Non Omnis Moriar
In memoriam Danuta Skomra, PhD, MD
(07.09.1956 – 10.03.2011)

Danuta Skomra, PhD, MD, a wonderful person and an outstanding pathomorphologist, passed away on 10 March 2011. Danusia’s entire professional career was spent at the Chair and Department of Clinical Pathomorphology of the Medical University of Lublin. In 1981, she took up the post of Assistant and in 1996 she was promoted to Assistant Professor. In 1992, after submitting a doctoral thesis on “Evaluation of daunorubicin toxicity and effects of tocopherol and ascorbic acid on lesions identified in rat kidneys” prepared under the supervision of Prof. Daniel Chibowski, PhD, MD, she was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences. Danusia was very active in the research field, as evidenced by the publication of a total of 92 original works with a total impact factor (IF) of 91.743, and a number of distinctions and awards, including many from the Rector of the Medical University and from Poland’s Minister of Health. Despite that, Danusia was first and foremost a pathomorphologist.

As she repeatedly stressed, she passed her examination for 2nd degree specialization even before the successful defence of her doctoral thesis (in 1990), which is a remarkable achievement among our Chair’s research and teaching staff. From that time she had her sights firmly set on developing her professional skills. She took part in many courses and training sessions. She also completed an academic internship at Zentrum Pathologie und Rechtsmedizin, Medizinische Hochschule in Hannover, Germany. Her hard work, in combination with natural ability, allowed her to accumulate a vast knowledge and remarkable professional skills. Danusia showed expertise in practically every area of pathomorphology. In the medical community she came to be respected as an invaluable expert, particularly on hematopathology. Her achievements were noticed in the Polish scientific community. She was a member of many organizations, including the Polish Lymphoma Research Group, Polish Hematopathologists’ Group and the Working Group for Hematopathology of the Polish Society of Pathologists. Danusia’s enormous practical and theoretical knowledge was appreciated especially by her closest associates. We could always, as long as Danusia lived, count on her invaluable help in resolving the most diagnostically challenging cases. She never let clinicians down, either. A typical scene that we could see almost on a daily basis was Danusia sitting at her microscope and holding a telephone...


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