Franciszek Kokot (24 November 1929 – 24 January 2021) was a Polish

nephrologist Nephrology (from Greek'' nephros'' "kidney", combined with the suffix ''-logy'', "the study of") is a specialty of adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function (ren ...

and

endocrinologist Endocrinology (from ''endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental events ...

. He was known as a pioneer of nephrology in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

. Kokot was a full member of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of ...

, having previously served as its

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

Polska Akademia Nauk The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of ...

(1984)
''Acta Academiae Scientiarum Polonae''
Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, p.176.

Biography

Kokot was born in Rosenberg O.S., Germany (today Olesno in Poland). He studied medicine from 1948 to 1953 in the Silesian School of Medicine in

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

. He then worked as a technician and became an expert in radio-immune

assays An assay is an investigative (analytic) procedure in laboratory medicine, mining, pharmacology, environmental biology and molecular biology for qualitatively assessing or quantitatively measuring the presence, amount, or functional activity of a ...

. This enabled him to enter the Department of Pharmacology of the Silesian School of Medicine where he completed a period of training in Internal Medicine. He was one of the first individuals to study abnormalities of volume regulating

hormones A hormone (from the Ancient Greek, Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of cell signaling, signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and beh ...

and of

volume status In medicine, intravascular volume status refers to the volume of blood in a patient's circulatory system, and is essentially the blood plasma component of the overall volume status of the body, which otherwise includes both intracellular fluid and e ...

acute kidney injury Acute kidney injury (AKI), previously called acute renal failure (ARF), is a sudden decrease in kidney function that develops within 7 days, as shown by an increase in serum creatinine or a decrease in urine output, or both. Causes of AKI are cla ...

, and one of the first to document abnormalities in humans with

renal ischemia Renal ischemia also known as ''nephric ischaemia'', is the deficiency of blood in one or both kidneys or nephrons, usually due to functional constriction or actual obstruction of a blood vessel The blood vessels are the components of the circul ...

, particularly

renal artery stenosis Renal artery stenosis (RAS) is the narrowing of one or both of the renal arteries, most often caused by atherosclerosis or fibromuscular dysplasia. This narrowing of the renal artery can impede blood flow to the target kidney, resulting in renova ...

. He was also a pioneer in studying in great detail the reversal of hormonal abnormalities of patients with endstage

kidney disease Kidney disease, or renal disease, technically referred to as nephropathy, is damage to or disease of a kidney. Nephritis is an inflammatory kidney disease and has several types according to the location of the inflammation. Inflammation can ...

renal transplantation Kidney transplant or renal transplant is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD). Kidney transplant is typically classified as deceased-donor (formerly known as cadaveric) or living-donor transplantat ...

. Kokot died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

complications in January 2021, aged 91.

Awards and honors

*Honorary member of 14 European societies of nephrology; *Volhard Golden Medal of the

Gesellschaft ''Gemeinschaft'' () and ''Gesellschaft'' (), generally translated as "community and society", are categories which were used by the Germany, German Sociology, sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies in order to categorize social relation, social relationsh ...

für Nephrologie; *Member of the Ordo Sanctus Silvestri Papae by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

; *Fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

; *

Doctor honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

of ten Universities (Wrocław, Katowice, Szczecin, Kosice, Lublin, Warsaw, Cracow, Białystok, Łódź and Opole).

References

1929 births 2021 deaths Polish endocrinologists Polish nephrologists People from Olesno Members of the Polish Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 20th-century Polish physicians Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta {{Poland-scientist-stub