On the 14-th of October 2022, during the annual conference “Deans and Directors Retreat” held by the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) in Sofia, Bulgaria, the Institute of Public Health (IPH) of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Medical College of the Jagiellonian University has been honored with the prestigious 2022 ASPHER Teaching & Practice Excellence Award. This award recognizes outstanding achievements in public health teaching and practice of a School of Public Health (i.e. an academic public health center affiliated with a university or other higher education organization) within the ASPHER community. It is given to an ASPHER member school or ASPHER-member program of public health. The span of ASPHER’s activities includes countries not only from Europe but also from other locations of the WHO’s European region, spanning from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, embracing also many countries of Central and Western Asia.

The 2022 ASPHER Teaching & Practice Excellence Award recognizes the outstanding contributions of the IPH in demonstrating leadership in advancing health equity, keeping the focus on other ASPHER members, maintaining diversity and integrity, as well as corporate citizenship, Europe-centered global outlook, and meaningful work by ASPHER core values – in the field of academic public health teaching and practice. The receiving of this award has been based on the documented engagement of the IPH beyond its immediate environment, through collaborative work with other Schools of Public Health within the ASPHER community. The IPH has been able to demonstrate the national and international visibility of the institution, as well as the innovative, creative efforts in education and practice, aiming to overcome everyday obstacles in performing academic duties within challenging settings.

Participation in the ASPHER’s conference was also an opportunity to present the experiences of the IPH, the Faculty of Health Sciences, the Medical College, and the entire Jagiellonian University, associated with the reaction to the Russian-Ukrainian war and the efforts to help the war refugees from Ukraine. Dr. Tomasz Bochenek presented them in his speech entitled “War in Europe – its impacts and challenges posed on public health organizations, universities, and societies. Experiences after more than half a year of Ukraine’s fight for survival against the openly waged Russian aggression – as seen from Poland, Ukraine’s close neighbor.”.

The honoring of the IPH with this year’s ASPHER Teaching & Practice Excellence Award is a reason to be proud of our outstanding efforts and achievements, and the hard work of our academic community of public health teachers and scientists, as well as the university’s administrative staff, not only within recent years but also throughout all three decades of the institute’s existence. It is also a great opening of the new, fourth decade, into which we have just entered, offering now Bachelor’s and Master’s degree study programs, in two complementary study directions – Public Health and Management in Health Care – preparing our Alumni for working within the health care sector in many very much needed non-medical job positions. We are also offering the postgraduate studies Management of Health Care Units, and Master of Business Administration in Health Care.

Prepared by Tomasz Bochenek