Tomáš Zima (born 2 July 1966) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

physician, chemist, and a teaching professor in the fields of biochemistry, clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine. He was the Rector of Charles University in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

between 2014 - 2022 and was a candidate in the 2023 Czech presidential election.

Academic career

Zima graduated from the First Faculty of Medicine of

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

in 1990. He has been a professor of medical chemistry and

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

since 2001 and head of the Institute of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine of the First Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital, Prague. He is a specialist in clinical chemistry, and European Specialist in Laboratory Medicine (EuSpLM). He was the Dean of the First Faculty of Medicine from 2005 to 2012 and then became Rector of the university. His main research interests include

oxidative stress Oxidative stress reflects an imbalance between the systemic manifestation of reactive oxygen species and a biological system's ability to readily detoxify the reactive intermediates or to repair the resulting damage. Disturbances in the normal ...

advanced glycation end-product Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are proteins or lipids that become Glycation, glycated as a result of exposure to sugars. They are a bio-marker implicated in aging and the development, or worsening, of many degenerative diseases, such as dia ...

s (AGEs), experimental

nephrology Nephrology is a specialty for both adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function (renal physiology) and kidney disease (renal pathophysiology), the preservation of kid ...

tumor marker A tumor marker is a biomarker that can be used to indicate the presence of cancer or the behavior of cancers (measure progression or response to therapy). They can be found in bodily fluids or tissue. Markers can help with assessing prognosis, s ...

s, and laboratory management and accreditation. He is the author of more than 440 articles, which are cited more than 2500 times in the

Science Citation Index The Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) is a citation index owned by Clarivate and previously by Thomson Reuters. It was created by the Eugene Garfield at the Institute for Scientific Information, launched in 1964 as Science Citation Index ( ...

, eight books and co-author of 71 chapters in books, with an

H-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

of 35. He has given more than 130 lectures outside the Czech Republic. Zima is a member of several scientific societies, including the Czech Medical Academy and Czech Learned Society and serves on Boards including the executive board of EFLM, and the Conferences and Congresses Committee of the

International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine The International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) is a global professional association that promotes the fields of clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine. It was established in Paris in 1952 as the Internationa ...

. He is a member of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

's Scientific Panel for Health (SPH).

Entry into politics

Tomáš Zima was a candidate in the 2023 Czech presidential election. He finished last of eight candidates in the first round on 14 January 2023, with 0.55%.

Political views

During his presidential campaign, Zima voiced his support for the

right to keep and bear arms The right to keep and bear arms (often referred to as the right to bear arms) is a legal right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property. The purpose of gun rights is for Self-defense#Armed, self ...

, describing it as a "matter of principle" for him. Zima said he owns two CZ pistols and trains in defensive gun use at a shooting range. He further commented that "any greater restrictions would be to the detriment of issues related to the protection of the freedom of individuals, but also of the state", stating that as president, he would veto restrictions on the legal possession of firearms by civilians.

Academic career

Entry into politics

Political views

References

See also