Medical University of Białystok (MUB)

Medical University of Białystok (MUB) is a leading public medical university in northeastern Poland, internationally recognized for its strengths in medical education, clinical research, and population health. The university combines strong academic programs with advanced clinical infrastructure and large-scale epidemiological research platforms, enabling translational research across prevention, diagnosis, and public health policy.

Within MUB, the Department of Population Medicine and Lifestyle Diseases Prevention, closely linked to the university’s Population Research Centre, plays a central role in population-based and preventive medicine research. The department coordinates and scientifically leads the Białystok PLUS cohort − a deeply phenotyped population study integrating extensive clinical examinations, standardized imaging (including whole-body and brain MRI), neurocognitive testing, lifestyle and behavioural data, and a large, high-quality biobank of blood, urine, saliva, and stool samples stored at −80 °C 

The department’s research focuses on the prevention of lifestyle-related and non-communicable diseases, including cardiometabolic, respiratory, neurological, dental/oral, and mental health conditions. It brings strong expertise in human biomonitoring, longitudinal cohort follow-up, and multi-system health linkage, with established analytical pipelines and quality-controlled protocols suitable for large-scale population studies. Through its integration of clinical, biological, behavioural, and imaging data, the department provides a powerful platform for studying environmental exposures and their impacts on human health, supporting evidence-based prevention strategies, risk communication, and public health policy at both national and European levels.