Mercer College of Drugs professor continues household legacy

Dr. Anthony Kondracki was born within the Alabama hospital the place his mom was doing her household medication residency. As he grew up, he witnessed the time, consideration and care she supplied to her sufferers, which impressed him to pursue a medical profession as properly. 

As a Mercer College of Drugs-Savannah college member at this time, Dr. Kondracki takes a particular curiosity in instructing and mentoring future medical doctors and conducting analysis that focuses on maternal and baby well being. 

Dr. Kondracki’s dad and mom, Dr. Elizabeth Kondracka and the late Alex Kondracki, have been born in Warsaw, Poland, and moved to america within the mid-Nineteen Seventies so they might “dwell in a free and democratic nation and to satisfy the ‘American dream,’” he stated. His mom, who had already earned her medical diploma in Warsaw, accomplished her first yr of household medication residency in Lubbock, Texas, and last two years in Anniston, Alabama, the place Dr. Tony Kondracki was born. 

“My sufferers grew to become my adopted household, and I liked caring for them by making myself accessible as the need arose,” Dr. Kondracka stated. “My son typically accompanied me throughout my weekend hospital rounds on the ICU, new child nursery and within the nursing services, to find what I did the place I used to be day-after-day when he missed me.”

Dr. Kondracka, now 77, operated a profitable personal apply in Central Florida for a few years. When on the lookout for a brand new residence for her medical tools following her current retirement, Mercer College of Drugs was the pure alternative. 

“Donating my medical workplace tools to Mercer College of Drugs, an establishment concerned in coaching future household physicians, evokes gratitude and brings me nice satisfaction of getting a private reference to physicians like myself, who selected to dedicate their life to unselfish concern for others,” Dr. Kondracka stated.

The College of Drugs is grateful for this donation, stated Dean Jean Sumner, M.D.

“We’re additionally impressed by the story of Dr. Kondracki’s household and their legacy of service. We’re honored to have Dr. Kondracki on our college,” she stated.

Dr. Kondracka handed down quite a lot of provides, together with lab coats, blood strain cuffs, a wall-mounted blood strain monitor, a Wooden’s lamp for analyzing the scalp, stethoscopes, needle holders, glucometers, otoscopes and ophthalmoscope chargers. 

“My mom liked household medication and her sufferers,” Dr. Kondracki stated. “As a doctor, she took the time to take heed to her sufferers and to look after them and their entire household, from newborns to the aged. This impressed and touched me personally. It impressed me to pursue a profession in medication.”

When it got here to his schooling, Dr. Kondracki opted to return to his ancestral roots. He earned his medical diploma on the prestigious Jagiellonian College School of Drugs, which provides medical packages for English audio system, in Krakow, Poland.

“Dwelling there made me really feel like part of that historical past and, on the identical time, I used to be near my household. I might get right into a prepare and journey to Warsaw in solely two hours and see my grandmother,” Dr. Kondracki stated. “I additionally met many attention-grabbing classmates from completely different corners of the world. The worldwide medical schooling gave me a style of how medication in Europe is de facto completely different from that of the USA. I had an opportunity to see numerous attention-grabbing circumstances, and I additionally obtained a style of rural medication.”

Feeling drawn extra to a research-based profession, Dr. Kondracki returned to america and earned a Grasp of Public Well being at Tulane College College of Public Well being and Tropical Drugs and a Ph.D. at College of Maryland College of Public Well being. He additionally accomplished a postdoctoral fellowship in epidemiology and biostatistics at Florida Worldwide College School of Public Well being and Social Work.

Becoming a member of the school at Mercer College of Drugs-Savannah in 2021 allowed Dr. Kondracki to mix his pursuits and passions. 

“I used to be eager about an instructional place in instructing and mentoring college students. On the identical time, I’m eager about analysis as properly. The place I’m in has each,” he stated.

Within the Division of Group Drugs, Dr. Kondracki teaches programs in habits science idea, public well being apply and interdisciplinary analysis strategies. He additionally conducts analysis with a deal with maternal and baby well being on the particular person and neighborhood degree, typically taking a look at exposures throughout being pregnant and antagonistic being pregnant outcomes. This sort of information can be utilized to tell practitioners and assist sufferers make more healthy selections, he stated. 

“I take pleasure in analyzing giant nationwide and state information units and using superior epidemiological strategies of investigation,” Dr. Kondracki stated. “My long-term analysis targets are to discover city/rural well being disparities in well being and well being care and elements contributing to excessive maternal morbidity within the state of Georgia.”

He acquired a Provost Seed Grant for this analysis associated to Georgia maternal mortality elements and hopes to complete the examine by this summer season.