Professor Janusz Kłoczko

Professor Janusz Kłoczko was born on 30 October, 1949 in Augustow, Poland. His parents were teachers who actively participated in the fight for Poland’s independence during World War II. Janusz’s father, Jan Kłoczko, took part in the defensive fighting from 1 September, 1939, as deputy commander of a CKM (Heavy Machine Gun) platoon with the rank of cadet. He was arrested in April 1940 by the Gestapo and imprisoned in various concentration camps including Działdowo, Oranienburg, and Mauthausen-Gusen until May 1945. After returning to Augustow, he worked as a teacher and served as principal of the Augustow Vocational High School.

The Professor’s mother, Maria Kłoczko, was a member of the Home Army, a history teacher and a tourist guide for PTTK in Augustow. She was awarded many medals for her activities, including the Partisan Cross, the 1945 Victory and Freedom Medal, the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Home Army Cross, and the Veteran of Struggles for Independence Badge. In 2014, Maria Kłoczko was honored by the Augustow City Council with a medal awarded for Merit to the City of Augustow.

Professor Janusz Kłoczko was the eldest of four siblings and the only one to choose a path related to medicine. His brother Marek, an electronics engineer but also an economist, translator, specialist economic expert, and politician, served for many years as director and president of the National Chamber of Commerce. His sister Maria, a translator, took a job at one of Poland’s largest construction companies, and his sister Zofia, the youngest of the four, followed a professional career first in the tourism industry and then, for many years, in a managerial position at the Ministries of Economy, then Development.

Janusz Kłoczko graduated from elementary and high school in Augustow and, in 1967, began his medical studies at the Medical University of Bialystok (AMB). The Professor met the love of his life at university, his wife Teresa, who at the time also worked at the Medical University of Bialystok. Two daughters were born to them, Catherine and Bogna, and he later became the proud grandfather of five grandchildren: Amelia, Sophie, Francis, Dominic, and Wanda.

Professor Kłoczko developed his scientific special interests during his medical studies. After graduation, he took up a postdoctoral position in the Department of General and Experimental Pathology at the Medical University of Warsaw, headed by Prof. Karol Buluk (an outstanding pathologist and the discoverer of factor XIII of the coagulation system in platelets), who inspired in the young medical graduate a passion for research into disorders of the hemostatic system. These topics remained Professor Kłoczko’s main scientific interest even after he moved to a full-time assistant position at the AMB Hematology Department in 1974. In 1976, he obtained Io, and in 1980 a IIo specialization in internal medicine. In 1979, his scientific work led to him obtaining a doctorate in medical science, with the title of his dissertation being: ‘Plasma desmofibrillar activity in some proliferative diseases of the hematopoietic system’. In 1980, he was appointed to the position of Assistant Professor in the AMB’s Department of Hematology.

In January 1990, by virtue of the Resolution of the Council of the Medical Faculty of the AMB, Professor Kłoczko was awarded, for his entire scientific work and his dissertation entitled: ‘Factor XIII — stabilizing activity, transamidase activity and concentration of ‘a’ and ‘b’ subunits and its plasma substrates in selected disease states’, the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the field of medicine — internal diseases.

On 18 October, 1995, the President of the Republic of Poland conferred on Janusz Kłoczko the title of Professor of Medical Sciences. In 1996, I received the position of Associate Professor in the Department of Hematology of the AMB, and the following year Janusz was appointed Head of that Hematology Department. In 2002 and 2003, he obtained the titles, respectively, of Specialist in Hematology and Specialist in Angiology.

Scholarship trip, Manchester, United Kingdom (1981–1982)

Scientific activities

Professor Janusz Kłoczko’s scientific research mainly concerned diseases of the hematopoietic system and disorders of coagulation and fibrinolysis. He was the author or co-author of 486 publications and conference reports. The number of papers with IF and MNiSW scores is 96 and 145, respectively; the total IF is more than 426, and the MNiSW score is 2,934.5. Citations in the Web from Science Core Collection database: 8,653, h-index from the database: 25.

Among his publications, Professor Kłoczko was the author of the chapter ‘Standard of management of venous thromboembolism’ in the book ‘Standards in hematology’, published by the Polish Society of Haematologists and Transfusiologists (PTHiT), Volume 2001, and co-author of the chapter: ‘Outline of hemostasis and thrombogenesis’ in the book ‘Surgery of the peripheral arteries and veins’, ed. W. Noszczyk, PZWL 1998. In total, he authored or co-authored six chapters in academic textbooks.

During the course of his career, he was the supervisor of 16 dissertations for the degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences, and was the supervisor of three postdoctoral dissertations and nine undergraduate and graduate student theses. Professor Kłoczko was also a reviewer and member of the Commission of 29 doctoral theses, 12 habilitation theses, and a reviewer of 16 applications for the title of Professor. For his scientific activity, he received the team Io award of the Minister of Health and Social Welfare seven times, and team and individual scientific awards of the Rector of the Medical University of Bialystok on 20 occasions. He received a diploma of recognition from the Rector of the University of Bialystok as winner of the Top 10 UMB Impact Factor 2016 ranking.

Professor Kłoczko also received training at the following foreign centers:

The Professor was the director of eight research projects and two NSC promoter grants.

ISH–EAD 2002 Congress, Cairo, Egypt

Clinical activities

From the outset of his work in the Department of Hematology, Professor Kłoczko attached the highest importance to working with patients. Sharing duties between the Department of Hematology, Allergology, the Emergency Room, and the Intensive Care Unit, he acquired considerable clinical experience.

Having in 1997 assumed the position of Head of the Department of Hematology at the AMB, he held this post continuously until June, 2020. During this time, the Professor and his team actively participated in the Association of the Polish Adult Leukemia Group (PALG), the Polish Lymphoma Research Group (PLRG), and the Polish Myeloma Group. He was the principal investigator in numerous (more than 130) multi-center national and international clinical trials evaluating new drugs used in angiology and hematology.

As head of specialization, he promoted 15 specialists in internal medicine, seven in angiology, and six in hematology. He repeatedly served as a member of the Specialization Commission for Internal Medicine, the Central Examination Commission, and the Central Accreditation Commission for Angiology.

Organizational activities

It is impossible to list all the functions that Professor Kłoczko held, among others, in the structures of universities, scientific and professional societies, and the units of medical self-government. It was his work in medical self-government and the recognition of his colleagues that resulted in the fact that for many years, the Professor served as Vice-Chairman of the Regional Medical Chamber of Bialystok (1997–2001) and later as President of that Chamber (2009–2018). From 2001 until the end of his professional career, he was a member of the Bioethics Committee at the Regional Medical Chamber of Bialystok. For many years (2000–2014) he served as a provincial consultant in hematology. He was also a member of the Committee on Clinical Hematology (1992–1996) and from 1996 the Committee on Hemostasis and Microcirculation of the Committee on Clinical Pathophysiology of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

He was also a founding member of the Polish Society of Angiology (1993–2007), a member of the Audit Committee of the PTHiT General Board (2002–2004) and, from 1997, Chairman of the Board of the Bialystok Branch of PTHiT.

For his organizational activities in support of the healthcare system of the region and the country, he received the Golden Cross of Merit from the President of the Republic of Poland in 1998, the medal of the Polish Society of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, the medal of merit for the Lubelskie Voivodeship awarded by the Marshal of the Lubelskie Voivodeship in 2016, and the medal of merit for the Podlaskie Voivodeship awarded by the Marshal of the Podlaskie Voivodeship in 2019.

Life outside work

Janusz Kłoczko’s prolific professional activity was remarkably well balanced by an uncanny ability to use his remaining time for rest. However, rest in the Professor’s understanding did not mean sitting on the couch in front of the TV, quite the opposite. Rest was whatever gave the Professor pleasure, no matter how much effort it would take. A smile on the Professor’s face was the end of a two-day care for his five grandchildren, whom he immensely loved to spoil. Working for hours on his allotment, growing countless and elaborate vegetables and fruit, and making preserves from them, brought him great satisfaction. From his travels as part of numerous delegations, he brought back original seeds unobtainable in Poland, which he himself cultivated on his allotment. From his early teenage years, Janusz Kłoczko was an active sportsman. His hobbies included sailing, swimming, skiing (and in his youth other winter sports such as speed skating), and fishing. He sailed the Great Mazurian Lakes together with his clinical team on many occasions. Every year, he and his friend Andrew would get together for a three-day fishing trip on Lake Wigry. He tried to go skiing at least once a year with his family or friends. He had many devoted friends with whom he celebrated all family occasions. He also did not forget his fellow students. He repeatedly organized alumni reunions, including the last one in September 2023 for the 50th anniversary of his graduation.

From myself

Skiing, Zwardoń, 1980s’

I had the honor and pleasure of accompanying Professor Janusz Kłoczko in his professional work for a quarter of a century. He was an open person with whom one could talk not only about professional life, but also about private life. The Professor was able to build a team that not only wanted to meet at the Clinic performing daily duties, but also to spend their free time together. The whole team was glad to work for and cooperate with the Professor, and I will not forget his smile nor what he often told us: “Functions, professional and scientific titles are important, even very important. But the most important thing is that we are doctors, and should help the sick as best we can”.

Professor Janusz Kłoczko tried to take care of his patients until the last days of his life, and like all of us, it has been difficult for them, too, to come to terms with his passing.

Professor Janusz Kłoczko passed away on 24 November, 2023. Requiescat in pace…