On 1 October 1994, the Department of Hygiene and Medical Prophylaxis at the Faculty of Medicine of the Medical Academy of Lodz was opened.

On 25 January 1996, the name of the department was changed into the Department of Public Health. It was one of the first units of this kind run in medical schools in Poland. Seven years later, on 1 October 2001, the department was converted into the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Medical Academy of Lodz. On 1 October 1997, the Faculty of Medicine of the Medical Academy of Lodz opened the Department of Nursing, which, in May 2003, was changed into the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery.

On 30 June 2010, the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery and the Faculty of Health Sciences were merged into one and called the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Fields of study

Public Health – first- and second-cycle studies

First-cycle studies last 3 years (6 semesters). The teaching programme comprises not only medical and biological subjects but also those closely related to management of health care. Students are offered a wide array of optional courses. Thus, they can broaden their knowledge and stimulate interests. Moreover, the  teaching programme enables students to gain practical skills while doing their work placement, which is held after the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd year of studies (in total: 680 hours). In the course of studies students can choose between two specialities: Administration in Health Protection and Medical Caregiver.

Second-cycle studies last 2 years (4 semesters). After the first year, students can choose one of five specialities: Organization and Management in Health Protection; Medical Law in Health Protection; Health Promotion; Health and Care Insurance; Epidemiology, Statistics and Medical Informatics and also Emergency Medicine and Crisis Management (for graduates in Emergency Medicine).

After completing the above specialities graduates are prepared to hold managerial and low-level positions in health protection programmes and prophylaxis as well as to be administrative employees in health care institutions, sanitary and epidemiological inspection institutions and other institutions providing health care services.

Dietetics – first- and second-cycle studies

First-cycle studies last 3 years (6 semesters), whereas second-cycle studies last 2 years (4 semesters). The teaching programme comprises courses in Medical Biology and Medicine and also Health Sciences. Dietetics, being a field of study, is closely connected with studies at the Faculty of Medicine or the Faculty of Health Sciences. Students are offered a wide range of optional courses, which enables them to broaden their knowledge and stimulate interests. The teaching programme for students of first-cycle studies includes extensive vocational training, which makes them become well-prepared specialists in Dietetics and Nutrition in the future.

A Dietetics graduate is prepared to continue their studies (second-cycle studies in the field of Dietetics as well as Public Health) and possesses skills which enable them to seek employment in dietetics centres and other health care centres where they can use their general and specialist knowledge of preparing nutrition plans and preventing nutrition-related diseases as well as evaluate a nutrition state with the application of specialist equipment.

Emergency Medicine – first-cycle studies

First-cycle studies last 3 years (6 semesters). The field of Emergency Medicine includes elements of medical sciences, health sciences and physical culture sciences. The teaching programme which combines knowledge derived from so many scientific fields allows students to identify various life threats and health hazards, understand health policy guidelines in the modern world and acquire skills needed to perform medical emergency activities in a person whose life and health have been put at risk, regardless of a reason. The curriculum includes a lot of clinical subjects and vocational training. Due to them students gain practical skills in the future profession of a paramedic.

Emergency Medicine graduates can continue their studies by enrolling in the field of Public Health, with its unique specialization: Emergency Medicine and Crisis Management.

Nursing – first- and second-cycle studies

In the Division of Nursing and Midwifery of the Faculty of Health Sciences students can obtain both Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Nursing. The studies last 6 and 4 semesters, respectively. Standards of teaching for Nursing include general knowledge and specialist knowledge subjects. Students do vocational placement in hospitals, health centres, centres of occupational medicine, educational and upbringing institutions, nursing homes, units of emergency services, sheltered workshops for the disabled, secondary schools and universities – after completing a methodological specialization. Nursing graduates are sufficiently qualified to work in the above institutions and open their own business activity with a view of rendering medical and nursing services, counselling on prophylaxis and medical education, including services performed in the patient’s home.

Midwifery– first- and second-cycle studies

Midwifery students studying at the Division of Nursing and Midwifery of the Faculty of Health Sciences can obtain either the degree of Bachelor or Master. The studies last 6 and 4 semesters, respectively. The standards of teaching for Midwifery include general knowledge subjects (e.g. Anatomy, Physiology, Embryology and Genetics, Physical Examination, Psychology, Sociology, Pedagogy, Law) and specialist subjects, in particular, Basics of Midwifery Care, Midwifery Techniques and Attending Birth, Basics of Health Care, Midwifery and Midwifery Care, Gynaecology and Gynaecological Care, Neonatology and Neonatal Care, Paediatrics and Paediatric Nursing, Rehabilitation in Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Neonatology, Philosophy and Ethics of the Midwifery Job, Emergency Medicine. A graduate can arrange and supervise gynaecological, midwifery and nursing care, put the most recent knowledge into practice, improve care standards by cooperating with other team members, implement new methods, techniques and organizational solutions as well as identify measures which are going to be implemented.

Scientific and student achievements

In 2012 – 2014, employees of the Faculty of Health Sciences published 483 Impact Factor (IF) research studies. In the parametric classification of scientific institutions the Faculty of Health Sciences was granted A category and was considered a very good faculty by the Committee for Evaluation of Scientific Units.

The faculty is empowered to confer the following scientific degrees:

• habilitated doctor of Medical Sciences in Medical Biology
• habilitated doctor of Medical Sciences in Medicine
• habilitated doctor of Health Sciences
• doctor of Medical Sciences in Medicine
• doctor of Medical Sciences in Medical Biology
• doctor of Health Sciences

Faculty units take part in important international research projects, e.g. 7^th Framework Project, the European Union Healthy Ageing Research Centre (HARC). They also realize many projects, financed or co-financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the National Science Centre, the National Centre for Research and Development, the Foundation for Polish Science, the Norwegian Financial Mechanism or the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism.

In 2014, a UNESCO unit, Chair in Bioethics, was opened at the Department of Bioethics of the Chair of Humanities. The objective of the organization is to coordinate the work of institutions all around the world which run courses in Medical Ethics in universities. It adjusts curricula of the above course to advancement in biomedical sciences and requirements of a particular medical university. 

Among academics of the Faculty of Health Sciences, nurses and midwives are employed in multi-aspect medical centres. Due to it, they have an opportunity to introduce ingenious solutions which might affect everyday life of the healthy and sick, daily work of various organizations, local surroundings or the profession itself. Innovations in nursing improve health care all over the world. Positive results of an evaluation conducted by the Polish Accreditation Committee and National Council for Science and Higher Education prove the fact that the Division of Nursing and Midwifery of the Faculty of Health Sciences is becoming more and more important.

The Division of Nursing and Midwifery not only runs the first- and second-cycle studies. It also organizes many post-graduate and specialization courses.

The division closely cooperates with representatives of the nursing and midwifery community, representatives of other medical professions, both from the Lodz Region and from the whole country. Moreover, it also cooperates with other higher medical schools. The Centre for Research and Development of the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP®), an institution affiliated and accredited by the International Council of Nurses, operates within structures of the Medical University of Lodz.

Students of the Faculty of Health Sciences actively participate in works of student scientific groups:

1. Student Scientific Group of Dietetics
   The Polish Society of Dietetics organizes annual National Dietetics Conferences – Congressus Dietetica. The conferences are held under the patronage of the Medical University of Lodz. Members of the Polish Society of Dietetics are students and graduates in Dietetics. Until now there have been five conferences and the last one, i.e. 5^th Conference, was attended by 800 participants.

2. Dr Adam Rasmus Student Scientific Group of Emergency and Disaster Medicine
   • actively participates in national competitions of emergency medicine;
   • provides medical emergency services during mass events;
   • runs first aid training sessions.

3. Student Scientific Group of Young Managers at the Department of Health Care Management
4. Student Scientific Group at the Chair of Health Care Policy
5. Student Scientific Group of Epidemiology and Public Health
6. Student Scientific Group of Clinical Nursing at the Chair of Nursing Education
7. Student Scientific Group of the Polish Nurses’ Association
8. Student Scientific Group at the Second Chair of Gynaecology and Obstetrics.