![[Wilk Stefan & Wanda Picture]](WilkS_02.JPG)
Stefan Wilk
Medical Doctor, humanitarian
by Gilllian Olechno-Huszcza
Stefan Piotr Wilk was born in a remote village in the Lwow region of south-eastern Poland in 1917. Orphaned by the age of eight, he was raised in several foster homes by people "with good hearts." He never had the opportunity for a normal education and yet he was able to reach the top of his profession with not only an M.D. degree in medicine but also a Ph.D. in Biochemistry.
From 1931 to 1935 he studied at the seminary in Niepokalanow, of which Saint Maximilian Kolbe was the founder and director. During the summers, while working as a bookbinder, he was exposed to many books on the "lndex Librorum Prohibitorum" (lndex of forbidden books), and was thus dissuaded from becoming a priest. He returned to his foster home near Lwow, where he worked as a tutor in Mathematics and French, earning enough money to obtain his high school diploma, and attended the Lwow Polytechnic where he studied mathematics and engineering. This came to an abrupt end with the outbreak of World War II on September 1, 1939.
After a brief internment by the Russians who invaded Poland from the east Stefan made his way via Yugoslavia to France where he joined the Polish Division attached to the French Army. With the collapse of France he was interned in Switzerland when the entire Polish Division retreated there. With help from the Kosciuszko Foundation he studied medicine at the military internees' camp at Winterthur and later at the University of Zurich School of Medicine. He obtained his medical degree in 1947 and then pursued his studies in Biochemistry, obtaining the equivalent of a Ph.D degree. He went on to the University of Bern where he specialized in Radiology.
In 1952 he emigrated to the United States and completed the requirements for obtaining a California license to practice medicine and obtained Radiology Board certification. In 1954 he was invited to join the faculty of the newly formed UCLA School of Medicine as Assistant Professor. In 1959 he became Director of Radiology at Queen of Angels Hospital, a major teaching hospital in the western United States at that time. Here he organized various training programs for specialization in Radiology for doctors and X-Ray technicians.
He authored many scientific papers and edited and translated two major textbooks on radiology from German into English. He was the first to introduce "Axial Transverse Tomography" and also remote transmission by TV-waves of x-ray images for diagnostic purposes-into the US. In 1962 he received a special award for a scientific exhibit on tomography from the Radiological Society of North America. In 1978 he became a Fellow of the American College of Radiology. He was named Doctor of the Year at Queen of Angels Hospital in 1978. In 1983 he received a Distinguished Service Award from Santa Marta Hospital. In 1986 he received the Regina Angelorum award from the same hospital.
He always supported his wife (Wanda) in her musical endeavors, and in 1983 he also received a Directors' Award from the University of Southern California School of Music. He received a Gold Medal from the Polish Composers' Union of Warsaw in 1988 and the following year along with his wife he was awarded the Polonia Award from the Polish American Congress. The ultimate accolade came in 1990 when he received the Doctor Honoris Causa from the Academy of Medicine in Warsaw for scientific, educational and humanitarian contributions.
In his spirit of humanitarian endeavor, as his expression of gratitude to a legion of benefactors who gave him a hand when he needed it to acquire an education, and thus made him what he became, he founded the Children's Medical Care Program in 1981 and then in 1986 he was the principal founder of the Children's Medical Care Foundation, a California tax exempt foundation. From 1981 to date he has organized fund raising events, arranged training programs while providing living arrangements for Polish physicians who come to the United States to learn the latest techniques in pediatric medicine. Begun in Los Angeles, this program has now spread to the East Coast of the United States, England and Germany.
Jointly with his wife he established and endowed the Polish Music Reference Center at the USC School of Music and has incorporated the Ars Musica Poloniae Foundation.
Truly a man of achievement, Stefan Wilk has risen from lowly beginnings to the epitome of success. Not only the medical fraternity has benefitted from his endeavors, but the Polish community has gained a supporter who will leave a tremendous legacy for the benefit of not only its members but also to the people of the world.
From: Polish Americans in California, vol. II. National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs & Polish American Historical Association. California 1995.
Stefan P. Wilk
Physician, radiologist
Born Sept. 2, 1917, Kamienobrod, Poland; came to U.S., 1952; son of Aleksander and Franciszka (Kowalska); married Wanda (Harasimowicz); child: Diane.
Education: Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), 1947, Ph.D., 1948, University of Zurich (Switzerland); Doctor honoris causa (Dr.h.c.), Warsaw Medical Academy (Poland), 1990.
Career: assistant prof., University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), 1954-57; assistant clinical prof., California College of Medicine, Irvine, 1962-64; staff radiologist, California Hospital, Los Angeles, 1957-59; staff radiologist, 1959 -, director, Department of Radiology, 1962-87, Queen of Angeles Hospital, Los Angeles; founder and director, School of X-Ray Technology, 1960-78; director, Department of Radiology, Santa Marta Hospital, Los Angeles, 1962-87; honorary chairman, Queens / Hollywood Medical Center, 1988.
Author: scientific exhibition, Axial Transverse Planigraphy of the Chest, American Roentgen Ray Society, 1957; editor and translator, The Spine in Health & Disease, 1959, and Borderlands of the Normal & Early Pathologic in Skeletal Roentgenology, 1968; numerous research papers in professional journals.
Member of, i.a.: American Medical Association (AMA); California Medical Association; Los Angeles County Medical Association; Los Angeles Radiological Society; Radiological Society of North America; California Radiological Society; American College of Radiology; founder and president, Children's Medical Care Foundation, Los Angeles; executive director, Friends of Polish Music, Los Angeles.
Honors: fellow, American College of Radiology; Doctor of the Year, 1978, Regina Angelorum, 1986, Queen of Angeles Hospital; Distinguished Service award, Santa Maria Hospital, 1983; directors award, University of South California School of Music, 1983; Gold Medal, Polish Composers Union (Poland), 1988; Polonia Award, Polish American Congress (P.A.C.), 1989.
Served with: Polish Armed Forces in the West (France), 1940; interned in Switzerland, 1940-46.
Affiliation: Republican. Catholic.
Languages: Polish, English, French, German, Spanish, Ukrainian.
Hobbies: golf, bridge, sailing.
Home: 3428 Wrightview Drive, Studio City, CA 91604.
From: "Who's Who in Polish America" 1st Edition 1996-1997, Boleslaw Wierzbianski editor; Bicentennial Publishing Corporation, New York, NY, 1996.