The signing of the letter took place on April 20, 2023 at the MUW. The signatories of the agreement are Rector Professor Zbigniew Gaciong and Michal Čuha - CEO of Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd.
"Follow your heart" campaign
BI is a partner of the "Follow your Heart" campaign, an initiative in which patient organizations and health science experts want to strengthen the public's health literacy and raise awareness of cardiovascular diseases, especially heart failure.
Wanting to further support the initiative, Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd. applied to MUW for the possibility of jointly organizing a competition addressed to MUW Student Scientific Circles.
Interesting educational project
The collaboration between MUW and BI will include an educational project for Warsaw residents on heart failure.
– The students will be involved in it, they will be the originators. The benefits for them are that they will be able to deepen their knowledge of heart failure, but also to act for the benefit of Warsaw residents and public health, which will affect the prognosis of patients. Those who suffer from heart failure or are at risk of it - said Pawel Balsam, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the 1st Chair and Department of Cardiology MUW, who was present at the signing of the letter of intent.
Benefits for students and patients
Why did MUW undertake this cooperation? – The university, like any large scientific institution, also tries to cooperate with the business environment – said Prof. Zbigniew Gaciong. – The letter of intent we signed starts a certain educational project. Everyone will benefit, both our students and doctors who will carry out this action, as well as the patients to whom it is directed – explained the Rector.
Michal Čuha also spoke about the benefits of the cooperation: – We are honored to enter into cooperation with a renowned medical university, which in our opinion is the right step for raising the public's health awareness. Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd. has been providing patients with innovative medicines used in various therapeutic areas for years, but we believe that the basis for a long and good life is education and prevention.
Heart failure is burdened with a poor prognosis. All the more reason to promote awareness of the risk of this disease.
The signing of the letter was also attended by Prof. Piotr Pruszczyk, Vice Rector for Science and Technology Transfer MUW, Piotr Bienias, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology with the Center for Management of Venous Thromboembolism MUW, as well as Sebastian Schubert, Director of Corporate Affairs and other representatives of the department on behalf of Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd.