Unusually, through a videoconference, UP Rector Jaroslav Miller awarded the honorary title of Visiting Professor to Veronika Bachanová, a recognized expert in hematology-oncology, transplantology and cancer immunology, who works at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine and collaborates closely with the Department of Hematology-Oncology and Olomouc University Hospital.
“Madam Professor, I am honored to be the one to award you the title of a Visiting Professor, and I congratulate you very much on it. I am sure that you will significantly contribute to teaching, science and research at our university. At the same time, it is a symbolic expression of the great long-term relationships we have with the University of Minnesota," said Rector Jaroslav Miller.
Rector Miller showed Professor Bachanová's appointment decree to the camera, stating that it would be physically delivered to her soon. Originally, the new visiting professor at the UP Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry was to receive the decree in person, but the intended autumn event, organized together with lectures through the Proshek-Fulbright scholarship for physicians, was cancelled due to the epidemiological situation. Congratulations were also given by the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Milan Kolář, representing the Dean, as well as by Vít Procházka from the Department of Hematology-Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacký University and University Hospital, who initiated the appointment of visiting professor and who, thanks to the above-mentioned scholarship program, completed a fellowship at the University of Minnesota under the supervision of Veronika Bachanová.
”I think that just as the Proshek-Fulbright program has changed my life and the life of my family, closer collaboration with the University of Minnesota can change the life of all of Palacký University and significantly contribute to the careers of the many young researchers. Professor Veronika Bachanová has always cared about the education of young people with great potential, and she is a positive and very hardworking person. I am thankful that by awarding her the title of visiting professor we were able to take our cooperation to the next level," said Vít Procházka.
"I am deeply moved. It is a great honor for me, also a new experience and challenge, as well as a kind of satisfaction, because I can return something to my home country, as I left for the United States at a relatively young age and my parents regretted it for a long time. I think that I will make them happy with this," thanked the professor, who does not forget her Slovak roots and also has strong connections to Moravia. "I look forward to seeing you in person in Olomouc, where we will be able to meet and learn more about what you do at Palacký University. Perhaps I can help with projects or provide consultations. Among other things, I would like to show students that science and clinical work can be combined and that the only limit is often just having a little curiosity and courage to ask questions," she added.
Professor Veronika Bachanová is a world-renowned expert in the field of hematology-oncology, transplantology and cancer immunology. She is a graduate of Comenius University in Bratislava, and after graduating she worked at the National Oncology Institute in Bratislava and completed her doctoral studies at the University of Trnava. She then moved to the United States, first working at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, and since 2007 at the Masonic Cancer Center in Minneapolis, where she is currently Senior Consultant in the Department of Hematological Malignancies, Director of the Hematological Tissue Bank, and leads numerous research groups. She also teaches at the Medical School of the University of Minnesota and leads the aforementioned Proshek-Fulbright exchange program. She is the author or co-author of 98 highly impacted publications; her H-index is 22. She is a member of several important professional groups, such as the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer.
The new visiting professor has cooperated intensively with the Department of Hematology-Oncology and the Olomouc University Hospital since 2015. She is a co-author of several joint impact publications, collaborates on grant projects, and lectures repeatedly at the Olomouc Hematology Days.
"We see the benefit of Professor Bachanová's position in deepening our cooperation with one of the best American universities with strong Czech-Slovak connections, with a clinic that is at the forefront of cancer immunology research in hematology worldwide," said the head of the Department of Hematology and Oncology of the School of Medicine and Olomouc University Hospital Tomáš Papajík.
Already six leading experts from abroad have been appointed as visiting professors at the UP Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. The position of visiting professors at UP is formally regulated by the UP Statute (Article 34) and the Rector's Directive B3-16 / 5-SR Awarding the title of "Visiting Professor" to foreign workers, in accordance with UP Dean's Directive LF-B-18/09 of visiting professor position.