The Department of General Chemistry was established in 1948 as one of the first organizational units created at the Silesian Academy of Medicine in the same year. The inaugural lecture of the University was indeed a lecture on chemistry, delivered on October 20, 1948, by Prof. Stanisław Prebendowski – the organizer of the establishment of the Department and its first Head. In its initial period of operation, with very limited equipment, materials, and apparatus, and facing significant staffing difficulties, primarily thanks to Assoc. Prof. Prebendowski's personal commitment, the Department was able to fulfill its educational and mentoring duties. After his passing in 1964, for the next two years, the Department continued its educational and scientific activities under the guidance of curators appointed by the University authorities (successively Prof. R. Wróblewski, Prof. S. Jóźkiewicz, Prof. J. Szaflarski), and directly overseeing the functioning of the Department was Zygmunt Rutkowski BEng, PhD.
Upon assuming the leadership of the Department and the Chemistry Department by Prof. Tadeusz Wilczok (in 1966), a complete reconstruction of the Department took place, equipping it with modern research apparatus. All premises were modernized, a new exercise room for students, new laboratories, a library, and a modern isotope laboratory were established. The team of Department employees during this period was one of the leading teams in the country and in the world, specializing in the conformation of biopolymers and DNA.
In 1971, due to the reorganization of existing departments and the establishment of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Silesian Academy of Medicine (ŚlAM), the Minister of Health and Social Welfare established the Institute of Medical Chemistry and Physics. For a short period of time, the Department of General Chemistry formally ceased its activities. In 1973, at the suggestion of the Rector of ŚlAM, the Minister of Health established the Department of General Chemistry at the Institute of Biological and Physiological Sciences, with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Józef Stanosek appointed as its Head.
The late 1970s and early 1980s were the most challenging period in the history of the Department. Along with Prof. T. Wilczok, a significant portion of the most experienced staff left for Sosnowiec to join the Faculty of Pharmacy. The equipment of the Department was considerably depleted, and the supply of even the most basic equipment, reagents, and laboratory glassware, not renewed for years, was insufficient. By 1985, the academic staff of the Department had dwindled to two people, research activities had ceased, and the Department only fulfilled basic teaching duties.
In 1985, following a competition announced by the Rector of ŚlAM, Assoc. Prof. Danuta Bodzek from the Polish Academy of Sciences took over the leadership of the Department. She brought in a group of four chemists – experienced scientific and teaching staff from the Silesian University of Technology and the Institute of Carbochemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Gliwice. Effectively, from 1985, the Department of General Chemistry was rebuilt from scratch. After a renovation that included the modernization of premises, the team began the painstaking process of rebuilding the material base. With the support of the Faculty and the University authorities, the department was able to equip itself with the most necessary scientific research equipment and set up the first laboratories: Applied Spectroscopy, Chromatographic Analysis, and GC-MS. This enabled the commencement of research focused on the analysis of toxic organic compounds polluting the environment of Upper Silesia. At the same time, teaching activities were significantly modernized to meet the requirements of the new curriculum in Medical Academies.
Since that time, the Department of Chemistry (for many years part of the Department of Biochemistry, but functioning as a separate unit both in terms of location and teaching and research activities) and subsequently the Department and the Institute of Chemistry have continued to develop steadily. It enriched itself with new equipment, took on new research challenges, and expanded scientific cooperation with centers in the country and abroad. Under the guidance of Prof. Danuta Bodzek, it became one of the leading organizational units of the University.
On October 19, 2006, Prof. Danuta Bodzek left us at the peak of her scientific and organizational capabilities. With deep sorrow, we bid farewell to a magnificent leader, scientist, educator, and a great friend to students.
In 2010, following a competition announced by the Rector of Medical University of Silesia, the Department was taken over by Prof. Krystyna Tyrpień-Golder and since 2021, the Department has been under the leadership of Aleksanda Damasiewicz-Bodzek MD, PhD, DSc.