Professor Piotr Smolewski, MD, PhD, died suddenly aged 62 on 19 March 2023 at his home in Lodz. He was born in Lodz on 25 December 1960, and his whole professional life was devoted to medicine in this city. In 1985, he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the Medical Academy of Lodz. At the same Faculty, he received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1991 and Habilitation degree in 2002. In 2007, the President of the Republic of Poland awarded him the academic title of Professor of Medical and Health Sciences.
Professor Smolewski was a specialist in Internal Medicine and Hematology. He held many positions at the Medical University of Lodz. He was the Head of the Department of Experimental Hematology which he co-founded in 2008. Moreover, he acted as the Vice-Dean for Teaching at the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, and was the Regional Consultant in Hematology for the Lodz Voivodeship. Professor Smolewski participated in a number of foreign research internships, the most important of which was his double stay at the Brander Cancer Research Institute, New York Medical College, New York, USA, as part of a grant from the US National Health Institute. He cooperated there with the world-renowned scientist of Polish origin, and co-inventor of new research methods in flow cytometry, Professor Zbigniew Darżynkiewicz. The knowledge and experience gained at this Research Institute enabled him to further develop this diagnostic and research method back in Poland and to create the Cytometry Laboratory in our Department.
In recognition of his achievements, Professor Smolewski was elected President of the Polish Society of Cytometry. He published several hundred original and review papers, including 158 indexed in the PubMed database. Publications to which he contributed included the most prominent scientific journals, including the ‘New England Journal of Medicine’, ‘The Lancet Haematology’ and ‘Cancers’. Their leading topics concerned lymphoid malignancies, flow and scanning cytometry methods, prognostic factors in cancerous blood diseases, caspase inhibitors, activity and mechanisms of action of new anticancer drugs, as well as apoptosis and cell cycle disorders in cancer. Professor Piotr Smolewski was a world-class expert in the field of cytometry, authoring applications of laser scanning cytometry in the study of apoptosis and other aspects of cell biology. He developed a new method for nucleolus assay, cell nucleolar morphometry, a technique for staining cells and tissues for use in space, a method of so-called differential fluorescence, and a technique for applying fluorogenic caspase inhibitors as markers.
Professor Piotr Smolewski was the supervisor of several doctoral and dozens of Master’s theses in nursing, midwifery and medical analytics. He was also the supervisor of one habilitation dissertation, a reviewer of many doctoral and habilitation dissertations, and the supervisor of specialization in Family Medicine for a number of primary care doctors. Moreover, he was the supervisor of specialization in internal medicine and hematology and a teacher of many doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists and medical analysts.
For his scientific, teaching and organizational activities, he was awarded the Medal of the 65th Anniversary of Medical Higher Education in Lodz, the Golden Cross of Merit, and many awards from the Rector of the Medical University of Lodz and Poland’s Minister of Health.
Professor Piotr Smolewski was an outstanding physician and scientist, a respected academic, a boss adored by his colleagues, and a good man. He passed away suddenly leaving his wife Elisabeth, his son Paul and daughter-in-law Julia in deep sorrow and grief. He was buried at St Adalbert’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Lodz, Poland.