We are pleased to announce that the UPJŠ Faculty of Medicine in Košice has a new professor in the field of Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine. Prof. doc. et doc. PhDr. Magdaléna Hagovská, PhD., Cert. MDT, MPH is a physiotherapist with 26 years of professional experience, having worked at our faculty for the past 16 years. She became the first professor in this field in Slovakia and the third in the former Czechoslovak Republic.
The Process of Obtaining the Title
The journey to becoming a professor was exceptionally demanding. Since it was not possible to achieve this title in Slovakia despite fulfilling all the necessary criteria, Prof. Hagovská reached out to the Vice-Dean for Science and Research at the 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague. After a preliminary evaluation of her scientific and pedagogical materials, she received approval to proceed with the habilitation process. The evaluation considered her scientific publications, first authorships, citations in the Web of Science (WoS) database, H-index, research innovation, teaching workload, grant projects, and participation in international conferences. Following the approval, she submitted her inauguration dossier for review by the Inauguration Committee. The topic of her inaugural lectures was “Comprehensive Rehabilitation of Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunctions.” Her first lecture before the Scientific Council of the 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, received 50 positive and only 3 negative votes. She later presented her lecture before the Scientific Council of Charles University, receiving 47 positive and only 3 negative votes.
Professional and Research Achievements
Prof. Hagovská is an internationally recognized expert in gynecological and urological rehabilitation. She has published 24 scientific papers on these topics in high-impact journals indexed in the Current Contents Connect (CCC) database. She also became the first representative from Slovakia to serve on the World Physiotherapy Committee of the International Continence Society. Prof. Hagovská specializes in treating patients with conditions such as chronic pelvic pain, neurogenic bladder, stress incontinence, overactive bladder, pelvic organ prolapse, rectus abdominis diastasis, back pain, and joint disorders. In collaboration with the University of Auckland in New Zealand, she participated in research on pelvic floor load in female athletes during various types of sports activities. In the future, she plans to develop a PhD program in the field of Physiotherapy at our faculty.
We sincerely congratulate Prof. Magdaléna Hagovská on this significant achievement and look forward to her continued professional and research activities at the UPJŠ Faculty of Medicine in Košice.
