On the occasion of National Independence Day, during a ceremony held at the Belvedere, President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, presented state decorations to persons distinguished in service to the State and society. A total of 20 people received distinctions of various ranks. The ceremony was attended by Prof. Dr. Gertruda Uścińska, acting Rector of the Nicolaus Copernicus Superior School.
The Order of the White Eagle was awarded to Prof. Dr. h.c. multi Henryk Skarżyński, renowned otosurgeon and otologist, founder and director of the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing and the World Hearing Center in Kajetany, and Prof. Ryszard Legutko, publicist, translator, philosopher and politician.
Prof. Skarżyński was recognized for his distinguished contributions to the development of Polish medicine, particularly in helping people with interpersonal communication disorders, as well as his outstanding scientific, clinical, teaching and organizational achievements and popularizing Polish scientific thought around the world.
– “I am honored, extremely proud and grateful that on November 11, on the 106th anniversary of Poland’s independence, you were willing to come to the Belvedere and that I can meet with you to present the highest and high state awards in a sovereign and independent Poland,” said President Andrzej Duda. “This is a great moment, a wonderful reference to the great traditions of the Republic of Poland – honoring those who are most distinguished among the distinguished,” he stressed.
Andrzej Duda pointed out that the Order of the White Eagle is the oldest Polish decoration; its name and symbolism refer to the most important sign, the white eagle. “This extraordinary order also symbolizes a free, sovereign and independent Poland,” he added.
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Prof. Dr. h.c. multi Henryk Skarżyński is a world-renowned otosurgeon and otologist, specialist in otorhinolaryngology, audiology, phoniatrics and pediatric otolaryngology. Since 1996, he has been a Director of the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing. He also served as a National Specialist in Audiology and National Consultant in Audiology and Phoniatrics, and since 2011, National Consultant in Otorhinolaryngology. Professor Skarżyński is the first surgeon in Poland to perform cochlear implantation (1992), bone conduction implantation (1997), brainstem implantation (1998), and middle-ear implantation (2003). He introduced in Poland almost all implantable hearing improving systems and pioneered many of these solutions in Europe and the world.
Among his greatest achievements is the initiation, in 1997, of the world’s first program for the treatment of partial deafness and preservation of preoperative residual hearing. In 2002, he performed the world’s first cochlear implantation in an adult patient with classic partial deafness, and in 2004 in the child with the same type of hearing loss. The surgical method considered to be his specialty, known as the “Skarżyński method,” for which he developed a new electrode and surgical procedure, has been implemented in numerous cochlear implant centers in the world.
Prof. Skarżyński is the author and co-author of more than 4,536 scientific papers and about 3,900 scientific presentations, supervisor of dozens of doctoral theses and postdoctoral dissertations. He is a member of numerous worldwide scientific societies and a corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
He is the author and co-author of 14 patents for devices and methods related to medical technology, including systems and devices for hearing, vision and speech screening, and a device for the correction of speech defects. Since 2022, he has chaired the General Council of Research Institutes.
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The Order of the White Eagle is the highest order of the Republic of Poland, established in 1705 and reactivated in 1921. It is awarded to the most distinguished Poles and the highest-ranking representatives of foreign countries for their civil and military merits and outstanding service to the Republic of Poland.
