Andrzej Szczeklik
Andrzej Szczeklik (July 29, 1938 – February 3, 2012) was a Polish immunologist and doctor who worked at the Jagiellonian University School of Medicine in Kraków. He earned his medical degree at Jagiellonian University, did a one-year internship in the United States, and spent seven years at the Academy of Medicine in Wrocław. He also trained abroad at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Uppsala University, and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
In 1979 Szczeklik became head of the Department of Medicine at the Jagiellonian University School of Medicine. From 1990 to 1993 he was Rector of the Copernicus Academy of Medicine in Cracow, and from 1993 to 1996 he served as Vice-Rector of the Jagiellonian University for Medical Affairs.
His main research covered heart and lung diseases, aspirin-induced asthma, and chemical mediators in diseases of the circulatory and respiratory systems, especially eicosanoids. He helped establish the anti-clotting effects of aspirin and was regarded as an expert on aspirin-sensitive asthma. He lectured widely and taught as a visiting professor at several universities in the UK and elsewhere.
Szczeklik received many awards. He shared the Lancet Investigators Award in 1997 for asthma research, and in 1998 won the Prize of the Foundation for Polish Science for his work on aspirin. He was honored by numerous scientific societies and received honorary doctorates from several Polish medical schools between 1999 and 2003. In 2007 he became a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.
He published about 600 papers in leading journals such as Nature, The Lancet, and the New England Journal of Medicine, and co-edited medical textbooks. He wrote several popular books with philosophical reflections on life and medicine, including Katharsis (2002), Kore, and Nieśmiertelność (Immortality). He was a member of many scientific societies, including the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Royal College of Physicians.
He passed away on February 3, 2012, at the age of 73.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 03:30 (CET).