Take a tour of the Gdańsk Medical University

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About the University

The Medical University of Gdańsk is one of the largest medical universities on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea and is one of the most modern institutions of this kind in Poland. The University continues a several centuries long tradition of the natural and medical sciences of Gdańsk Gymnasium (Gymnasium Gedanense, set up in 1558, and later renamed as Academic Gymnasium, Gymnasium Academicum sive Illustre, Atheneum Gedanense).

Between the years of 1935 and 1939, the School of Practical Medicine (Die Staatliche Akademie für Praktische Medicin) functioned in Gdańsk and was turned into Medical Academy (Medizinische Akademie) during the World War II (1939-1945).

From the very beginning University has been going through years of constant and dynamic development, with many new departments and clinics coming into life. The University`s medical equipment has been modernised and some new buildings have been built, including the library, the building that houses the Departments of Basic Sciences, and the student campus.

Currently the University has 3417 students in three Faculties: The Faculty of Medicine ( Div. Of Dentristry, Div. of Nursing, Div. of Public Health, English Division), the Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology and the Faculty of Pharmacy ( Div. of Labolarory Medicine), PhD students. The length of studies at the Medical University of Gdańsk varies from six years for students of medicine and five years for those of biotechnology or pharmacy.

The basic teaching at the Medical University of Gdańsk is carried out by 847 academic teachers, over 120 of them being professors. The University campuses and its own academic facilities are located in the region of Dębinki Street (Faculty of Medicine), and in Hallera Street (Faculty of Pharmacy). Additionally, there are three State Teaching Hospitals affiliated to the School.

The biggest Teaching Hospital (No 1) of the Medical University of Gdańsk (Academic Clinical Centre) is situated in several buildings in the region of Debinki Street and Smoluchowskiego Street. Built between 1908 and 1927, the buildings originally housed a town hospital, and later the aforementioned School of Practical Medicine. Today, Teaching Hospital No 1 has 27 clinics.

The hospital buildings are being systematically modernised and the Departments are furnished with modern diagnostic and therapeutic equipment. The construction and equipment of the brand new building housing the Institute of Radiology and Radiotherapy has been completed. The Institute has at its disposal a magnetic resonance imaging instrument as well as the new generation of equipment for radiotherapy, computed tomography and ultrasonography. In recent years the Institute of Cardiology has been organised and 3 new modern operation theaters for cardiosurgery have been built. Buildings have been expanded and modernised to meet the increased needs of haematology, anaesthesiology, intensive care and of the central admissions ward.

State Teaching Hospital No 2 is located in the buildings of the former hospital of maternity and women's diseases which was founded in 1912. Today, Hospital No 2 includes the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and has 400 hospital beds.

Some of the University clinics are located in district hospitals in Gdańsk: the Regional Hospital (Copernicus Hospital), the Hospital of Infectious Diseases, and the Psychiatric and Neurological Health Care Centre in Gdańsk.

Today, the Medical University of Gdańsk encompasses 32 clinics, each clinic not only being involved in teaching activities for undergraduate and graduate students, specialistic professional training of young physicians, but also providing highly specialised diagnostic and therapeutic services for the citizens of Gdańsk and neighbouring towns. In fact, the whole population of the country's central northern region benefits from our University's services, which include, for example, open heart surgery (over 1000 operations per year) and bone marrow and kidney transplantation.

The Medical University of Gdańsk conducts scientific research in clinical disciplines and biomedical sciences, concentrating in particular on the following:

experimental & clinical nephrology and theoretical & practical problems connected with transplantation,
cytogenetics of neoplasms, immuno-oncology & oncohematology,
hypertension & experimental and clinical diabetology; nutrition,
liver pathophysiology,
surgical and endoscopic treatment of digestive tract diseases,
experimental & clinical studies of pancreas inflamation,
endocrine surgery
diagnostics of circulatory system diseases, and surgical treatment of cardiovascular disorders,
neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, neurosurgery and physiopathology of the central nervous system,
radiology & diagnostic imaging (using MRI, CT and USG),
cell & molecular biology, molecular diagnostics,
environment and human body hygiene,
chromatography in modelling drug actions,
improvement of the form of drugs, and synthesis of new drugs,
metabolism and its regulation.

An important role in the research and teaching activities of the University is played by the Main Library, whose set of books amounts to 551,500 volumes, and the number of titles of domestic and foreign journals totals 660. The Library provides a computerised, scientific medical information from several world data bases. Didactic, scientific, and patient-oriented therapeutic activities of the Medical University of Gdańsk are developed in cooperation with numerous well-known foreign universities and hospitals.