Professor Andrzej Szczeklik was born in Cracow on 29 July, 1938. He graduated from the Medical Faculty of the Cracow Academy of Medicine, and continued his education in the USA and Sweden. Now he is Head of the 2nd Internal Diseases Department of the Collegium Medicum at the Jagiellonian University. From 1990 to 1993 he was Rector of the Cracow Academy of Medicine; and from 1993 to 1996 Deputy Rector of the Jagiellonian University in charge of the Collegium Medicum. Since 1995 he has held the post of National Consultant for Internal Diseases. He is a member of the Papal Academy of Sciences, The Polish Academy of Sciences and other scientific and research associations in Poland and abroad. His professional interests include the cardiovascular diseases of the respiratory tract, the coagulation of the blood and medical genetics. He is the author of some 550 original articles and papers published mainly in international specialist periodicals, and the editor of books published in Poland, the USA and the United Kingdom. He has received many prestigious awards, including the 1998 FNP Award.