First RSU Council Meeting of the Year

In accordance with Paragraph 7 of the Regulations regarding the commencement of activities of the Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Council, RSU Rector, Professor Aigars Pētersons has convened the first meeting of the RSU Council on Wednesday, 23 February. The Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson will be elected during the meeting.

Composition of the RSU Council

Council members nominated by the RSU Senate

On 23 November 2021, the RSU Senate nominated five experienced and highly professional candidates to work in the RSU Council: Professor Dace Gardovska, Head of the Department of Paediatrics, Professor Andris Jumtiņš, Head of the Department of Orthopaedics, Kārlis Kupčs, Associate Professor at the Department of Radiology, Assistant Professor Dins Šmits, and Juris Lācis, Chairman of the Board of the North Kurzeme Regional Hospital. 

Prof. (Dr. habil. med.) Dace Gardovskais a full member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences. She has been the Head of the Department of Pediatrics of the RSU Faculty of Medicine and Head of the Clinic of Paediatric Infectious Diseases of Children’s University Hospital since 1998. Prof. Gardovska was the Dean of the RSU Faculty of Postgraduate Education from 1997 to 2004. The Professor has supervised ten doctoral theses, and the implementation of a number of important research projects, some as part of national research programmes. Prof. Gardovska has developed and led several programmes and courses in paediatrics. She is an expert on the Latvian Council of Science and has written many internationally cited scientific publications. Prof. Gardovska is an RSU Senator, a Member of the RSU Council of Professors, the RSU Faculty of Residency and the Faculty of Medicine. She is an Officer of the Cross of Recognition and has won the Andrejs Priedkalns Award.

Professor (Dr. med.) Andris Jumtiņš has over 30 years of experience in academia. He has been the Head of the Department of Orthopaedics at the RSU Faculty of Medicine since 2009, as well as an orthopaedist at the Hospital of Traumatology and Orthopaedics. From 2013 to 2016, Prof. Jumtiņš was the Vice-Dean of the RSU Faculty of Medicine. In 2014, he established the RSU Young Physicians Academy. Prof. Jumtiņš has been a Member of the Board of the Doctors Safe Train Training Centre since 2013, which was established jointly by RSU and the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies. He is the author of over 200 scientific publications and has supervised three doctoral thesis defenses. He has performed demonstration operations in Latvia and abroad and wrote the book Traumatoloģija un ortopēdija (Traumatology and Orthopaedics - Ed.), which is the first textbook for medical students published on this topic in Latvian. Highly valued modern training methods in traumatology and orthopaedics have been introduced under the professor’s guidance. Prof. Jumtiņš was one of the founders of the Latvian Association of Traumatology and Orthopaedics. The Professor is the winner of the Pauls Stradiņš Award in Medicine (2020), and an Officer of the Order of the Three Stars. As an RSU Senator, and since 2018 also the Deputy Chairman of the RSU Senate, Prof. Jumtiņš is involved in the RSU Senate Presidium and RSU Council of Professors.

Associate Professor (Dr. med.) Kārlis Kupčs has more than 20 years of experience in establishing international cooperation with the world's leading universities and clinics. Assoc. Prof. Kupčs has been training at Uppsala University Hospital in Sweden and elsewhere in the world since 2001, has led many demonstration operations and performed at international congresses, establishing and strengthening extensive international cooperation in the field of medical education and research. Assoc. Prof. Kupčs is the Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Society of Interventional Radiology. Two doctoral thesis defenses have been held under his leadership. Assoc. Prof. Kupčs has been working at the Department of Radiology at the RSU Faculty of Medicine since 2010 and has lead the Diagnostic Radiology Institute of Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital since 2011. In 2007, he established the clinic DiaMed, where he is also the Medical Director. Assoc. Prof. Kupčs established and is the Head of the Interventional Radiology residency programme.

Assistant Professor (Dr. med.) Dins Šmits has 22 years of experience in the strategic management of large companies. He led the GlaxoSmithKline headquarters in Latvia for 15 years starting from 1998. From 2014 to 2015 he was the Chairman of the Board of Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital and from 2013 to 2017 he was Chairman of the RSU Convent of Councillors. He has held senior positions in the Repharm Health Group companies since 2016, where he is currently the Deputy Chairman of the Council. Šmits was elected as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology of the RSU Faculty of Public Health and Social Welfare. He has been the Chairman of the Board of the RSU Alumni Association since 2017. Asst. Prof. Šmits is an international research project manager and is engaged in solving issues related to patient adherence and medical technology. He is also an expert of the Latvian Council of Science.

Juris Lācis has 26 years of work experience in the field of finance. Since 2017, he has been the Chairman of the Board of the North Kurzeme Regional Hospital. From 2014 to 2015, Lācis was the Head of the Finance Department at Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital. Between 2010 and 2013, he was the RSU Vice-Rector for Administration and a Member of the Board of the RSU Institute of Stomatology. He worked as the Chief Financial Officer and a Member of the Board at Linstow Center Management from 2007 to 2010. From 2004 to 2007, Lācis was ALSTOM's Financial Controller in Northern Europe. He worked in the Tax Working Group of the Foreign Investors Council in Latvia for three years from 2007. Between 1995 and 1999, he was a senior specialist of the Monetary Policy Department at Latvijas Banka. Lācis has been Member of the RSU Convent of Councillors since 2018.

Members selected by the Ministry of Health in an open competition

The Nomination Commission established by the Ministry of Health has nominated five candidates for the RSU Council: Gundars Katlaps, Kārlis Ketners, Osvalds Pugovičs, Peter Goretzki and Przemysław Rzodkiewicz.

Gundars Katlaps is the Chief of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Section at Tampa General Hospital. He obtained PhD in Surgery at the Medical Academy of Latvia and Stanford University and completed his post-graduate studies at the Medical College of Virginia and the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge. Dr. Katlaps has many years of experience in leading positions in medical institutions in Virginia and Florida, as well as in the field of medical research and education. He has been the Head of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency Programme for several years. From 2014 to 2019 he was the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Latvia to the USA (State of Virginia).

Doctor of Economics Kārlis Ketners is the Director of the Budget Policy Development Department of the Ministry of Finance and Professor at the Department of Economics and Finance at the BA School of Business and Finance. Ketners was previously the State Secretary and Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Health, as well as an Associate Professor at Riga Technical University.

Doctor of Chemistry Osvalds Pugovičs has been the Director of the Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis since 2015. Before this he was the Deputy Director for many years. Dr. Pugovičs is a Member of the Study Programme Council at Rīga Stradiņš University, a Member of the Board of the Association of Latvian Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry and the Chairman of the Board of the National Research Institute Association.

Professor Peter Goretzki established and is the Head of Endocrine Surgery Department at one of the world's largest university hospitals, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and is a Board Member of the International Association of Endocrine Surgeons. Prof. Goretzki was the Chief Surgeon at the Academic Hospital Marien Duesseldorf, Professor at the Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf, Member of the Senate, etc. He is the author of over 440 scientific publications.

Doctor of Medical Science Przemysław Rzodkiewicz is the Director of the Public Health Inspectorate of the Masovian Voivodeship in Warsaw. He worked at the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate of Poland, was an Assistant Professor at the Medical University of Warsaw, a Member of the Council of the Quality Assurance Foundation, a Member of the General Council of Higher Education, and Head of Department at the National Institute of Geriatrics, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation. Dr. Rzodkiewicz obtained PhD in Medical Biology and a Master's degree in Pharmaceutical Science at the Medical University of Warsaw, as well as obtained EMBA at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics.

Member of the Council nominated by the President of Latvia