History of the Department
In 1968 the medical electronics industry began to be introduced in Silesia. The effect of these activities was the establishment in Zabrze of the Computer Equipment Department and the Silesian Centre of Medical Technology TEMED, which later became the Department of Medical Electronic Equipment. The establishment of the medical equipment industry in Silesia, together with the relatively high number of medical devices in the region's hospitals, created a demand for a new type of engineers specializing in medical electronics, who could be helpful to the healthcare and medical equipment industry. The Rector of the Silesian University of Technology Prof. Jerzy Szuba and University authorities supported the efforts undertaken by employees of the Faculty of Automation, thanks to which, in 1969, the Department of Electronic Medical Instrumentation was established. Its purpose was the education in the specialization of medical electronics. The Department headed by its organizer Aleksander Kwieciński, PhD, Assoc. Prof., began its didactic activity on 1 October 1969.
The curriculum of the specialization in Electronic Medical Equipment differed from the conventional ones, which resulted from its interdisciplinary character. The education of the future graduate took place through the cooperation of two universities: The Silesian University of Technology and the Medical University of Silesia, bound by an agreement on didactic cooperation in this field. The need for such a program of studies arose from the observation based on repeated experiences in various teaching centers in Poland and other countries, that only an engineer educated in both mathematical-physical and biological-medical profiles, prevailing at technical universities, but also by the biological-medical profile, would be useful for cooperation with a physician. During lectures and classes conducted at the Silesian Medical Academy, the future graduate met many representatives from the world of medicine, learned different (from the technical domain) ways of approaching important issues, discovered various ways of reasoning, medical procedures, learned the language, which could be useful in his future collaboration with a physician.
In 1971, organizational changes took place at the University as Institutes were created. The Institute of Medical Equipment and Automation (IAAM) was established as the only one of that kind in Poland. Jerzy Kopka, PhD, Assoc. Prof., was appointed the Director of the Institute, while Aleksander Kwieciński, PhD, Assoc. Prof., was appointed the Deputy Director of the Institute. The IAAM was educating master engineers of electronics, specializing in biomedical electronics. After its establishment, the Institute was initially located in one room of about 20 m2 in Experimental Department of Electronics and Precision Mechanics (ZDEMP) on the Baltic Street. After opening of part A of the building of the Faculty of Automatic Control and Computer Science in 1973, the accommodation conditions of the Institute improved considerably. Since its beginning, the IAAM has closely cooperated with industry. The long-term agreements with the Research and Development Centre for Medical Technology (ORMED) in Warsaw for the realization of two research projects in the nodal problem made it possible to equip the Institute with adequate facilities. The cooperation with ORMED and the assistance of the Medical and Optical Equipment Manufacturing Union (OMEL) allowed to equip laboratories of electromedical apparatus, X-ray machines, analytical and laboratory equipment. In addition, laboratories of electromedical metrology, bionics and medical electronics were organized, ensuring that students have practical experience on the subjects lectured. At the bottom of the page the archival photos of the IAAM laboratories are presented.
In 1980, Jan Walichiewicz, PhD, Assoc. Prof., and Ernest Czogała, PhD, DSc, Assoc. Prof., joined the Institute, working on theoretical problems of medical equipment reliability and decision making in medical diagnostics. The transfer to the Institute of Ernest Czogała, PhD, DSc, Assoc. Prof., was followed with the research on the stochastic methods and fuzzy set theory in control and decision making. These topics are of great importance in medicine.
In 1984, the Institute of Medical Instrumentation and Automation was joined with the Department of Telecommunications and the Institute of Electronics into the Institute of Electronics. Thus, IAAM as an independent unit no longer existed and became a part of a large Institute with a new name: Department of Biomedical Electronics.
In 1988, Prof. Ernest Czogala became the Head of the Department. After his tragic death in 1998, the function of the Head of the Department was assumed by Prof. Jacek Łęski.
In 2017, the Department of Biomedical Electronics was supported by a team of scientists led by Prof. Jacek Szuber, and in 2020, the Department was transformed into the Department of Cybernetics, Nanotechnology and Data Processing. Prof. Jacek Łęski remains its head to this day.
