In memoriam: Professor Waldemar Lech Olszewski, PhD, MD. September 3, 1931 - November 8, 2020.

In Memoriam: Professor Waldemar Lech Olszewski passed away on November 8th. He was born on September 3, 1931 In Poland. Graduated in 1954, he passed Board in Surgery exams in 1962, received degrees of Doctor of Philosophy in 1962 and Doctor of Science in 1968. Since 1970 Olszewski has been an associate professor at the Department of Surgery of the Warsaw Medical Academy, and the Medical Research Center at Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. In 1978 he received a full professor degree at the same centers, and became chairman of the Clinical Department of Surgery, Ministry of Internal Affaires/Polish Academy of Science Hospital, Warsaw. For over 50 years Professor Olszewski carried out research on the lymphatic system. He has made many important discoveries related to lymphatic system functioning. However, Professor Olszewski's clinical and research activities were not limited to the lymphatic system and included vascular surgery, transplantation, physiology and surgery of the lymphatic system and immunology. His most important scientific contributions include designing and introducing into clinical practice the surgical lympho-venous shunts (1966), discovery of spontaneous rhythmic lymphatic contractility in humans (1980), proving that bacterial factors are responsible for development of human limb lymphedema (1994), introducing low-dose, long-term penicillin administration for prevention of chronic dermatitis and lymphangitis in Asian countries (1996), detecting the phenomenon of nonspecific elimination of cell grafts (1990), preservation of tissues for transplantation in dehydrating sodium chloride (2003). His last years encompassed substantial work on fluid hydromechanics in tissue edema. Recently, he developed a new method for treating lymphedema with the aid of subcutaneously implanted silicone drains. He authored and coauthored five scientific books and over 600 research papers.