Professor, Vice Head of the Department of Pediatrics, Pomeranian Medical University, Poland.
Professor PUM Maria Giżewska graduated from the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Poland in 1985. She started at the Department of Biochemistry and in 1987 she joined the Department of Children’s Diseases. In 1995, based on the study on the effectiveness of different types of treatment in childhood leukaemia she obtained her PhD. She has a specialization in general pediatrics and pediatric metabolism. Doctor Giżewska is also a vice-chairman of Polish Society of Phenylketonuria and a vice-chairman of Scientific Advisory Committee of European Society of Phenylketonuria and Allied Disorders Treated as Phenylketonuria (ESPKU). In the last years, she was involved in the development of European PKU Guidelines.
She is a member of SSIEM, Polish Pediatric Societies, Polish Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and a Board Member of Polish Society of Inborn Errors of Metabolism.
In 1998 doctor Giżewska became the Vice-head of the Department of Pediatrics, Endocrinology, Diabetology, Metabolic Diseases and Cardiology of Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin. From the mid-nineties, her researches are focused on early diagnosis (population and selective screening) and treatment of children, adolescents and adults with different types of inborn errors of metabolism, including phenylketonuria. She is a consultant on inborn errors of metabolism for the Region of West Pomerania, Poland.
In 2009 based on her scientific achievements and publication entitled “Phenylketonuria: selected genetic aspects and squeals of hyperphenylalaninemia” which was a basis of her habilitation thesis, she obtained a title of Associate Professor. In 2015 she received a position of professor at Pomeranian Medical University.
Doctor Giżewska is the author of over 100 publications in both Polish and international journals on inborn errors of metabolism, general paediatrics, paediatric endocrinology, neurology and genetics. She was trained in the field of inborn errors of metabolism in Denmark, Italy, Qatar and Japan (as a fellow of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Phenylketonuria and other inborn errors of metabolism were the subjects of her lectures given in many European countries, the USA, Asia, South America and the Middle East. In 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2017 she was invited as a speaker at Metabolic University organized by University of Denver, Colorado. Since 2011 she closely cooperates with University of Greifswald and recently with Medical University Charitè in Berlin, Germany being a Polish coordinator of UE projects dedicated to creating a trans-border, Polish-German newborn screening centre.