Immunological forum
Twenty-five-years history of the Department of Immunology at the Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw

This year the Department of Immunology at the Children’s Memorial Health Institute has been celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Department (Fig. 1). Since 1980 the Department of Immunology has been the reference centre for PID for the whole of Poland.
Patients: Every year more than four thousand suspected PID are admitted the Department.
Teaching: As a first teaching hospital in Poland, the Department of Immunology has been obtain accreditation to teach Clinical Immunology, as a specialisation in 2000. Specialisation in paediatrics has been provided for 20 years.
Education: It has been, a tradition for more than 20 years for the the Department of Immunology to provide numerous courses on primary immunodeficiencies, for both paediatricians and doctors specialising in clinical immunology. Since 2002 periodic meetings have been organised in the School of Immunology. Young immunologists and doctors interested in clinical immunology from the whole of Europe are invited to spend time together (Fig. 2, 3, 6). The meetings give an opportunity to listen to lectures given by experts in immunology from all over Europe and the world. It also creates a forum to exchange their own experiences, as well as to discuss difficult cases and diagnostic and therapeutic problems. We also organise regular educational and scientific meetings, at least once a year, dedicated to the National Programme of Vaccination as well as to adverse events following vaccination, particularly after BCG (Fig. 4, 5). Many Polish and foreign authorities take part in these meetings, creating changes in National Programme of Vaccination. It is worth saying that these activities has resulted in the position of country representative and adviser to WHO committees for Professor Ewa Bernatowska, head of Department of Immunology.
Publications: Three hundred and sixty five papers in a national and international journals.
Grants (recent years): Three grants within 6 Framework of EC project have been provided for the Department of Immunology: - The Department has achieved the objectives of the PERFECT QLG1-CT-2002-90358 project, which has been provided by The Children’s Memorial Health Institute as a Paediatric Research Centre – Focusing on Effective Child Treatment. - EURO-PID-NAS QLG1-CT-2001-01395 as a first project focusing on the east/central Europe, forming the “Newly Associated...


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