Executive Board

The scope of research is constantly being expanded and modified, in response to emerging threats and technological developments. Prof. Pyrć’s team specializes in viruses that pose a threat in the twenty-first century, i.e., coronaviruses, flaviviruses, alphaviruses, and influenza viruses. To better understand the processes in the human body, Prof. Pyrć and his team created a unique research workshop based on three-dimensional tissue cultures and the lab is currently working on reproducing the complex ecosystem of the human body. Thanks to the results of research by Prof. Pyrć, it has been possible to learn the course of the infection process for many human and animal viruses, which has led to the creation of new substances with therapeutic effects. 

Prof. Pyrć is the author of over 140 publications in, among others, Nature Medicine, Science Translational Medicine, PNAS, PloS Pathogens, Journal of Virology, and Science Signalling, which scholars have been cited over 7000 times in the world literature (h=41; WoS). Moreover, he is a reviewer and expert at science funding institutions in Poland and abroad (Horizon2020, ERC, FNP, NCN, and others). He holds advisory positions at the level of the European Commission and the Ministry of Health. He has been involved in advisory bodies of local governments, the Ministry of Science, the Prime Minister, and the President of Poland. 

He managed numerous research grants, including those under Horizon2020, IMI2, European Cooperation in Science and Technology, the National Science Center, the Foundation for Polish Science, the National Center for Research and Development, and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, as well as those funded by commercial entities. From 2009 to 2016, he was the Scientific Coordinator of the Molecular Biotechnology for Health program at Jagiellonian University. Since 2017, he has been a member of the Council of the Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology. In 2020, he was appointed to the advisory team of the Minister of Science and Higher Education ‘for activities related to the prevention, counteraction and eradication of COVID-19.’ He is deputy chairman of the advisory team on COVID-19 to the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences and a member of the program board of the Science Against Pandemic initiative. Member of the Medical Council to the Prime Minister. Expert of the Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Tariff System on the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 therapy. He is currently a member of the presidium of a committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences (infectious diseases, health problems associated with climate change). He is a member of the American Society for Virology (ASV), European Society for Virology (EuSV), Association of POLITYKA Scholars, Polish Society of Virology, and Polish Society of Cell Biology. Laureate of Foundation programs: START (2008) and POWROTY/HOMING (2008). Winner of numerous awards and honors, including: the POLITYKA weekly scholarship (2008), the European Society for Virology Award (2010), the Prize of the Minister of Science (2020), the title of the Man of the Year of Gazeta Krakowska (2021), the Nicolaus Copernicus Award of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2021), the City of Krakow Award (2021), the Saint Christopher Medal awarded by the Museum of the City of Krakow (2023), the Prize for Outstanding Achievements in Invention awarded by CITTRU (2023). He has topped the list of the most influential people in Polish medicine of Pulse of Medicine since 2021.

Prof. Pyrć was appointed to the position of President of the FNP’s Executive Board by the Foundation’s Council, effective September 1, 2025.

Recipient of the prestigious Distinguished Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship from the US Department of State at the Harvard Kennedy School (2022), and winner of the Nicolaus Copernicus Medal – the highest honour awarded by the Polish Academy of Sciences – for her work as part of the COVID-19 task force. Member of the Minister for Science’s advisory team on the strategy for the internationalisation of science and higher education (since 2025) and on the promotion of science abroad (since 2026).

She holds a PhD in Linguistics (Jagiellonian University), specialising in research into conceptual metaphors in political discourse. She has also completed the European Masters in Translation Studies and a Master’s degree in Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology. As part of her professional development, she has participated in numerous international programmes, including in Japan, the Netherlands and the USA.

She is the author and editor of publications on the internationalisation of the scientific sector, evidence-based policy and culture. She is the editor of the Polish Academy of Sciences’ anniversary book "In Search of a Better World: 20 Stories about Figures in Science" (2022). She is fluent in English, Italian and French.

In January 1999 he was appointed director of the Social Communication Department of the West Pomeranian Regional Health Fund. From March to December 2000 he was employed at the Szczecin Municipal Board Press Office. He was a member of the National Environmental Protection Fund?s Supervisory Board in 2001. He joined the Foundation for Polish Science in December 2000 as its director for development. Following a decision of the Foundation Council, he was appointed vice-president of the Foundation Board on 1 December 2001.