Dr Jacek Kołcz, a surgeon from the Children's Cardiac Surgery Clinic from the Collegium Medicum JU, was awarded a prestigious award of the European Association For Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. The Congenital Heart Surgery Investigator Award was given to Dr Kołcz for the achievements and research on congenital heart defect, one of the most serious defects in children. His work is a result of a three-year research which was partially financed by the Minister of Education and Higher Education. In 2007-2010 the Kraków's Children's Cardiac Surgery Clinic operated 100 children suffering from congenital heart. The treatment of the defect is difficult, has many stages and demands money and innovative technologies.

The awarded research project was presented in Geneva during the 24th Congress of the European Association For Cardio-Thoracic Surgery and was  praised for its innovative character. The Polish doctors have described the indices which help to foresee the potential complications that might happen during the operation. The discovery was widely discussed during the Congress. The Congress was also an opportunity to present Dr Tomasz Mroczek's multimedia model of a congenital heart created with the help of a mathematical model.