Directors

• Prof. Zygmunt Ruszczewski, PhD - 1967-1968
• Prof. Witold Karczewski, PhD - 1969
• Prof. Adam Kunicki, PhD - 1970-1974
• Prof. Mirosław J. Mossakowski, MD, PhD - 1975-2001
• Prof. Jan Albrecht, PhD - 2001-2002
• Prof. Zbigniew Czernicki, MD, PhD - 2002-2010
• Prof. Andrzej W. Lipkowski, PhD - 2010-2014
• Prof. Andrzej Ziemba (acting Director), PhD - 2014-2015
• Prof. Maria Barcikowska - Kotowicz, PhD - 2015-2019
• Prof. Leonora Bużańska, PhD, DSc - from 2019

 History of MMRI

The beginnings of our Institute date back to the 1950s. At that time the Faculty of Medical Sciences was established (1957) within the structures of the Polish Academy of Sciences, founded in the early post-war period after the Polish Academy of Learning was disbanded. The faculty included six scientific institutions that stem from universities, primarily Medical Academy of Warsaw. The Department of Pathomorphology which has existed since 1954 (since 1959 the Department of Experimental Pathology) was connected with Prof. Ludwik Paszkiewicz, an eminent pathomorphologist, a doyen of Polish pathological anatomy. It was the most numerous research group, and the Professor constituted the stature of the department. The Department of the Nervous System Histopathology was another unit which was managed by outstanding neurologists: Prof. Adam Opalski, and next Prof. Ewa Osetowska; the department was later renamed to the Department of Neuropathology. In 1959 the Department of Experimental Surgery (previously belonging to Medical Academy since 1946) was included in PAS and was headed by an eminent surgeon, clinician and experimenter, Prof. Jan Nielubowicz. The Department of Neurosurgery headed by Prof. Lucjan Stępień, one of pioneers of neurosurgery in Poland, has its origins in Neurosurgery Department of the Institute of Psychoneurology and it contributed to clinical base for physiological research at PAS. The Department of Physiology, organised and manager by the long-time Rector of the University of Warsaw and the first Rector of the Medical Academy, Prof. Franciszek Czubalski, and then by Prof. Włodzimierz Missiuro, a pioneer of sport and exercise physiology, was given the name of the Department of Occupational Physiology in 1963. The Department of Metal Hygiene and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, created by Prof. Kazimierz Dąbrowski, a psychologist and a psychiatrist, a promoter of mental health and hygiene, was the last unit that was established in that period.

The aforementioned departments engaged in multifaceted research constituted the core of Mossakowski Medical Research Centre PAS, the institution established on 1st July 1967 pursuant to the Resolution by the Presidium of Polish Academy of Sciences to facilitate the management of the institutions of the Faculty of Medical Sciences. As the future has shown, it was the actual origin of our Institute as an integrated research facility focused on common goals and a common development concept.

The development of the issues raised by the parent units, the formation of new research staff and the emergence of new research directions has altered the structure of the Centre. In the 80s, the facility was enriched by Research and Treatment Team for Neuromuscular Diseases (headed by Prof. Irena Hausmanowa-Petrusewicz), which investigated hereditary muscular dystrophies, the Department of Endocrinology (headed by Prof. Janusz Nauman) -focused on pathologies of the thyroid and Department of Neuropeptides (headed by Andrzej Lipkowski Assist. Prof.) involved in the synthesis and study of opioid peptides.

The Centre structures also included Research and Treatment Team for Neuroimmunological Diseases operating at the Medical Academy of Poznan (Prof. Mieczysław Wender, the head) and Research and Treatment Team for Molecular and Cellular Nephrology within the structures of the Medical Academy of Gdansk (Prof. Stefan Angielski, the head). The research

interests of the Centre developed in the direction of neurochemical and neurotoxicological studies, which resulted in the establishment of new research units in the Centre structures.

Since the beginning of its existence, Mossakowski Medical Research Centre has fulfilled the requirements imposed on institutes with regard to the number of employees and research potential. However, it was only in October 1983 that the Presidium of Polish Academy of Sciences adopted the resolution to transform it into Mossakowski Medical Research Institute PAS. The 30th anniversary of our institution was celebrated in 1997 already in the newly constructed seat at 5 Adolfa Pawińskiego St. In December 2002, the Presidium of Polish Academy of Sciences approved the change of the name for Miroslaw Mossakowski Medical Research Institute PAS.

Former headquarters of the Institute