- Email: [email protected]
Biographical memoir: Andrew Szczeklik 29 June 1938–3 February 2012
Vascular Pharmacology 56 (2012) 185–186
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Vascular Pharmacology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/vph
Biographical memoir: Andrew Szczeklik 29 June 1938–3 February 2012
Andrew Szczeklik was born in Kraków on June 29, 1938 in the family of Edward Szczeklik, the famous Polish professor of medicine. He attended the Nowodworski College, a well-recognized school wherein, just to name the most famous students, John III Sobieski – the king of Poland who won the Battle of Vienna – and the writer Joseph Conrad were educated. After graduation and completing a College of Music, he decided to become a physician. In 1961, he received his medical diploma from the Medical Academy of Kraków. During his residencies and postgraduate studies, he visited the USA and Sweden. His early professional career took place in Wrocław, where his father chaired the Department of Internal Medicine. At that time in Krakow there was no place for the academicians who refused to join the Communist Party. He defended his doctorate thesis and habilitated in enzymology, and then he returned to Krakow in 1972 to become the youngest Head of the Department of Internal Medicine. Since that time his medical research remained focused on pulmonary and cardiovascular medicine. Being interested in the protease–antiprotease system, he worked on antitrypsin deficiency in chronic lung diseases. At the same time, he witnessed the discovery of the mechanism of platelet function inhibition by acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin). Biological pathways of lipid mediators remained his favorite topic of research up to his last days. In 1977, shortly after synthesis of prostacyclin, which was discovered only a year before in Sir John Vane's laboratory, Andrew Szczeklik and Richard Gryglewski tested this novel prostanoid on themselves. They described a potent vasodilatory effect, which added to the initially described inhibition of platelet aggregation. Stable analogs of prostacyclin, like iloprost or prostaglandin E1 remained an important mode of pharmacotherapy for critical limb ischemia, and their beneficial effects were confirmed by meta-analyses. Andrew Szczeklik's work on aspirin hypersensitivity has led to another breakthrough in understanding of this particular type of disease. Again co-working with Richard Gryglewski, he put forward a hypothesis that a common variant of asthma, aggravated by the ingestion of aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, has no immunological mechanism. In this type of asthma, attacks were precipitated by the inhibition of doi:10.1016/j.vph.2012.02.013
prostaglandin biosynthesis, instead of allergy to the drug. Thus, a huge class of anti-inflammatory drugs turned out not to be tolerated by about 20% of adult asthmatics, due to inhibition of arachidonic acid cyclooxygenase. By coordinating the network of academic hospitals all over the Europe, Andrew Szczeklik popularized his experience on aspirin hypersensitivity. Due to his vivid collaboration with colleagues in many countries worldwide, these patients are by now correctly diagnosed and managed. The last decade of his research focused on the non-invasive diagnosis of respiratory disorders. He introduced sophisticated tools, such as mass-spectrometers, into clinical practice. Quantification of arachidonic acid metabolites pushed forward our knowledge on the mechanisms of action of cysteinyl leukotrienes. As evidenced many times, the same mediators turned out to play an important role in the regulation of the heart rhythm and are related to coronary heart disease. Death has interrupted his research activities in a midway. Andrew Szczeklik always supported young scientists. He especially enjoyed their inventive minds, and was always eager to support their development with his experience and advice. He taught us, his younger colleagues, that research had to be pursued with courage and reflection. We were often astounded by his eidetic memory, which allowed him to perfectly recall the papers he had read a couple of years before or to remember discussions made in the past. Our chats with him frequently proved to be seeds of future projects. While making notes, always with a pencil in a pocket notepad, he used to say we should not limit our studies to a single narrow topic, since we risked missing discoveries. He was extremely successful in overcoming barriers of bureaucracy and administrative inertia, which often come across in everyday research activities. Andrew Szczeklik admired classical music. In one of his latest papers, he looked for the psychological background of asthma, in collaboration with psychiatrists estimating anxiety, depression, neuroticism. As the Chair of the Department, he regularly organized musical events for inpatients, inviting both professional performers and students of the College of Music. Among his most favorite pieces were Mozart's Andante, Divertimento in D major, and Weber's Adagio. He strived to share his enthusiasm for regular physical activity such as hiking or Nordic walking with his patients. The aim of a recent project was to explain the mechanisms by which patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease can improve their quality of life and extend the walking distance by a regular training. This study was carefully designed to give insight not only into the metabolic effects of ischemia–reperfusion, but also to look at the transcriptome of circulating leukocytes and subpopulation of peripheral blood stem cells. By a randomized comparison of two training schemes, either with a sub-maximal pain or interrupted at the first sign of ischemia, the study will revise the current recommendations for rehabilitation at the molecular level.
186
M. Sanak, R. Nowobilski / Vascular Pharmacology 56 (2012) 185–186
Science, and medicine in particular, was a frequent subject of our talks, but his discussion topics were much more broad and diverse. In his book “Catharsis: on the art of Medicine”, and the subsequent, but not yet published in English “Kore, on patients, diseases and quest for the spirit of Medicine” Andrew Szczeklik gave testimony of his deep understanding of current problems in modern Medicine. It is hardly a coincidence that the last book he worked on will be entitled “Immortality”.
Marek Sanak Roman Nowobilski Corresponding authors. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. Sanak), [email protected] (R. Nowobilski).
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Vascular Pharmacology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/vph
Biographical memoir: Andrew Szczeklik 29 June 1938–3 February 2012
Andrew Szczeklik was born in Kraków on June 29, 1938 in the family of Edward Szczeklik, the famous Polish professor of medicine. He attended the Nowodworski College, a well-recognized school wherein, just to name the most famous students, John III Sobieski – the king of Poland who won the Battle of Vienna – and the writer Joseph Conrad were educated. After graduation and completing a College of Music, he decided to become a physician. In 1961, he received his medical diploma from the Medical Academy of Kraków. During his residencies and postgraduate studies, he visited the USA and Sweden. His early professional career took place in Wrocław, where his father chaired the Department of Internal Medicine. At that time in Krakow there was no place for the academicians who refused to join the Communist Party. He defended his doctorate thesis and habilitated in enzymology, and then he returned to Krakow in 1972 to become the youngest Head of the Department of Internal Medicine. Since that time his medical research remained focused on pulmonary and cardiovascular medicine. Being interested in the protease–antiprotease system, he worked on antitrypsin deficiency in chronic lung diseases. At the same time, he witnessed the discovery of the mechanism of platelet function inhibition by acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin). Biological pathways of lipid mediators remained his favorite topic of research up to his last days. In 1977, shortly after synthesis of prostacyclin, which was discovered only a year before in Sir John Vane's laboratory, Andrew Szczeklik and Richard Gryglewski tested this novel prostanoid on themselves. They described a potent vasodilatory effect, which added to the initially described inhibition of platelet aggregation. Stable analogs of prostacyclin, like iloprost or prostaglandin E1 remained an important mode of pharmacotherapy for critical limb ischemia, and their beneficial effects were confirmed by meta-analyses. Andrew Szczeklik's work on aspirin hypersensitivity has led to another breakthrough in understanding of this particular type of disease. Again co-working with Richard Gryglewski, he put forward a hypothesis that a common variant of asthma, aggravated by the ingestion of aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, has no immunological mechanism. In this type of asthma, attacks were precipitated by the inhibition of doi:10.1016/j.vph.2012.02.013
prostaglandin biosynthesis, instead of allergy to the drug. Thus, a huge class of anti-inflammatory drugs turned out not to be tolerated by about 20% of adult asthmatics, due to inhibition of arachidonic acid cyclooxygenase. By coordinating the network of academic hospitals all over the Europe, Andrew Szczeklik popularized his experience on aspirin hypersensitivity. Due to his vivid collaboration with colleagues in many countries worldwide, these patients are by now correctly diagnosed and managed. The last decade of his research focused on the non-invasive diagnosis of respiratory disorders. He introduced sophisticated tools, such as mass-spectrometers, into clinical practice. Quantification of arachidonic acid metabolites pushed forward our knowledge on the mechanisms of action of cysteinyl leukotrienes. As evidenced many times, the same mediators turned out to play an important role in the regulation of the heart rhythm and are related to coronary heart disease. Death has interrupted his research activities in a midway. Andrew Szczeklik always supported young scientists. He especially enjoyed their inventive minds, and was always eager to support their development with his experience and advice. He taught us, his younger colleagues, that research had to be pursued with courage and reflection. We were often astounded by his eidetic memory, which allowed him to perfectly recall the papers he had read a couple of years before or to remember discussions made in the past. Our chats with him frequently proved to be seeds of future projects. While making notes, always with a pencil in a pocket notepad, he used to say we should not limit our studies to a single narrow topic, since we risked missing discoveries. He was extremely successful in overcoming barriers of bureaucracy and administrative inertia, which often come across in everyday research activities. Andrew Szczeklik admired classical music. In one of his latest papers, he looked for the psychological background of asthma, in collaboration with psychiatrists estimating anxiety, depression, neuroticism. As the Chair of the Department, he regularly organized musical events for inpatients, inviting both professional performers and students of the College of Music. Among his most favorite pieces were Mozart's Andante, Divertimento in D major, and Weber's Adagio. He strived to share his enthusiasm for regular physical activity such as hiking or Nordic walking with his patients. The aim of a recent project was to explain the mechanisms by which patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease can improve their quality of life and extend the walking distance by a regular training. This study was carefully designed to give insight not only into the metabolic effects of ischemia–reperfusion, but also to look at the transcriptome of circulating leukocytes and subpopulation of peripheral blood stem cells. By a randomized comparison of two training schemes, either with a sub-maximal pain or interrupted at the first sign of ischemia, the study will revise the current recommendations for rehabilitation at the molecular level.
186
M. Sanak, R. Nowobilski / Vascular Pharmacology 56 (2012) 185–186
Science, and medicine in particular, was a frequent subject of our talks, but his discussion topics were much more broad and diverse. In his book “Catharsis: on the art of Medicine”, and the subsequent, but not yet published in English “Kore, on patients, diseases and quest for the spirit of Medicine” Andrew Szczeklik gave testimony of his deep understanding of current problems in modern Medicine. It is hardly a coincidence that the last book he worked on will be entitled “Immortality”.
Marek Sanak Roman Nowobilski Corresponding authors. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. Sanak), [email protected] (R. Nowobilski).