Kacprzak, Marcin

Born Nov. 6, 1888, in the village of Podol’shin, present-day Warsaw Województwo; died July 14, 1968, in Warsaw. Polish hygienist. Corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (1962). Foreign member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR (1961).

Kacprzak received his medical education and specialized training in hygiene in France and the USA; later, in 1915, he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at tht University of Kharkov. During the first years of Soviet power he was active in the struggle against epidemics in Pskov Province. Between 1931 and 1939, Kacprzak served as head of the public health section of the Institute of Social Problems in Warsaw. In 1945 he became a professor in the Subdepartment of Preventive Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of -Lodz. Subsequently, in 1947, he was appointed head of the Hygiene Department of the Warsaw Medical Academy, serving as rector of the academy from 1953 to 1962. Kacprzak was the first director of the Institute for Advanced Training and Specialization of Physicians. After World War II (1939–45) he became chairman of the State Council of Public Health and a director of the Polish Red Cross. Kacprzak is the author of many scientific works, including monographs, manuals, and textbooks, devoted to problems of epidemiology, general and school hygiene, work safety, and the organization of public health. He was awarded the Leon Bernard Medal.