User:Meli0503/Maria Dabska

Maria Dąbska (2012)

Maria Dąbska

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Maria Dąbska, originally known as Maria Magdalena Suchy, PhD, MD, was a professor and physician who specialized in oncological pathomorphology. She was Polish and took part in the Underground Independence Movement during the Warsaw Uprising, prior to becoming a physician. When the war ended, Dąbska began her medical studies, taking an interest in oncology and pathology. She studied and worked under multiple professors and physicians throughout her career. Dąbska conducted research on breast cancer, sweat gland tumors, cervical cancer, soft tissue sarcomas, in addition to other oncological disorders. The Dąbska tumor is a medical eponym named after her in her honor. Maria Dąbska passed away on July 20, 2014.

Early Life

Maria Dąbska was born in Brodnica, Poland on July 20, 1921. She was part of the Underground Independence Movement in Warsaw during World War II and fought in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 while being part of the Polish Home Army. Dąbska and her mother were captured and taken as civilians to Stalag VI-C Oberlangen—a German internment camp—until the war ended. While studying and practicing medicine, she married Krzysztof Dąbski in 1953. Upon marrying her husband, she changed her last name from Suchy to Dąbska. In 1954, she gave birth to her only child, Krzysztof Dąbski, Jr.

Career and Schooling

After World War II ended in 1945, Dąbska returned to Poland and enrolled at the Medical University of Gdańsk to begin her medical studies. She began by studying under Professor Wilhelm Czarnocki in Gdansk. She then went on to work with Professor Józef Laskowski—Institute Director and Chief of Pathology—at the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute of Oncology. In 1957, she was sent to work alongside Rupert Alan Willis, a prominent oncologic pathologist, at the University of Leeds. In the year 1960, Dąbska worked at the Department of Cancer Pathology at the Institute of Oncology in Warsaw, with Laskowski; she had specialized in oncological histopathology. Later on, Dąbska began to work at the Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, alongside Professor Philip Lieberman. In 1969, she published one of her internationally acclaimed journal articles: “Malignant Endovascular Papillary Angioendothelioma of the Skin in Childhood”. From 1970 to 1982, Dąbska became Chief of Pathology at the Department of Cancer Pathology in Warsaw, continued her research on tumor pathology, and published a series on soft tissue and bone tumors. During this time, she also taught postgraduate courses in oncologic pathology in Poland. From 1982 to 1988, she worked at the Jung-Stilling Academic Teaching Hospital at the University of Bonn in Siegen, alongside Professor Gunther Schimmer; these were her final years of practice.

Accomplishments

Maria Dąbska contributed to the expansion of the Department of Tumor Pathology at the Institute of Oncology in Warsaw. Dąbska also became Chief of Pathology at the Department of Cancer Pathology. In 1969, she was offered a prestigious position at the World Health Organization in Indonesia, but she turned it down to remain in Warsaw. She also published highly acclaimed publications based on her extensive research on tumors; Dąbska introduced the term parachordoma, characterized dermal lesions, and published a small series on soft tissue and bone tumors. Part of her research pertained to a study on 52 cases in which a tumor was undiagnosed or misdiagnosed at the Institute of Oncology in Warsaw; this tumor was named “the Dąbska tumor” in her honor. In the year 2012, Maria Dąbska was awarded the Krzyżem Komandorskim Orderu Odrodzenia Polski for her achievements in research, teaching, and medicine. She is said to be the only woman among Polish pathomorphologists to become prominent in the history of medicine.

Publications

• Dąbska M, Polachowski K. Ten Years Observation on Preinvasive Carcinoma of the Cervix Uteri. Acta Unio Int Contra Cancrum. 1963;19:1386-1387.
• Dabska M. Rogowiak Kolczastokomórkowy [Keratoacanthoma]. Wiad Lek. 1965;18(15):1249-1250.
• Dąbska M, Buraczewski J. Aneurysmal Bone Cyst. Pathology, Clinical Course and Radiologic Appearances. Cancer. 1969;23(2):371-389.
• Dąbska M. Malignant Endovascular Papillary Angioendothelioma of the Skin in Childhood. Clinicopathologic Study of 6 Cases. Cancer. 1969;24(3):503-510 [Dąbska Tumor]
• Dabska M, Meyza J, Nowacki M. Sarcoma Aponeuraticum (Miesak Rozciegna) [Sarcoma Aponeuroticum (Sarcoma of the Aponeurosis)]. Pol Tyg Lek. 1973;28(3):99-102.
• Dabska M. Parachordoma. A New Clinicopathologic Entity. Cancer 1977;40:1582-92
• Dabska M. Miesak kościotwórczy I Jego “Maski” Morfologiczne [Osteogenic Sarcoma and its Morphological “Masks”]. Nowotwory. 1979;Suppl:35-46.
• Sieiński W, Dabska M. Miesaki Kościotwórcze W Materiale Zakładu Patologii Nowotworów Instytutu Onkologii W Warszawie W Latach 1948-1977 [Osteogenic Sarcoma According to the Materials of the Department of Pathology of the Warsaw Oncological Institute for the Years 1948-1977]. Nowotwory. 1979; Suppl:47-52.