Stefania Jabłońska (born Szela Ginzburg; 7 September 1920 – 8 May 2017) was a Polish physician and professor specializing in dermatology. She worked at the Medical University of Warsaw.

Stefania Jabłońska
Stefania Jabłońska with Alfred Marchionini
Born
Szela Ginzburg

(1920-09-07)7 September 1920
Died8 May 2017(2017-05-08) (aged 96)
NationalityPolish
Alma mater
Known for
Seminal contributions to medicine
Awards1985  Robert Koch Prize
Scientific career
FieldsMedicine (Dermatology)
Institutions

In 1972, she theorized the association of human papilloma viruses with skin cancer in epidermodysplasia verruciformis.[1][2]

In 1978, Jabłońska and Gerard Orth at the Pasteur Institute discovered HPV-5 in skin cancer.[3] Jabłońska was awarded the 1985 Robert Koch Prize.[4]

She is a recipient of the National Order of Merit and the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.[5]

Biography

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She was born as Szela Ginzburg in 1920 in Mogilev, present-day Belarus, and at the age of six moved to Warsaw.[6] Later known as Stefania Jabłońska, she earned her high school diploma in 1937 in Warsaw, where she began to study medicine in the same year at the Medical University of Warsaw. In 1938 she moved to the University of Lviv and a year later to Kyrgyz Technical University, where she graduated in 1942 with a medical degree. She then served two years in the military.[7]

She specialized in dermatology, worked for a year at the Soviet Science Academy in the Department of Pathology, and in 1946 in the Department of Dermatology of the Medical University of Warsaw. With a grant from the World Health Organization in 1949, she spent a year at the University of Pennsylvania.[8][9]

Jabłońska earned a Doctor of Science in 1950. In 1951 she qualified as a professor. Jabłońska was appointed to head dermatology at the Medical University of Warsaw in 1954. She became professor emeritus in 1990. She died on 8 May 2017, age 96.[1]

Awards and honors

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A partial list of Jabłońska's honors and awards.

State decorations

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Ribbon bar Award or decoration Country Date Place Note
  National Order of Merit   France 1998 France's highest order of merit.
  Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta   Poland 1991 One of Poland's highest orders.

Orders and awards

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Award or decoration Country Date Place Note
Robert Koch Prize   Germany 1985 Awarded in recognition of outstanding contributions to medical science.

Membership

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Honor/award Location Date Notes
Membership in the Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium   Brussels, Belgium 1986
Membership in the Committee on Immunology of the Polish Academy of Sciences   Warsaw, Poland 1986
Membership in the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina   Halle, Germany 1964
Membership in the committee of the International League of Dermatological Societies   London, UK 1964 First Pole elected.

Honorary

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Non-dermatological

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Honor/award Location Date Notes
Honorary membership in the Royal Medical Society   Edinburgh, Scotland 1984
Honorary membership in the College of Physicians of Philadelphia   Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States 1983
Honorary membership in the American College of Rheumatology   Atlanta, Georgia, United States 1981
Honorary membership in the Argentine Medical Association   Buenos Aires, Argentina 1972

Dermatological

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Honor / award Location Date Notes
Honorary membership in the American Dermatological Association   United States 1964
Honorary membership in the American Society for Investigative Dermatology   United States 1974
Honorary membership in the Association des Dermatologistes et Syphilidologues de Langue Francaise   France 1964
Honorary membership in the Argentinian Dermatological Association   Argentina 1980
Honorary membership in the Austrian Dermatological Association   Austria 1959
Honorary membership in the Belgium Dermatological Association   Belgium 1966
Honorary membership in the Berlin Dermatological Association   Germany 1956
Honorary membership in the Brazilian Dermatological Association   Brazil 1965
Honorary membership in the British Dermatological Association   United Kingdom 1958
Honorary membership in the Bulgarian Dermatological Association   Bulgaria 1964
Honorary membership in the Canadian Dermatological Association   Canada 1984
Honorary membership in the Danish Dermatological Association   Denmark 1964
Honorary membership in the Finnish Dermatological Association   Finland 1966
Honorary membership in the French Dermatological Association   France 1964
Honorary membership in the German Dermatological Association   Germany 1962
Honorary membership in the Georgian Dermatological Association   Georgia 1974
Honorary membership in the Greek Dermatological Association   Greece 1964
Honorary membership in the Hungarian Dermatological Association   Hungary 1969
Honorary membership in the Indian Dermatological Association   India 1969
Honorary membership in the International Society of Tropical Dermatology 1982
Honorary membership in the Israel Dermatological Association   Israel 1960
Honorary membership in the Italian Dermatological Association   Italy 1972
Honorary membership in the Japanese Dermatological Association   Japan 1980
Honorary membership in the Kiev Dermatological Association   Ukraine 1974
Honorary membership in the Mexican Dermatological Association   Mexico 1978
Honorary membership in the Mexican Academy of Dermatology   Mexico 1978
Honorary membership in the Munich Dermatological Association   Germany 1959
Honorary membership in the Norwegian Dermatological Association   Norway 1974
Honorary membership in the Pacific Dermatological Association 1974
Honorary membership in the Swedish Dermatological Association   Sweden 1971
Honorary membership in the Styrian Dermatological Association   Austria 1978
Honorary membership in the Tchekoslovak Dermatological Association   Czechoslovakia 1967
Honorary membership in the Thuring Dermatological Association   Austria 1964
Honorary membership in the Yugoslavian Dermatological Association   Yugoslavia 1957
Honorary membership in the Venezuela Dermatological Association   Venezuela 1963

References

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  1. ^ a b "Zmarła prof. Stefania Jabłońska, wybitny dermatolog i stypendystka WHO". Polsat News (in Polish). 9 May 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  2. ^ Crissey, John Thorne; Lawrence C. Parish; Karl Holubar. (2013). Historical Atlas of Dermatology and Dermatologists. Boca Raton: CRC Press. p. 178. ISBN 978-1-84184-864-8.
  3. ^ Human papillomaviruses. World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer. 2007. ISBN 978-92-832-1290-4.
  4. ^ "Holders of the Robert Koch Prize since 1960". Robert Koch Foundation. Archived from the original on 25 November 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  5. ^ "Prof Dr Stefania Jabłońska profile". AcademiaNet. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  6. ^ "Zmarła profesor Stefania Jabłońska, wybitny dermatolog o światowej sławie" (in Polish). 9 May 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  7. ^ "Prof. Dr. Stefania Jablonska" (in Polish). Archived from the original on 17 July 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  8. ^ Kucharz, Eugene Joseph (February 2018). "In memoriam Professor Stephanie Jablonska". Journal of Scleroderma and Related Disorders. 3 (1): 3–5. doi:10.1177/2397198318755211. ISSN 2397-1983. PMC 8892879.
  9. ^ Grzybowski, Andrzej; Pawlikowska-Łagód, Katarzyna (1 November 2023). "Stefania Jabłońska (1920-2017): A giant in 20th century dermatology". Clinics in Dermatology. 41 (6): 772–780. doi:10.1016/j.clindermatol.2023.09.011. ISSN 0738-081X. PMID 37722550. Retrieved 6 June 2024.