Prof. Andrzej Waksmundzki was an outstanding Polish physicochemist. Only one scientist from Poland receives such a medal each year. It is awarded for outstanding scientific achievements in chromatography, a field considered to be the most important method of analysing organic compounds.
Prof. Joanna Kałużna-Czaplińska is a recognised authority in the scientific community in the field of research on metabolites - products of metabolism - conducted using chromatographic techniques. She conducts her research at the Institute of General and Ecological Chemistry. The results of her work have contributed significantly to the diagnosis of metabolic disorders in children with autism and the development of an individualised diet to improve their daily functioning.
She also heads the Poland Chemistry and Nutrition Research Group, which conducts research into the impact of diet and supplementation on the human body. This group is part of the Council for Nutritional and Environmental Medicine (CONEM), an international association. The main areas of CONEM research are autism, oral medicine and research on trace elements in medicine, which perfectly fits in with the scientific work conducted by my team and allows cooperation with other centres around the world.