Branicki family also founded the Sisters of Mercy monastery with an infirmary for 12 patients. Five sisters capable of minding the sick, who they would care for, give them food and medicine, draw their blood, dress their wounds and giving them with all attention were brought to the monastery. In the Jewish district, commander Branicki set up a hospital reporting to the Jewish religious community.

The doctor occupied the apartments in the right wing of the Palace, where the Museum of the History of Medicine and Pharmacy of the MUB is located today. The school, later transformed into the Midwifery Institute, was one of the first institutions on Polish lands to educate future midwives. It continued its operations until 1837. Initially it was located in the Branicki Palace, and later in a separate building near the palace. The program was two semesters long. During the first semester of theory study, female students listened to lectures on women's anatomy, pregnancy, normal and pathological births, and practiced on a mannequin. The second semester was dedicated to practice. The School had a maternity clinic with eight beds. Dr. Michelis described his future midwife as “...not sickly, but rather healthy, strong, not too old, not too thick or fat ... her fingers should be straight, hand should be slim, the skin on it soft and delicate: which is why such women should beware of hard work, or doing a big laundry. Among all of these, the most valuable is the quality of a midwife or the nature of a good life and a life of unblemished opinion. Above all, they should beware of wreaking havoc and of liquor, as these are the most evil of immoralities.”

Michelis authored three books on obstetrics. His ties to Bialystok continued until his death in 1820.

In 1922, Dr Konrad Fiedorowicz took over the hospital management and initiated a true revolution in the field in Białystok. Thanks to his actions, small municipal hospitals were moved to a single location and merged together under a common name - St. Roch. The selected location is the area of the former Tsar army barracks at the then Piwna Street (now Maria Skłodowska-Curie Street). To this day, it is the clinical centre of Białystok, housing university hospitals as well as a provincial hospital. A modern Jewish hospital named after Isaac Zabłudowski was also working in Białystok since the 1870s. It was located at Aleksandrowska Street (today, it is the Oncology Centre building at Warszawska Street). It took on the largest group of patients in Białystok who needed medical help, regardless of their religion. In 1902, another hospital was opened in the city at what is now ul. Warszawska 29. Initially it was managed by the Russian Red Cross. In 1920, the institution was taken over by the Mission of the American Red Cross, and by the Polish Red Cross in 1921. The hospital had 30 beds. The Polish Red Cross courses were held there, taught by such special faculty members as Dr Irena Białówna, Prof. Konrad Fiedorowicz and Dr Jan Walewski. In the 1950s, the building was still used for clinical functions, including a A temporary Clinic of Internal Diseases of MAB, run by Professor Jakub Chlebowski.

After the dissolution of the 9^th Army in mid-1916, the Bialystok Palace received some new inhabitants again. The main patient area of the German field hospital no. 126, called “the Castle”, was set up in the former ballroom, royal suites and dining room. Colonel Schmidt was the head doctor in charge. It was a hospital for less serious cases. The facility operated until the end of World War I. An interesting episode in the medical history of the Branicki Palace was a teaching hospital for the Institute of Noble Maidens. The Institute was established in 1836 and the Hetman’s residence was chosen for its headquarters. The hospital was small, with only 12 beds. It continued in existence until the outbreak of World War I.

Prof. Tadeusz Kielanowski, the first rector in the history of MUB, took up the difficult job of building a modern university in a city ruined during World War II. Professor Kielanowski brought the Lviv academic traditions from the John II Casimir University to Bialystok. He was an extraordinary figure, a conscious phthisiology doctor, founder of the first Polish helpline, and an excellent violinist. He allegedly decided to stay in Bialystok because of the beauty of the Supraśl pines.

In the academic year 1950/1951, the Medical Academy of Bialystok encompassed 7 Schools (School of Normal Human Anatomy, Biology with a Botanical Garden and a Healing Plants Garden, School of General Chemistry, Histology and Embryology, Physics, a Foreign Language Teaching Division, School of the Basics of Marxism-Leninism), a library and 1 clinic of Phthisiology. The University employed 7 independent researchers, 36 associate researchers, 15 laboratory workers and 88 administrative staff. 180 students were admitted to the University in its first academic year.

The words of the first Rector, Professor Tadeusz Kielanowski, turned out to be a prophecy. When he looked at his first students, he said: "I see future assistant professors, clinic managers, professors, scientific celebrities, doctors dedicated to their patients." One of the graduates, Prof. Tadeusz Januszko, was elected Rector of his Alma Mater many years later, and a lot of graduates took up management positions in clinics and schools.

Over the course of 70 years, the Medical University of Bialystok has greatly improved and extended the educational options for medical staff. More than 800 academic teachers are employed at the University for this purpose. Currently, the University offers 16 study programs at three Faculties, with 5300 students. 30,000 graduates have already left the Bialystok Alma Mater.

It was the cornerstone for building an entire campus, to incorporate the Teachers Training College building named Collegium Primum. The Academy had a huge area around the Palace at its disposal: from the entrance gate through the courtyards and the Palace garden to the Garden exit gate. However, the palace was largely destroyed during World War II. Until the 1960s, civil works and conservation works were carried out with the intention of restoring the former glory of the “Polish Versailles”.

To enlarge the school area, construction of new Departments started in 1951 for teaching theory of science – today, this is the Collegium Universum at ul. Mickiewicza 2. Residence Hall No. 1 was built in the neighborhood. In the initial years, students of the Białystok University were accommodated in provisional rooms in the left wing of the Palace, the Collegium Primum building and the School of Nursing. A temporary canteen and a student dayroom were set up at Collegium Primum. The designer of both buildings was Andrzej Nitsch, an engineer architect from Krakow, one of the leading figures in Polish healthcare architecture.

The campus of the Medical University of Bialystok has grown a lot during the 70 years of history. It now consists of 17 research and teaching buildings and two university hospitals. It is an example of a wonderful integration of history with modernity and nature, a combination of modern and contemporary architecture, and a green enclave for academics in the very centre of Bialystok.

According to “healthy spirit in a healthy body” principle, an Academic Sports Association was set up first, with Ryszard Kinalski as its chairman. Because the sports base was still under construction, students set up temporary volleyball and basketball pitches where the Palace gardens used to be, in the surrounding of destroyed sculptures. Park avenues were used as running tracks.

In the first academic year, 6 study clubs were established, including an Anatomy club (its members received their first scientific aids from archaeologists from the Jaćwierz barrows in the Suwałki region, who dug out some human skeletons for them to study), a Biology club, a Chemistry club, and even a Marxism club.

The 1950s were the period for commencement of such undertakings as the University choir, theatrical groups, music ensembles, the academic radio Radiosupeł, the ConieCo Student Club.

Of all the student organizations of the time, the strictly ideological University Board of the Association of Polish Youth was a strong leader, taking charge of political correctness among students.

Today at MUB, there are 17 student organizations, 90 Study Clubs, the Students’ Government and the Doctoral Students’ Government. The Vice Rector for Education is in charge of organizational activities of students, including the PhD level students.

The founder and guardian was Prof. Witold Sławiński - the first Head of the Biology Department of MAB, discoverer of mud deposits in the Supraśl river valley and a tireless promoter of the healing properties of Supraśl. The area of the Garden was divided into quarters, corresponding to the ecological habitats existing in nature. Basic plant species of pharmacopoeial relevance were collected in a single quarter, and separate plots were sectioned off the quarter for plant species used in treatment of conditions affecting a particular organ of the human body. The garden played an important educational role and developed the right attitude towards nature in students. The Garden was visited by numerous excursions of schoolchildren and by the people of Białystok. In 1961, on the eve of closing, there were 426 plant species growing in the Garden, and seeds were exchanged with other gardens in Poland and abroad. The Botanical Garden and Medicinal Plants Garden was closed down after the death of Professor Witold Sławiński. Specimens of such deciduous trees as walnut, Turkish hazel, American cherry, amur cork or several yew shrubs can be found in the former garden and Planty Park to this day. In the southern part of the area, not far from the Dorm, native varieties of pear, bear abundant fruit every year, resistant to fungal diseases and pests. As you walk down the road (extension of ul. Waszyngtona) towards the University, you can meet people picking delicious fallen pears every year; these varieties are no longer available on the market, and people taste them just to remember their great youth.

The editor-in-chief was Professor Stanisław Legeżyński, Rector of MAB. The journal has been in publication continuously since 1955, with a change of title in 2006 to Advances in Medical Science. It is available in international scientific journal databases, with an Impact Factor of 2.080. Apart from Advances, the Medical University of Bialystok has been publishing a journal entitled Progress in Health Sciences since 2011. It is among the rare journals in Poland to be published in English by the faculties of health sciences. Since 2017, Progress is available online.

The first issue of Medyk Białostocki was published in February 1956, and Henryk Miksza, a third year student of the MAB, became the editor-in-chief. But the first publishing effort did not last long, despite the commitment of the editorial team and the vast diversity of interesting topics covered. Only four issues came to light. The 2000 anniversary, Half a Century of the Medical Academy of Bialystok,was an opportunity to revive the publishing tradition, and Medyk Białostocki was resumed. Professor Krzysztof Worowski was one of the key initiators and the editor-in-chief. 2002 was another milestone in the history of the magazine. The Rector, Prof. Jan Górski, entrusted the position of Editor-in-Chief to Prof. Lech Chyczewski . The formula, layout and publishing interval changed, and a monthly magazine was now published instead of the Medyk quarterly. Marcin Tomkiel has held his editor-in-chief position since 2017. 173 issues of Medyk Białostocki were published during 2000-2019. Since 2003, double or triple issues have been offered, and the periodical also had some special anniversary editions.

The honored person was the Minister of Health, Dr Jerzy Dobromir Sztachelski, the initiator and co-founder of the Medical University of Bialystok. Between 1960 and 2020, the Medical University of Bialystok awarded these honorary doctorates to 45 people, 30 Polish and 15 foreigners. Among the latter, the largest group is Italian (3), American (3), followed by researchers from France (2), Germany (2), and England, Belarus, Japan, Scotland and Spain (1 each). The honorary doctorate was awarded to 40 doctors of various specialties, as well as to a biologist, biochemist, physiologist, pharmacist and the last President of Poland in Exile. Among the honored were Prof. Jan Nielubowicz (he performed the first kidney transplant in Poland), Prof. Zbigniew Religa (first heart transplant) and Prof. Stanisław Konturek (outstanding Polish physiologist). 14 honorary doctors are employed at the Białystok Alma Mater in Białystok, including Prof. Tadeusz Kielanowski, the first Rector of the Medical Academy of Białystok, Prof. Stefan Soszka - founder of the Białystok Gynecology and Obstetrics School, Prof. Tadeusz Kielanowski, Prof. Stefan Sokołowski and Prof. Karol Buluk - an outstanding pathologist and hematologist, discoverer of the 13^th factor of the platelet clotting system, Prof. Maria Byrdy - a pioneer of forensic medicine in Białystok, and Prof. Jan Górski - physiologist, Rector of the Medical Academy of Bialystok and the Medical University of Bialystok.

The MUB’s Honoris Causa Doctors are still present in the Branicki Palace. In 1989, a Gallery of MUB Honoris Causa Doctors was opened on the exquisite first floor, in front of the Magna Hall and the Rector’s Office. A portrait of each honored individual is traditionally exhibited in the Gallery during the award ceremony.

It was put in operation in December 1962. However, the investment plans were approved by Minister of Health Jerzy Sztachelski already in May 1954. The authors of the project were: Wanda Bieńkuńska, Leopold Koehler and Julian Sadłowski. Construction started in 1956. Due to its size, the new hospital was popularly termed “the Giant”, with its size equivalent to ¼ the size of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. At the same time, it was the second largest investment in north-eastern Poland (with only the Fasty Textiles Factory ahead) and one of the three largest hospitals under construction in Poland at that time. The hospital floor space was over 27,000 m2. The hospital had 700 beds, 12 operating theatres, 12 staircases, 9 lifts and 1500 patient rooms. Dr Jerzy Sztachelski, Minister of Health and promoter of the idea of setting up the Medical Academy of Bialystok, became the project sponsor. The hospital site had been used for clinical purposes since the interwar period. The first clinical unit to be set up in the new hospital was the First Surgery Department and Clinic under prof. Feliks Oleński.

He saw the need to set up a Dentistry division at the Faculty of Medicine, as there were not enough dentists in the Białystok province (at that time, our region was missing around 200 dentists). In 1967 the Department of Dentistry was set up and Dr habil. B. Horodyski from the Krakow Medical Academy was in charge of its organization. The first group of 30 graduates of Dentistry left the University in 1973. To date, more than 3300 graduates have completed their courses of study in Medicine and Dentistry . Initially, the teaching staff of the Dentistry Department was made up of dentists who came to Białystok from all over Poland. MAB subsequent graduates followed each year. In October 1971, Dentistry moved to a new seat at ul. M. Skłodowska-Curie 24a, with a lecture hall for 220 people. Dentistry is Bialystok is famous for high quality education offered to students, verified through the Medical and Dental Final Examinations where MUB graduates are ranked at the top. In 2018, the Medicine and Dentistry program ranked 1^st in Poland on the Larania Dentistry list of top dental schools (based on essential criteria for Dentistry students, where all data were obtained from the program students and graduates).

The Dentistry Department’s educational offer extends beyond the education of dentists. In 2009, a dental technology program was launched, to start teaching dental hygiene to students as of the academic year 2020/2021.

AMB authorities’ effort culminated in the opening of a Sports Hall at ul. Wołodyjowskiego. It was the largest sports hall in the Białystok province at the time.

The opening of a new Faculty, as Rector Prof. Konstanty Wiśniewski said, was largely the outcome of our initiatives based on multilateral assessment of the need for medical analyst training for the healthcare and medicine in Poland. We took part in the development of the curriculum for teaching the new profession. The first Dean, Prof. Władysław Gałasiński, was responsible for the Faculty organization. The colour of the Department is green. Five schools were established immediately: the School of Instrumental Analysis, Pharmaceutical Biochemistry, Physical Chemistry, Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry and Toxicology. The first program was medical analytics, and enrolment for the Pharmacy program began in 1986. 2012 was the year of the opening ceremony of the new Faculty building - the Euroregional Pharmacy Centre . Now there are three education programs offered here: Pharmacy, Medical Analytics and, since 2009, Cosmetology.

The decisions were made already in November 1974, when the Community Committee for the Construction of the Children’s Health Institute in Białystok was established. Its main goal was to raise money from the public and to start the actual construction. The Medical Academy of Bialystok started disseminating donation certificates among the public institutions and organizations, intended to help the hospital project. In 1975, the technical documentation was developed and the project location determined. 1982 was the start of construction of the Institute of Pediatrics, to be later renamed into the University Children’s Clinical Hospital of the Medical University of Bialystok. The hospital was designed for a total of 408 beds, as well as outpatient clinics, diagnostic facilities and rehabilitation wards.

It took fifteen years to build the hospital and install the necessary equipment. Stage 1 was completed in 1988, when the Ludwik Zamenhof Children’s Clinical Hospital was officially opened. The patron was a resident of Bialystok, a doctor, creator of the Esperanto language. The first Director position was taken by Professor Maciej Kaczmarski. The University authorities also launched an interesting initiative, inspired by actor Zygmunt Kęstowicz, to develop an Early Aid Centre for Mentally Handicapped Children called "Dać Szansę” [To Give a Chance], the first project of this type in the region.

The whole project was finished in 2003, including the Children’s Hospital and the so-called M block, or the Collegium Novum. Rector Professor Jan Górski said then: “The project cost was at 146 million PLN. As a result, we got one of the most advanced children’s hospitals in Poland, and an exquisite building for our laboratory diagnostics facilities, clinics and hospital pharmacy.”

It had to be built for the needs of the Department of Pathological Anatomy - nowadays Pathomorphology (originally located in the Collegium Primum) and the Department of Forensic Medicine. Prof. Ludwik Komczyński, Rector and founder of Bialystok’s Pathomorphology Department, initiated the Collegium project. The building was finally put into use in 1982. Inside, there is one of the largest lecture halls of MUB, named after Professor L. Komczyński.

In vitro fertilization procedure was done by a team of Prof. Marian Szamatowicz, Prof. Waldemar Kuczyński, Prof. Marek Kulikowski, Prof. Jerzy Radwan, Dr. Euzebiusz Sola, Prof. Sławomir Wołczyński. It the culmination of preliminary work, which took several years. It should be noted that the Bialystok Obstetrics and Gynecology School dates back to the 18^th century, when the Branicki Palace housed the School of Midwives founded by Dr Jakub F. de Michelis. However, it was only in 1953 when the Medical Academy of Bialystok established the Chair and Clinic of Obstetrics and Female Health Conditions under Prof. Stefan Soszek, that obstetrics and gynecology began to develop in north-eastern Poland. After thirty years, in the mid-1980s, out of 33 titular professors of obstetrics and gynecology in Poland, 11 worked at or contributed to the Białystok School. Moreover, the Białystok centre has certain achievements in prevention and treatment of reproductive system cancer, recognized in Poland and abroad. In 2019, the University Centre of Oncology was opened at the School, focusing on female genital cancer surgery according to state-of-the-art medical knowledge and practice.

In the nineteenth century, the Baroque decorations and parts of the walls were removed for the needs of the Institute of Noble Maidens, and one large hall was developed as a result. Its size has remained unchanged since. However, the Baroque decorations were not restored until the 1990s. Renovation works have been going on since 1987. On the basis of the Baroque patterns and photographic documentation, the eighteenth-century decoration of the Palace chapel was reinstated. The altar is adorned with paintings by Grzegorz Klimowicz and Igor Jańczuk. Renovation works were pending in the Auditorium at the same time, where the arrangement was based on Rococo convention. Pseudo-historical paintings were produced for the Auditorium by Dorota and Jerzy Łabanowski. The ceremonial opening of the renovated rooms took place in October 1990, during the inauguration of the academic year.

However, nurse training and education traditions date back to 1956, when the State School of Nursing started at the University. The new Faculty was established on the basis of the Nursing Ward, opened in 1999 at the Faculty of Medicine. The first research & teaching unit within its structure was the Department of Nursing, under the direction of Prof. Elżbieta Krajewska-Kułak. In 2003, the Faculty of Nursing was composed of 13 research & teaching units units. The following subjects were taught at the Faculty: nursing, obstetrics, physiotherapy, and public health. The first Dean was Prof. Jan Karczewski. In 2008, the Faculty was renamed into the Faculty of Health Sciences. In October 2011, courses started in the newly built Didactic-Scientific Centre of the Faculty of Health Sciences, with its state-of-the-art equipment. As at 2020, the Faculty organization is composed of 28 units, including 7 clinics, 18 departments, 2 independent laboratories and 1 study centre. At present, the Faculty offers 9 programs: Biostatistics, Dietetics, Radiological Technology, Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy with Phonoaudiology, Nursing, Obstetrics, Emergency Medicine, and Public Health.

Hence, the Faculty had to be renamed and to become the Faculty of Medicine with the Division of Dentistry and the Division of Medical Education in English. It was a key event for the Faculty and the University. Professor Jan Górski, Rector, said: "The past academic year in our university was a really busy year. Our proactive approach has brought measurable effects today; some of these effects are not yet visible, but they have anyway set a strong foundation for our future activity. At the Faculty of Medicine, we opened the Division of Medical Education in English. A group of Scandinavian students are now beginning their English-language course of study.”

Nearly 400 foreign students study medicine in English at MUB today. They come from over 30 countries worldwide. Throughout the fifteen years of the history of this program, over 350 graduates in 10 groups received their diplomas in medicine. English-speaking students take an active part in our annual Golden Scapula anatomy contests, with a lot of success. Moreover, many students in the program perform well as representatives of the University in various sports competitions. Our international community of English-speaking students are active outside the university, too. They organize football tournaments, celebrate their national holidays, and they perfectly fit into the local community, offering cultural enrichment to Bialystok and the whole region.

The University has always been making every effort for retrospection of its eighteenth-century glory. Hence the systematically planned renovation and conservation works. One of the most important periods was 2004-2007, when the original colors of the Palace facade - ochre and warm white – were restored, together with installed illumination. Now people can admire the beauty of the Palace not only during the day, but also at night. The scope of work also included replacement of window joinery, renovation of external doors, restoration of stairs and terraces, two domes of the main body of the building, and roofing replacement at the side wings. A new gravel surface was produced from the Palace garden side, with the Hanse-Grand technology. The Gothic walls in the left and right wing of the Palace were uncovered, secured, and opened to the public. The renovation covered the representative rooms, accessible to outside visitors, as well as the main staircase with a hall, the moving sculptures there, the side staircases, the Rector’s Study and Rector’s Office rooms, the library and the columned room. The construction and maintenance works were finally completed in 2007. These were the first renovation works on such a large scale since the post-war reconstruction of the Palace.

“We are among the best medical universities in Poland. Our University has truly solid foundations and a clear perspective for the future. Our success was possible due to our prominent development program, which we are all implementing by working decently on a daily basis.” The rapid growth of the Białystok Alma Mater culminated in the assignment of a University status in 2008. The pursuit for the name change started in 2006. On 22 March 2008, the Act signed by Lech Kaczyński, President of the Republic of Poland, on the change of name from the Medical Academy of Bialystok to the Medical University of Bialystok, came into force. The School Senate adopted a new statute, logo and banner of MUB. The University status was a response to contemporary challenges and a way to express the characteristics of its teaching activities and the advancement of its research.

The change of the University’s status streamlined the growth process even further. Today, the Medical University of Bialystok is a modern, dynamic public institution of higher education, with a mission to educate professional, responsible, modern medical staff and to carry out most advanced research internationally.

The rooms in the right wing of the Palace (where the Branicki family doctors lived in the 18^th century) were chosen as the Museum site. The Museum has become a kind of a medical heritage treasury for Białystok, presenting items donated by graduates of the Medical University of Bialystok and its medical institutions. The Museum exhibitions are devoted to the history of surgery, dentistry, pharmacy, anatomy, radiology, and ophthalmology. The Museum houses more than 10,000 exhibits dating back to the 18^th, 19^th and 20^th century. In 2018, the seventeenth-century Palace cellars, where the most recent exhibition of the history of the Branicki Palace was stored, were open to visitors. They are now a part of the historical path “A walk into the past of the Branicki Palace”, offered by MUB with the use of EU funding. The Museum is used as a research & education base for the history of medicine and pharmacy by MUB students. Medicine as a field of study is also promoted among students of other schools at Museum classes. For the local people and tourists who come to the region, the Museum offers a lot of cultural events, such as the Night of Museums, the European Heritage Days, The Podlasie Science and Art Festival, the European Academic Heritage Day, a film festival, and more. The Museum is highly popular among the academic community, the local people and tourists from Poland and abroad. It has already been visited by nearly 200 thousand people. The MUB Museum is also a co-founder of the Association of University Museums, an organization set up in Warsaw in 2014 to protect and promote the academic heritage in Poland.

In 2010, MUB opened one of the most advanced Experimental Medicine Centre with a prestigious GLP quality certificate in this part of Europe. Soon, the Innovative Research Centre was established; this one, in a group of six scientific centres in Poland, was awarded the title of National Leading Scientific Centre (KNOW). The research areas pursued by CBI include lifestyle diseases, a major threat to public health nowadays.

The ultra-modern Euroregional Pharmacy Centre at MUB is looking for new drugs and studies new methods of cancer and skin diseases treatment. In response to the global challenge of metabolic disease epidemics, the Clinical Research Centre was established. The aim of the CBD is to search for new biomarkers for early detection of lifestyle diseases and to discover effective targeted therapy methods based on innovative large-scale technologies. 2015 was the opening year of the Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Technology, where an innovative whole-body hybrid PET/MR scanner has been installed. The Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine is the latest MUB development and the first facility of this type in Poland. Here, staff are working on AI-based solutions to facilitate diagnostics for doctors of medicine. Artificial Intelligence is not just about robots. In the field of medicine, there are certain much more useful programs, algorithms and bioinformatics solutions for analysis of huge quantities of data (Big Data), to compare it later with information from other databases and to proposed optimized therapies on this basis.

The following strategic research projects are pending at the moment: innovative cohort studies focused on diagnosing lifestyle diseases in early stages of development (Białystok Plus, targeting 10k patients) and creating a reference model of personalized diagnosis of malignant tumors (Strategmed). The first Artificial Intelligence Centre in Medicine in Poland was opened at the MUB, with its operations based on the generation of high quality complex data sets from patients with lifestyle diseases. The MUB is a leader in high quality biobanking of biological material from patients suffering from lifestyle diseases.

In a competition by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education contest entitled “Initiative of Excellence - Research University”, MUB ranked among the top 20 universities in Poland. The international experts who were assessing the candidates recommended that the Polish government should financially support the innovative idea of HD Medicine, implemented at MUB in Podlasie.

The School is rapidly expanding its partnerships with international scientists representing global scientific and research centres, such as the Mayo Clinic, the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, USA, the Harvard Medical School, the University of Pennsylvania, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Universidad CEU San Pablo, Madrid, or China Agricultural University.