Witold Chodźko
Witold Chodźko (1875–1954) was a Polish social activist, freemason, public health pioneer, neurologist and psychiatrist. Witold Chodźko was born on 1 November 1875 in Piotrków Trybunalski and graduated in 1899 cum eximia laude from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Warsaw. He had internships in neurology and psychiatry in Paris and Graz, then worked as a psychiatrist in Lublin hospitals, was active in the educational-charitable association "Light", and was one of the founders of the Society "A Drop of Milk", an institution that ran in Lublin an infant feeding program. In the years 1907-1914 he was the director of a psychiatric hospital in Kochanówka near Lodz, which he expanded and modernized. He created there departments of therapy and rehabilitation through work-related activities. Together with his medical team Chodzko conducted active scientific research. During that period he represented Polish psychiatry at international congresses. During the First World War he was director of the St. John of God hospital in Warsaw, and in 1916 he was elected to the City Council. At that time he became involved in the organization of public health care. From 1918 to 1923 he was Undersecretary of State, then Minister in the first Polish Ministry