“Rising stars of Polish medicine” these are the fifth- and sixth-year medical students from all over Poland who can boast outstanding achievements with their performance, involvement in scientific, as well as social, including academic, activities. They are identified by the jury of the Supertalents in Medicine 2025 competition. Among this year's 10 winners, as many as five are students from our university.
Rising stars of Polish medicine from MUW
- 1st place: Przemysław Kasiak, a sixth-year medical student, and for the past 3 years also a doctoral student at the 3rd Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology MUW. His research interests include cardiology and sports medicine. He has co-authored 34 scientific articles with a total IF >85, as well as two textbooks. In turn, his Hirsch Index listing is 13. He is an editor of the journal PLOS ONE, indexed in the first quartile of the Journal Citation Reports database. He has reviewed >180 scientific publications.
During his studies, he collaborated with the Medical University of Lausanne, the University of Zurich and the University Medical Center in Utrecht, among others. He received, among others, the START scholarship from the Foundation for Polish Science, three times the scholarship of the Minister of Health for Significant Scientific Achievements, the Dr. Waclaw Mayzel Medical Laurel of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and three times the Award of His Magnificence the Rector of the Medical University of Warsaw for Outstanding Scientific Publications. He is a member of the Club 30 of the Polish Society of Cardiology.
- 4th place: Karol Sadowski, a fifth-year medical student and a second-year PhD student at the MUW Doctoral School. He serves as a visiting research fellow at Thorax Center in Rotterdam and Amsterdam UMC in the Netherlands. He is vice-chairman of the MUW Doctoral Student Government Board and a member of the MUW Academic Quality Team.
His clinical and research interests, initially centered on neuroscience and neurology, have over time focused on invasive cardiology and diagnostic imaging. A special focus of his research is physiological evaluation of the coronary vasculature, intravascular imaging and analysis of biomechanical parameters of the coronary arteries.
An additional area of his interest is entrepreneurship and innovation in the medical sector. He has also been recognized in this area - he was named a winner in the BraveCamp program for startups, organized by the University of Warsaw, as well as a winner in the MedBiz Innovations competition for biomedical startup projects. For his achievements and promotion of Poland internationally, he was recognized by the First Lady of the Republic of Poland in the “Young Promoter of Poland” competition.
He is also a winner of the “School of Eagles” program for the top 15 medical students at the Medical University of Warsaw, and a three-time winner of the “Best of the Best 4.0” as well as “Supporting students in enhancing their competencies and skills” programs, organized by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, and a two-time winner of the “Talents of Tomorrow” grant, awarded by the Empiria and Knowledge Foundation.
- 5th place: Grzegorz Procyk, a sixth-year medical student and 3rd year PhD student at the MUW Doctoral School. Since the first years of his studies, he has been consistently developing in the field of cardiac biomarker research, which is reflected in three consecutive scholarships from the Minister of Health for significant scientific achievements (2022/2023, 2023/2024, 2024/2025), as well as the 1st and 3rd degree Individual Awards of the Rector of MUW for scientific activity.
His publication output includes 23 scientific papers - 21 scientific articles and 2 chapters in scientific monographs, and most of these articles he prepared as first or corresponding author. His total IF of 79.0 and 2550 MEiN points place him among the country's top young authors in the medical sciences. His papers have been cited more than 100 times, and his Hirsch index is 6.
As of 2022, he has won or is leading six research and teaching grants. As head of a student mini-grant and a Young Investigator grant, he worked on a multimarker strategy for predicting mortality after TAVI, and as part of the Empiria and Knowledge Foundation's Talents of Tomorrow program, he studied interleukin-6 and lipoprotein(a) in the pathophysiology of aortic stenosis. He is a leader of the clinical project “Lipoprotein(a) and family history of cardiovascular disease in young people”. In parallel, he is involved in projects popularizing Polish science internationally - “Per aspera ad astra” and “Per aspera ad astra II”, through which he presented the results of his research in Washington, Chicago, Busan, Leiden, Dublin and Glasgow.
- 6th place: Maria Żmijewska, a fifth-year medical student. She has served on the board of directors of the MUW Student Scientific Society since October 2023, she has been president-elect since 2024, and will take over as president of the organization in the 2025/2026 academic year. In the scientific field, she has authored and co-authored many reports at national and international conferences.
Among other things, she won 1st place in the ophthalmology session at the Warsaw International Medical Congress, presenting a paper on the subjective perception of chronic diseases, and in 2022 in the internal medicine session for her presentation on the effects of exercise on retinal microcirculation, and additionally had the opportunity to present a study among the best papers in the plenary session. In 2024, she published the paper “Retinal Microcirculation Measurements in Response to Endurance Exercises Analysed by Adaptive Optics Retinal Camera” as first author in the journal Diagnostics (IF 3.0, MEiN 70).
Her achievements also include serving as president of the 20th Warsaw International Medical Congress (2025), one of the largest international conferences in Europe. For the next edition, she will serve as chairwoman of the Organizing Committee.
- 7th place: Paulina Kalman, a sixth-year medical student. President of the Student Onko-Forum - a nationwide initiative that brings together young oncology enthusiasts and promotes cooperation between the student community and specialists in various fields. Winner of the Student Nobel Prize in the Social Activity category - a nationwide award given by the Independent Students' Association to students who have a real impact on the academic and social environment.
Since the beginning of her studies, she has consistently developed her scientific interests, focusing on the topics of breast cancer, cancer prevention and interdisciplinary approaches in oncology. She has gained clinical and academic experience both in Poland and at renowned foreign centers, including Heinrich Heine Universität in Düsseldorf, Medizinische Universität Wien and the University of Cambridge.
She has received numerous awards for scientific presentations, including at the Young Oncologic Surgeons Session at the conventions of the Polish Society for Oncologic Surgery. In 2025, she represented the voice of the younger generation at the Cancer Mission Fair, the European Commission's flagship event for Horizon Europe's Cancer Mission. In her speech, she emphasized the importance of education, intergenerational cooperation and systemic involvement of young leaders in the development of European oncology.
She has presented the results of her research at international scientific congresses, including ESMO Breast Cancer 2025, one of the most important European conferences on breast cancer. She also participated in the ESMO Course for Medical Students in Naples, an educational program aimed at the most dedicated students from around the world.
The organizer: „Puls Medycyny”, photos: Emilia Zielińska