Nobel Laureate Ambros Receives Polish Citizenship

Victor Ambros, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, has announced that he has received Polish citizenship. Ambros sought Polish citizenship in order to honour his family "and all those who fought and survived so that I could exist today", and expressed hope that there would be "additional opportunities to help improve the international position of Polish science, especially in the field of biomedical research".

Ambros, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, discovered the first known microRNA, for which he was awarded the prestigious distinction. According to the Institute of National Remembrance, Ambros's Polish father was deported to the Third Reich as a slave laborer during World War II.

Ambros's father, Longin, was born in 1923 in what was then the village of Dordziszki in Poland but which, after postwar border changes, is now Dordishki in Belarus. He later attended high school in the city then known as Wilno, and which was part of Poland, but is now Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. When his father moved to the US in the 1950s, many immigrants did not pass their native language on to their children.

For expats and families: If you have ancestors from Poland or are seeking citizenship to honor your heritage, Ambros's path demonstrates one route available to foreigners with Polish family ties. The Institute of National Remembrance and your local consulate can help verify ancestry claims, which is one of the main pathways to Polish citizenship.

Sources

• Notes from Poland — American Nobel laureate receives Polish citizenship
• TVP World — US Nobel Prize winner applies for Polish citizenship