Assoc. prof. dr. J.P. Jitse van Dijk from the University of Groningen, who has been a long-time collaborator of the Faculty of Medicine of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, received a royal medal for his outstanding contribution to the development of knowledge in the field of public health in Europe. The medal has been awarded to the doctor and scientist on the fields of the University of Groningen by the mayor André van den Nadort of the Dutch town Ten Boer, where Jitse van Dijk lives.
The doctor is a long-time employee of the University Medical Center Groningen, where he is working as a researcher on the Department of Public Health. Even if he retired as a 66-year-old scientist, van Dijk is still an active employee and he continues to cooperate with the Faculty of Medicine of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. This more than 20-year-old collaboration has led to 27 defences of doctoral dissertations at the Faculty of Medicine under his supervision.
‘I am really happy for the award of Mr. Jitse van Dijk, and I am sure that it is in the right hands. His cooperation with the team of prof. Madarosvá Gecková from the Faculty of Medicine of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice significantly contributed to the scientific success of our university. We highly appreciate the successful rates for grant funding, the scientific outputs, and the educational results in case of the PhD students. I believe that Jitse van Dijk feels as an integral part of our university, since he actively collaborated with our Faculty of Science, later with the Faculty of Arts, and nowadays with the Faculty of Medicine. I wish him good health, a lot of creative ideas and I am looking forward to meeting him on the grounds of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice’ – said the rector of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, prof. RNDr. Pavol Sovák, CSc.
