User:IvanZg22/Ivo Jajić

Ivo Jajić (Bristivica, July 2, 1932 – Zagreb, June 10, 2010) Croatian rheumatologist of international repute, a full professor at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine, scientist and prolific author of 700 publications, of which 100 books and chapters, among which several firsts in Croatian medicine, is the author of  the first Croatian rheumatology textbook of the University of Zagreb, Klinička reumatologija (eng Clinical Rheumatology) in 1981, and the first  Croatian  extensive  monograph on rheumatic diseases, Reumatologija (eng  Rheumatology) in 1995.

He was a full member of the Croatian Academy of Medical Sciences,  a long time Head of the Department for Rheumatology, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of the University of Zagreb School of Medicine at Sestre Milosrdnice University Hospital Centre, founder and the Head of the Reference Centre for Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Croatia, and founder and the President of the Croatian League Against Rheumatism.

At the University of Zagreb School of Medicine, he established the new teaching  base of the School of Medicine in Zagreb - Department for Rheumatology, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of the Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital Centre in 1987 and was the Head of  the Department  until his retirement in 2001; he was the founder and  the Head  of the Postgraduate Specialist Study Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (1988–2001);  was the Head of the Department;  was  leader of  numerous continuing education courses for specialist doctors/subspecialists; and  full professor of rheumatology in a permanent position in cumulative employment who contributed  to improvement of education and medical  profession  of the rheumatology and physical medicine at the School.

He was a long time  Head of the Department for Rheumatology, Physical Medicine, and Rehabilitation of the University of Zagreb School of Medicine, Sestre Milosrdnice University Hospital Centre (1985–2001) in which Department he contributed significantly to the development of rheumatology through his scientific, professional, teaching and journalistic work,  he developed successful and fruitful international cooperation,  and the Department became the leading rheumatology centre in Croatia - he established and was the Head of the Reference Centre for Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Croatia (the only such centre ever established in the Republic of Croatia), making a significant step forward in the medical profession of rheumatology and physical medicine.

He founded the Croatian Society of Rheumatic Patients (1982) and was the founder and the President of the Croatian League Against Rheumatism (1992–2001), thus initiating and conducting organized education of rheumatic patients in Croatia. He established (1989) and was the editor-in-chief of the Croatian League Against Rheumatism journal Reumatičar. He was the initiator and author of numerous handbooks for patients published by the Croatian League Against Rheumatism.

He published more than 700 publications, of which 100 are books and book chapters, including several firsts in Croatian medical literature. He wrote the first Croatian textbook of the University of Zagreb on rheumatic diseases, Clinical Rheumatology (1981) and the first extensive Croatian monograph on rheumatic diseases, Rheumatology (1995).[5] His work was published in the Medical Encyclopaedia of the Miroslav Krleža  Institute of Lexicography. His published papers (more than 600) had a noticeable impact on the professional and scientific community, with more than 3,290 citations (until June 2020), and they are still quoted today in both journals and foreign textbooks.[6] The list of published works is available in the |Jaji%C4%87,%20Ivo%20%2814069%29|text|profile Croatian Scientific Bibliography (CROSBI).

He was the editor-in-chief of the journal Reumatizam – the journal of the Croatian Rheumatology Society of the Croatian Medical Association (1991–1998). In 1994, he founded the journal Fizikalna medicina i rehabilitacija - a journal of the Croatian medical profession of physical medicine and rehabilitation, and was its long-time editor-in-chief. He was a member of the editorial boards of internationally indexed journals.

In 1980 he established the Registry for Rheumatic Diseases in Croatia.

He was the project leader in a series of scientific projects of the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Croatia. He was the principal researcher in a series of Croatian and several major international scientific projects and pharmacological studies in rheumatology

He organized and led numerous international and Croatian rheumatology meetings: Ninth Congress of Rheumatologists of Yugoslavia, Zagreb (1984); First European Conference on Epidemiology of Rheumatic Diseases, Dubrovnik (1990); 18th European Osteoarthrology Symposium, Dubrovnik (1990); First Hypertrophic Osteoarthropathic Symposium, Florence (1992); Congress of Rheumatologists of Mediterranean Countries (planned to be held in Cavtat in 1992, cancelled due to the Homeland war in the Republic of Croatia); Second Hypertrophic Osteoarthropathic Symposium, Amsterdam (1995), and others.

He described several clinical discoveries in rheumatology: clinical tests, clinical and radiological signs, and immunological features of rheumatic diseases.[9] He described the Heel-Knee Test (named after him Jajić’s Heel-Knee Test) in the diagnosis of sacroiliitis (1999). In 1968, he described radiological changes in the sacroiliac joints and spine in patients with psoriatic arthritis, which is considered one of the first contributions to this clinical issue.[10] He published the first studies on histocompatibility antigens in rheumatic diseases (1975, 1977).[11] He is the co-author of the international consensus of clinicians on the definition, classification, and diagnostic criteria of hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (1993). He was the first to publish on radiological changes in flat bones in primary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (1998).

He chaired the Association of Rheumatologists of Yugoslavia, led several professional societies of the Croatian Medical Association and was the initiator of the establishment of a professional society of the Croatian Medical Association: initiator of the establishment and president of the Vertebrology Section, president of the Croatian Rheumatology Society, and president of the Rheumatology Section.

He was a member of numerous international and domestic, scientific, and professional associations and organizations, and represented Croatia in many of them. He is an honorary member of the rheumatology societies of several European countries and Russia, the Croatian Rheumatology Society, and the Croatian Medical Association.

Promoter of Croatian rheumatology, achieving successful and fruitful international cooperation with leading rheumatic centres and departments and the world’s leading experts and scientists in the field of rheumatology (Professor D. Hart, Professor J.M.H. Moll, Professor H. Julkunen, Professor B. Olhagen, Professor. A. Alander, Professor F. Lenoch, Professor A. Silman, Professor R. Grahame, Professor V.A. Nasonova, Professor R. Sturrock, Professor B. Amor and others).

He is the winner of the “Ruđer Bošković” award of the Government of the Republic of Croatia for scientific work, the “Ladislav Rakovac” award of the Croatian Medical Association, and the award of the City of Zagreb. He was nominated for the president of the European League against Rheumatism (1991-1993). He was included in the book of contributions of clinicians and scientists of the world in the research of ankylosing spondylitis,  Ankylosing Spondylitis written by the leading rheumatologist professor J.M.H. Moll (1987). He is included in the Croatian Lexicon, the Croatian Biographical Lexicon and the Croatian Encyclopedia of the Lexicographic Institute "Miroslav Krleža". His achievements are included in the monograph Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb 1917-2017, in several chapters and  in the particularly significant chapter Development and achievements in the field of clinical medicine [4] and other books. It was included in the museum collection of famous Croatian  physicians and  pharmacists of the Crotian Museum of Medicine and  Pharmacy of the Croatian Academy of Science and Arts.

He contributed significantly to the development of rheumatology in Croatia and is recognized as a world-renowned rheumatologist.