The Minister of Health, Prof. Łukasz Szumowski chaired the Polish delegation, which had met in Washington with the Management Board of NIH (National Institutes of Health). In addition to the Minister of Health, Poland was represented by the academic community, professors of medicine, medical institute directors and the director of NAWA, Łukasz Wojdyga. The Polish delegation was also composed of, inter alia, Director of the Institute of Oncology Prof. Jan Walewski, Director of the Institute of Cardiology Prof. Tomasz Hryniewiecki, Prof. Andrzej Górski from the Medical Centre of the Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy at the Polish Academy of Sciences and President of the Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tariff System, Roman Topór-Mądry.
The Polish delegation met in Washington with the Management Board of NIH (National Institutes of Health). The subject of the talks were the opportunities to use American experience in the field of research, introduction of therapeutic innovations and keeping of medical records. They also talked about cooperation and development of mutual contacts, inter alia, with the Principal Deputy Director of NIH, Laurence Tabak, Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Gary H. Gibbons and managers of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
The Director of the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange announced that the result of the talks with American research institutions would be launching, even this year, a new programme for research scholarships and financing international doctoral studies as well as research programmes of approximately one hundred Polish young scientists from the area of medicine and biomedical sciences. The Americans are interested in, inter alia, cooperation and use of Polish experiences, also in the area of infectious diseases, in particular, tuberculosis. The outcome of the meetings and talks will be joint scientific and research programmes, exchanges and training for researchers and, above all, the creation of direct relations among institutions and units from Poland and the USA. Minister Szumowski said that the signing of a political agreement was the first, very important step, but it would be more important to translate it into practical cooperation and specific projects implemented jointly by the Polish and American institutions and organisations.
