“Wprost” Innovators are awarded in 14 categories and are primarily given to companies that introduce modern technological solutions to the market. However, in recent years, awards have increasingly gone to non-business people as well. Such an individual award for innovative activity, but not strictly business, was given to Prof. Anna Kostera-Pruszczyk.
The statuette was presented by the Minister of Health, Adam Niedzielski. Whereas, the laudation was delivered by the gala's presenter Mariusz Rytel, he said in it, among other things:
"[Professor Anna Kostera-Pruszczyk] is a neurologist and a pediatric neurologist, and it takes a lot of empathy to specialize in treating neuromuscular diseases, where until recently no treatment could be offered to patients. She is one of the most dedicated people in Poland to help patients with conditions such as Fabry disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and spinal muscular atrophy. It is, among other things, her activities over the years that have led to the situation that Poland today is one of the four countries in the world that most comprehensively treats a disease that was a sentence just a few years ago - SMA. The Department of Neurology at the Medical University of Warsaw, which she heads, is a member of the European Reference Network for Neuromuscular Diseases EURO NMD."
- I am extremely honored and touched - Prof. Kostera-Pruszczyk said at the Innovators award gala. I hold this award in my hand, but I feel that I hold it on behalf of the entire community - she added.
“Wprost” Innovators are awards that have been given since 2011. In 2011-2013, the winners were selected based on a list of the 500 most innovative companies compiled by a team from the Institute of Economic Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Since 2014, the basis for recognizing those who invest in innovation has been the Innovation Research. Nominations are submitted via the website. There, you need to fill out a special form, in which you need to describe what the innovative activity consists of. From all the candidates submitted in the surveys, 10 in each category are selected. The jury members then vote for their favorites. The winners are those who receive the most votes.
The "Wprost" Innovator 2022 Award in the medicine category also went to Prof. Mieczyslaw Walczak, head of the Department of Pediatrics, Endocrinology, Diabetology, Metabolic Diseases and Cardiology of the Developmental Age of the Pomeranian Medical University.
Meanwhile, in the e-health category, the statuette was awarded to the Saventic Foundation for its use of artificial intelligence in the process of diagnosing rare diseases, the award was received by Professor Grzegorz Basak.
Photo: Piotr Woźniakiewicz / Wprost