Q: Professor, what is the origin of discovery in modern medicine? Fate, coming across a research team that is destined to succeed, or rebellion against the impotence of a society which cannot remedy some particularly severe disability? How did the story of Henryk Skarżyński’s success begin?
A: Undoubtedly the origins of discoveries in medicine are different, though nowadays strokes of luck are rare. How did my story begin? It was connected with very hard daily clinical and scientific work that resulted in doctoral and postdoctoral theses 8 years after my medical doctor’s diploma.
I had the pleasure to present some results of these works at the round table discussion at the first European Congress of State Otorhinolaryngology Societies in Paris in 1988. There I had a brush with a method of total deafness treatment with application of cochlear implants which was then being implemented in some developed countries. Returning to Poland I began to prepare myself and a group of specialists including medical engineers, psychologists and educators to initiate similar cochlear implant programme in this part of Europe. Breaking different barriers, took 3 years. On July 16, 1992 I performed the first operation on a deaf adult bringing him back to the world of sound. The following day I operated on the first child. I did not even realize at that time that the problem I was touching upon was so important and that it would awaken such great public interest. As early as two weeks after the operations I realized that it was not to be a one-off event. We had to create a multidisciplinary team and proper facilities. I started building them step by step from scratch. This is the origin of the second complex cochlear implant unit in Europe called “Cochlear Centre” and later the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing under the auspices of the Ministry of Health, the International Centre of Hearing and Speech and a number of programmes and new solutions; within the framework of one of those programmes we provide the largest number of hearing improvement operations in the world.
Q: The method which you pioneered, required the application of new, special materials. You obtained those materials, which allowed you to broaden the range and number of surgeries you performed. This in turn widened the diversity of clinical cases and gave an impulse to finding new treatment methods. You accomplished that, using the tools that had to be perfected, and so on and on… Observing the chain of your impressive achievements one can reach the conclusion that you have discovered something of an otolaryngological perpetuum mobile. Maybe not entirely, because it does not move on its own – for the past 20 years you have been the driving force behind that growing machine. Is that the logic of your great adventure with medicine?
A: Watching it from the side one may judge it this way. I would like to add that our largest achievements coincided with the time of the largest reforms in postwar Polish medicine and health service, no matter what we think about them. One can say that the struggle with numerous adversities strengthened our resolve. If our work did not meet any social need and interest we would not have achieved much. The high quality of our work determined quantity and these two combined together allowed us to make successive discoveries including elaboration of new methods of treatment and new surgical solutions.
Owing to these I was able in 2002 to perform the world’s first successful surgical treatment of partial deafness applying cochlear implants in an adult patient and in 2004 to operate on the first child with this type of hearing loss. It was the beginning of difficult work aimed to prove to the whole world that such a thing can happen in Poland, and more particularly in a small village of Kajetany near Warsaw where our International Center of Hearing and Speech is based. But today I do not look back to my and my team’s extraordinary achievements. Every single day brings new challenges: dozens of surgeries and hundreds of patients. They are the most important. And as you have noticed it did not happen by itself. It required enormous, responsible and very stressful work. What’s behind is consistently implemented dreams and challenges: very ambitious but also precisely planned and prepared. All of it we can called a great adventure with medicine.
Q: After each discovery you get involved in its practical application and you persist until you achieve the widest possible scale of effects, available for the ‘average patient’. The units that you manage were established and function in an atmosphere of innovation, not only medical, but also organizational and educational one. The large part of that activity is, however, routine by now, so we feel obliged to ask if that model of medicine can be translated to other branches of healthcare?
A: Yes, I think so. There is an extensive experience that can be translated into other branches of healthcare. I often say that at different scientific meetings, symposia and conferences. But unfortunately not many people believe that all these ideas require help to grow. This means consistent everyday effort by individuals and teams. Few people volunteer for such work. I and my colleagues always look for new and more effective solutions. People often ask if it is really necessary at this point and tell me to slow down. I answer ‘no’. That would be against my nature. Work is my passion.
Q: Scott McNeally, one of the pioneers of IT, when asked about the source of his success responded: “today the winner is the person who can put off sleep for longer.” Are there any problems in today’s otolaryngology that prevent you from sleeping peacefully?
A: Of course. Rather than operating on a patient and then patiently teaching them to hear, listen, speak and understand what is happening around them I would prefer to prescribe a pill or replace the gene responsible for their deafness. I wish that our Centre of Magnetic Resonance would start this year. The tests we could perform with its help would significantly change the therapeutic management in dozens of various diseases for millions of patients. That is a great challenge that we have started to carry out. As for my sleeping… Indeed I sleep briefly and “fast”.

Henryk Skarżyński (born 1954) graduated from the Medical University in Warsaw in 1979 and started work at the Otolaryngology Clinic of the Central Teaching Hospital of the Medical University. In 1983 he obtained an M.D., in 1989 a Ph.D. In 1993 he became Associate Professor at the Medical University and in 1995 Full Professor. In 1993 he organized the second Diagnostic – Treatment-Rehabilitation Centre – Cochlear Centre in Europe and then he initiated the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing opened in 1996 which he manages until today.
In 1992 Professor Skarżyński developed and implemented the first programme of cochlear implant treatment of total deafness in Poland and in 1998 a brainstem implant programme. In 1995 he implemented in Poland a hearing screening programme for newborns and children and in 1999 a unique universal hearing, speech and vision screening programme available on the web. In 2002 he successfully implemented the world’s first surgical programme of treatment of partial deafness with cochlear implants for adults and as the first surgeon in the world he performed such a surgery in a child in 2004. In 2003 he introduced in Poland, as the first CEE country, middle ear implants and several other surgical procedures. He initiated and organized the International Centre of Hearing and Speech (2003) – a clinical, research and scientific unit that is a world leader providing 6,500 hearing improvement operations per year.
In the past few years Professor Skarżyński has focused on the implementation of new diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation methods in daily clinical practice and organization of new clinical teams, scientific and implementation groups, research tools, modern laboratories and out-patient service providing help to the patients with hearing, speech, voice and communications disorders. He initiated and co-organized 48 new programmes, procedures and diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation methods.
He is Honorary Professor of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, USA, member of 17 domestic and international scientific societies, co-author of 10 patented solutions and 8 patent applications. He is a member of scientific committees of 9 journals and author and co-author of nearly 1000 publications and 700 congress reports on otolaryngology, audiology, phoniatrics, rehabilitation, acoustics and biomedical engineering of which almost a third were presented abroad. Professor Skarżyński is a founding member of 7 societies and foundations.