Józefa Szczurek-Żelazko née Poręba (born 14 March 1961 in

Nowy Sącz Nowy Sącz (; ; ; ; ) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. With a population of 83,116 as of 2021, it is the largest city in the Beskid S ...

) is a Polish nurse, health manager, politician, and local government official. She has been a member of the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

(

8th Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight. Eighth may refer to: * One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole * Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) * Octave, an interval b ...

, 9th, and 10th terms) since 2015 and served as Deputy

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

from 2017 to 2020.

Biography

She graduated from the Medical High School in Nowy Sącz and then completed her studies at the Faculty of Nursing at the

Medical University of Lublin The Medical University of Lublin dates back to 1944 in Lublin, Poland. The university gained its autonomy in 1950. Over the years, new departments were added such as the Department of Dentistry in 1973. The university maintains lively internationa ...

. She worked as a nurse and was also a teacher at the Medical School Complex. She served as the director of the health and social policy department in the starosty of

Nowy Sącz County __NOTOC__ Nowy Sącz County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland, on the Slovak border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local govern ...

. In 2001, she became the director of a health care facility in

Brzesko Brzesko (; , ''Brigel'') is a town in southern Poland, in Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It lies approximately west of Tarnów and east of the regional capital Kraków. Since Polish administrative reorganization (in 1999), Brzesko has been the admin ...

. In the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and 2014 local elections, she was elected as a councilor in the Lesser Poland Regional Assembly representing the

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( , PiS) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Refo ...

party. In the 2015 parliamentary election, she ran for the Sejm in the

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east– ...

constituency. She was elected as a member of the 8th term, receiving 15,635 votes. In February 2017, she was appointed Deputy Minister of Health. In the 2019 parliamentary election, she successfully ran for re-election, receiving 25,323 votes. In November 2020, she resigned from her position as Deputy Minister of Health. In the 2023 election, she was re-elected to the Sejm for the third consecutive term with 26,231 votes.

Personal life

She is married and has four children.

Honors and Awards

In 2016, she was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit. In 2019, she received the Gold Cross for services to the NSZZP of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szczurek-Zelazko, Jozefa 1961 births Living people People from Nowy Sącz Polish nurses Polish schoolteachers Law and Justice politicians Members of the Polish Sejm 2015–2019 Members of the Polish Sejm 2019–2023 Members of the Polish Sejm 2023–2027 Recipients of the Gold Cross of Merit (Poland) Women members of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland