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Zofia Dudkiewicz, Ph.D – Polish scientist, professor of medicine, pediatric and maxillofacial surgery specialist.

Professional and scientific work
Zofia Dudkiewicz is a graduate of the Warsaw Medical University, where she studied dentistry. She started her medical practice at the Maxillofacial Surgery Clinic at the Dental Institute of Warsaw Medical University. Since 1971, Zofia Dudkiewicz has worked at the Pediatric Surgery Clinic at the Institute of Mother and Child in Warsaw. In 1998 she became the head of the Center for Craniofacial Defects and Endoscopic Surgery at the same institute. Between 1999 and 2011 she was the head of the Pediatric Surgery Clinic at the Institute of Mother and Child in Warsaw. In 2011 Zofia Dudkiewicz became the medical officer at the Center for Congenital Disorders and Defects Formmed.

Zofia Dudkiewicz completed her Ph.D in 1983. In 1990, she defended her habilitation thesis “Multidisciplinary assessment of the implemented one-stage method in the surgical treatment of the complete unilateral cleft hard and soft palate”. She was awarded a professor title in 2000.

Since 1973, she has been a member of the Polish Association of Pediatric Surgeons and between 1992 and 2000 she was acting as the president of the Section of the Plastic Surgery of the Association. Since 1987 she has been a member of the Polish Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, and since 1988 Zofia Dudkiewicz has also been a member of Eurocleft, an European organization engaged in collaborative treatment of children with cleft lip and/or palate. During the 1980s she started performing procedures on the removal of cleft lip and/or palate defects using the one-stage method, and developing a treatment method that included orthodontic, phoniatric and speech therapy treatment along with surgical procedures.

Main scientific fields of interest
Zofia Dudkiewicz has developed and promoted a concept of early age, one-stage operations of removing congenital defects in children, which reduces the duration of treatment and the number of procedures needed. During the 1980s she started performing procedures on the removal of cleft lip and/or palate defects using the one-stage method, and developed a treatment that included orthodontic, phoniatric and speech therapy treatment. This surgical method achieves very good results when it comes to functional efficiency and makes it possible for the child to fully recover by preschool. It also reduces the proportion of patients with post-surgical complications to 1%.

She has introduced new one-stage surgical methods in the treatment of hypospadias of the first and third degree and new methods in the treatment of the Pierre Robin syndrome. She also conducts studies and performs surgical procedures in the field of skull deformities (scaphocephaly, oxycephaly, plagiocephaly, hypertelorism), hemangiomas of the face, developmental, post-traumatic and post-inflammatory disorders of the facial bones, giant nevi. Considering psychological aspects of the child’s future development, she proves that surgical treatment of the congenital disorders should be concluded by the time the child is 2-3 years old, so that it won't be aware that it differs from others.

Publications
She is an author and co-author of over 250 papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, both Polish and international. She publishes in such journals as: Medical Science, Standardy Medyczne, Journal of Pediatric Surgery, Pediatria Polska, Polski Przegląd Chirurgiczny, Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery, Medycyna Wieku Rozwojowego, Nowa Pediatria, Surgery in Childhood International, British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Problemy Chirurgii Dziecięcej, European Journal of Orthodontics, International Journal Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery.

Honours
In 2012 she was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for the extraordinary and distinguished service to the protection of the health of mother and child.