# Stefania Jabłońska

Stefania Jabłońska (born Szela Ginzburg; 7 September 1920 – 8 May 2017) was a Polish physician and professor specializing in dermatology. She worked at the Medical University of Warsaw.
In 1972, she theorized the association of human papilloma viruses with skin cancer in epidermodysplasia verruciformis.
In 1978, Jabłońska and Gerard Orth at the Pasteur Institute discovered HPV-5 in skin cancer. Jabłońska was awarded the 1985 Robert Koch Prize.
She was a recipient of the National Order of Merit and the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

## Biography

She was born as Szela Ginzburg in 1920 in Mogilev, present-day Belarus, and at the age of six moved to Warsaw. Later known as Stefania Jabłońska, she earned her high school diploma in 1937 in Warsaw, where she began to study medicine in the same year at the Medical University of Warsaw. In 1938 she moved to the University of Lviv and a year later to Kyrgyz Technical University, where she graduated in 1942 with a medical degree. She then served two years in the military.
She specialized in dermatology, worked for a year at the Soviet Science Academy in the Department of Pathology, and in 1946 in the Department of Dermatology of the Medical University of Warsaw. With a grant from the World Health Organization in 1949, she spent a year at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jabłońska earned a Doctor of Science in 1950. In 1951 she qualified as a professor. Jabłońska was appointed to head dermatology at the Medical University of Warsaw in 1954. She became professor emeritus in 1990. She died on 8 May 2017, age 96.

## Awards and honors

A partial list of Jabłońska's honors and awards.

### State decorations

| Ribbon bar | Award or decoration | Country | Date | Place | Note |
| | National Order of Merit | France | 1998 | | France's highest order of merit. |
| | Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta | Poland | 1991 | | One of Poland's highest orders. |

### Orders and awards

| Award or decoration | Country | Date | Place | Note |
| Robert Koch Prize | Germany | 1985 | | Awarded in recognition of outstanding contributions to medical science. |

### Membership

| Honor/award | Location | Date | Notes |
| Membership in the Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium | Brussels, Belgium | 1986 | |
| Membership in the Committee on Immunology of the Polish Academy of Sciences | Warsaw, Poland | 1986 | |
| Membership in the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina | Halle, Germany | 1964 | |
| Membership in the committee of the International League of Dermatological Societies | London, UK | 1964 | First Pole elected. |

### Honorary
#### Non-dermatological

| Honor/award | Location | Date |
| Honorary membership in the Royal Medical Society | Edinburgh, Scotland | 1984 |
| Honorary membership in the College of Physicians of Philadelphia | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States | 1983 |
| Honorary membership in the American College of Rheumatology | Atlanta, Georgia, United States | 1981 |
| Honorary membership in the Argentine Medical Association | Buenos Aires, Argentina | 1972 |

#### Dermatological

| Honor / award | Location | Date |
| Honorary membership in the American Dermatological Association | United States | 1964 |
| Honorary membership in the American Society for Investigative Dermatology | United States | 1974 |
| Honorary membership in the Association des Dermatologistes et Syphilidologues de Langue Francaise | France | 1964 |
| Honorary membership in the Argentinian Dermatological Association | Argentina | 1980 |
| Honorary membership in the Austrian Dermatological Association | Austria | 1959 |
| Honorary membership in the Belgium Dermatological Association | Belgium | 1966 |
| Honorary membership in the Berlin Dermatological Association | Germany | 1956 |
| Honorary membership in the Brazilian Dermatological Association | Brazil | 1965 |
| Honorary membership in the British Dermatological Association | United Kingdom | 1958 |
| Honorary membership in the Bulgarian Dermatological Association | Bulgaria | 1964 |
| Honorary membership in the Canadian Dermatological Association | Canada | 1984 |
| Honorary membership in the Danish Dermatological Association | Denmark | 1964 |
| Honorary membership in the Finnish Dermatological Association | Finland | 1966 |
| Honorary membership in the French Dermatological Association | France | 1964 |
| Honorary membership in the German Dermatological Association | Germany | 1962 |
| Honorary membership in the Georgian Dermatological Association | Georgia | 1974 |
| Honorary membership in the Greek Dermatological Association | Greece | 1964 |
| Honorary membership in the Hungarian Dermatological Association | Hungary | 1969 |
| Honorary membership in the Indian Dermatological Association | India | 1969 |
| Honorary membership in the International Society of Tropical Dermatology | | 1982 |
| Honorary membership in the Israel Dermatological Association | Israel | 1960 |
| Honorary membership in the Italian Dermatological Association | Italy | 1972 |
| Honorary membership in the Japanese Dermatological Association | Japan | 1980 |
| Honorary membership in the Kiev Dermatological Association | Ukraine | 1974 |
| Honorary membership in the Mexican Dermatological Association | Mexico | 1978 |
| Honorary membership in the Mexican Academy of Dermatology | Mexico | 1978 |
| Honorary membership in the Munich Dermatological Association | Germany | 1959 |
| Honorary membership in the Norwegian Dermatological Association | Norway | 1974 |
| Honorary membership in the Pacific Dermatological Association | | 1974 |
| Honorary membership in the Swedish Dermatological Association | Sweden | 1971 |
| Honorary membership in the Styrian Dermatological Association | Austria | 1978 |
| Honorary membership in the Tchekoslovak Dermatological Association | Czechoslovakia | 1967 |
| Honorary membership in the Thuring Dermatological Association | Austria | 1964 |
| Honorary membership in the Yugoslavian Dermatological Association | Yugoslavia | 1957 |
| Honorary membership in the Venezuela Dermatological Association | Venezuela | 1963 |