Professor Henryka Małdyk, a world-renowned expert in rheumatology, founder of the Polish School of Rheumatology, and an educator and teacher of many generations of internists and rheumatologists passed away on August 31st 2017.
Prof. H. Małdyk was associated with the Institute of Rheumatology since 1963, initially working as an assistant professor in the Department of the Locomotor System Diseases headed by Prof. Włodzimierz Brühl. At this Department since 1969 she managed the Division of Connective Tissue Diseases. In March 1972, on the basis of her postdoctoral thesis Psoriatic arthritis – clinical study, she was habilitated as a senior lecturer. She became an associated professor in 1982 and obtained the title of full professor in 1990. When Prof. Brühl retired, Prof. H. Małdyk became head of the Department of Connective Tissue Diseases. In the years 1989–1994 she was Deputy Scientific Director at the Institute of Rheumatology. She retired in January 1995 and remained a member of the Scientific Council and Chair of the Bioethics Committee at the Institute of Rheumatology.
In her professional interests Prof. H. Małdyk focused on new methods of diagnosing of amyloidosis associated with rheumatic diseases. She also devoted much of her attention to studies of systemic inflammatory connective tissue diseases such as psoriatic arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, and vasculitis. These studies resulted in her numerous publications both in Polish and foreign scientific journals. She was author of the first reports on psoriatic and rheumatoid arthritis treatment with cyclophosphamide. Her postdoctoral thesis, devoted to psoriatic arthritis, was repeatedly quoted in the Polish research literature, being for years the only comprehensive Polish source of knowledge of this disease. During the last years of her work at the Department of Connective Tissue Diseases, Prof. H. Małdyk focused her attention on Sjögren’s syndrome. She was the author of 140 scientific papers; including 20 textbook chapters and 24 international publications. Her works were and are still repeatedly cited
Since 1976 Prof. H. Małdyk was a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Reumatologia, supporting members of the editorial staff with her extensive knowledge. During this time, most recently as an Honorary Reviewer, she reviewed a significant number of articles submitted for publication, contributing valuable comments and teaching authors the art of scientific writing. During her work at the Institute of Rheumatology she was responsible for the training of successive generations of doctors. She participated in the training of students, rheumatologists, and internists, and she was also the head of doctoral studies, a promoter of six doctoral dissertations, and a tutor of one habilitation dissertation. She was head or a member of many examination committees.
Since the beginning of the 1970s, Prof. H. Małdyk made a great contribution to the life of the scientific community, being involved in the work of numerous teams, committees, and scientific societies. She was a member of the National Consultant Team for Internal Diseases, the National Consultant Team on Rheumatology, the Scientific Advisory Board at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Committee on Pathophysiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Central Commission on Degrees and Titles. In the years 1974–1996 she was a member of the Main Board of Polish Internists Society where, as a chair of the Rheumatology Section, she organised 13 conferences for internists on the subject of rheumatology. In the years 1972–1980 she was a Secretary of the Main Board of the Polish Rheumatology Society (Polskie Towarzystwo Reumatologiczne – PTR), then a member of the Board, and in the years 1988–1996 was President of the PTR. At that time, she was also a member of the Medicines Research Committee of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR). She received honorary membership of the Polish Society of Internal Medicine and the Polish Rheumatology Society. Prof. H. Małdyk received many state awards for her work, including Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Krzyż Oficerski Orderu Odrodzenia Polski – one of the highest Polish civilian awards given for outstanding achievements in the fields of education, science, sport, culture, and art.
In her private live, the Professor was a very warm, cordial person, keenly interested in the problems of her colleagues and their families. Despite her retirement she was still active working as a clinician in an outpatient clinic, taking active part in the life of the rheumatologist community. She was constantly expressing the same enthusiasm for her work with the patients and serving her colleagues with help and advice. She was a great authority for many generations of medical doctors, not only rheumatologists, but medics of all specialties. Her hobby was belles-lettres. It seems that, like for Pollyanna, the favourite fictional character of the young Prof. H. Małdyk, playing “The Glad Game” became a life motto for her.
Paying our last tribute to Professor Henryka Małdyk, we express our deep regret and pay respect not only to an excellent physician, scientist, and creator of the Polish school of rheumatology, but also to the wonderful woman we all knew and revered. She will stay in our grateful memory.
Anna Jędryka-Góral, Marzena Olesińska