Włodzimierz Ptak

Włodzimierz Wojciech Ptak (2 November 1928 – 28 May 2019) was a Polish immunologist and microbiologist, professor of medical sciences, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Polish Academy of Learning, professor and Vice-Rector at the Medical Academy in Kraków, later transformed into the Jagiellonian University Medical College, visiting professor at Yale University.

In his scientific work, he studied mainly the regulatory mechanisms of the immune response. Together with Richard K. Gershon, he co-authored the discovery of regulatory T cells. He published more than two hundred research papers, and was one of the most frequently cited Polish scientists in the field of biomedicine after 1965.

A graduate of the Medical Academy in Kraków, he was forcibly drafted into the Polish Army between 1952 and 1957. He obtained Ph.D. in 1962 at the Medical Academy in Szczecin. In 1967, he received British Council scholarship to the National Institute for Medical Research in London.

From 1974 until 1999, he was a visiting professor at Yale University, meanwhile standing as the Vice-Rector of the Medical Academy in Kraków (1978–1981) and a member of the Presidium of the International Union of Immunological Societies (1983–1986). He was a member of the Presidium (1978–1984) and a Chairman (1988–1990) of the Scientific Council by the Minister of Health and Welfare of Poland. Later, he was appointed a Secretary (1989–1995) and vice-president (until 2008) of the Medical Faculty of the Polish Academy of Learning.

He received several awards and state distinctions, including the Knight's Cross (1977) and the Commander's Cross (1997) of the Polonia Restituta.

Life and work 1928–1952: Youth Ptak's interests began to focus on microbiology and bacteriology at the end of his medical studies. Shortly after the graduation, he was forcibly drafted into the Polish Army, where he spent five years. Above: Ptak photographed in 1950s He was born in 1928 in Kraków as the son of Wojciech Ptak (1888–1946), an engineer and a graduate of the Lviv Polytechnic, and Maria Ptak (née Krawczyk; 1904–1986), an employee in kasa chorych, a public health insurance corporation. The father, as his son recalled, was a tough, demanding and strict man, fluent in French and German language.

His grandparents were Franciszek Ptak (1859–1936), an innkeeper, peasant movement activist and a member of the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria, and Józef Krawczyk (1865–1942), a foreman in the cigarette factory “Cygar fabryka” at Dolnych Młynów Street in Kraków.

Włodzimierz had a younger sister, Wanda Ptak-Kollat (1930–1984), a master engineer in roads and bridges and a graduate of Kraków Polytechnic.

In 1936, Wojciech Ptak was offered a work in high office in the French-Polish railway company in Bydgoszcz, hence the Ptak family moved there. In Bydgoszcz Włodzimierz Ptak befriended with Czesław Radzikowski.

During the studies, to support himself financially, he founded a music group with colleagues from different universities, and earned money by playing at seasonal parties and weddings.

1952–1970: In the army, Ph.D. In 1952, immediately after the graduation, Ptak was forcibly drafted into the Polish People's Army. Soon after, he was transferred to the Służba Polsce (Service to Poland; SP), a state paramilitary organization for young people. Ptak spent a total of five years in the army and SP.

He received an initial allocation in Jelenia Góra, where he worked on the production of viscose fibers. Then he was accepted by Ludwik Hirszfeld as a volunteer at the Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy of the Polish Academy of Sciences, but he remained there only for a few weeks. He was transferred to Katowice, where he worked as a medical controller of the SP units in Upper Silesia and Opole. Practically, this meant constant mobility and work in various facilities throughout the region.

In 1954, Ptak was relocated to Bydgoszcz, where he worked as a pediatrician for two months, though he had no previous experience in direct work with patients. Then, at his own request, he was transferred to Szczecin, where he wanted to continue his education.

He began to write requests for release from the army. In 1955, during a two-month sick leave, he worked at the Department of Microbiology at the Medical Academy in Kraków, where he conducted research together with Jan Bóbr. In 1957, he was dismissed from the service in the army and began work at the Department of Pathology at the Medical Academy in Szczecin. There, in 1961, he submitted his doctoral thesis and moved permanently to Kraków, where his mother lived.

He obtained Ph.D. in pathology in 1962 at the Medical Academy in Szczecin. He recalled: “Because of the army, I was already 34 years old. I wasted five years of life. At this age two of my first collaborators were already appointed associate professors”. Between 1978 and 1981, Ptak was the Vice-Rector of the Medical Academy in Kraków.

From 1974 until 1999, he was a visiting professor at the Department of Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine at Yale University. Altogether, he spent there more than seven years by submitting twenty-six visits. and was one of the most frequently cited Polish scientists in the field of biomedicine after 1965.

Together with Richard K. Gershon, he was the co-author of the discovery of regulatory T cells. Beside, he participated in describing the regulatory functions of gamma delta T cells, and conducted research on the mechanisms of the early phase of cellular reactions, as well as the study of the regulatory functions of small interfering RNA. (1994–2018).

He authored a textbook Podstawy immunologii (Basics of Immunology) in Polish. First published in 1976, it was followed-up by a number of re-editions, co-authored by Maria Ptak and Marian Szczepanik (1987, 1999, 2009, 2017). Ptak was also active as an academic teacher. He was a promoter in ten doctoral dissertations.

He died in Kraków on 28 May 2019 at the age of 90, and was buried at the Rakowicki Cemetery on 3 June 2019, in the family grave.

Personal life Over the years, he befriended Zbigniew Cybulski, Adam Walaciński, (in the 1950s), Franciszek Studnicki, (in the 1960s), Krzysztof Penderecki and Alexander Schenker (in the 1970s).

He was an atheist and defined his worldview as leftist. Among his hobbies were, among others, history, religion studies and philosophy. He was cast in a small role in a 2016 short film Hens (Kury). He was married three times, and had one daughter in the second marriage.

Selected papers

Awards and honors Minister of Health of Poland Award, first degree (seven times, 1973–2009) Scientific Secretary of the Polish Academy of Sciences Award (1973, 1984) Knight's Cross of Polonia Restituta (1977) Jędrzej Śniadecki Award (1978) Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Award (1981) Award of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, first degree (1982) State Prize of the Polish People's Republic (1984) Meritorious Teacher of the Polish People's Republic Award (1984) “Gloria Medicinae” Medal awarded by the Polish Medical Association (1992) Prime Minister of Poland Award (1996) Commander's Cross of Polonia Restituta (1998) Minister of National Education of Poland Award (1999) Jagiellonian Laurel awarded by the Jagiellonian University (1999) awarded by the President of Kraków (2016)

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