INVITED LECTURERS
Assoc. Prof. Miloš Blagojević
Miloš Blagojević was born on May 17, 1978 in Belgrade. He enrolled in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Belgrade in the 1997/1998 academic year and graduated in 2003 from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Belgrade. In the academic year 2003/2004 he enrolled in postgraduate studies (Master's degree) at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Animal Morphology and Physiology, and in September 2004 transferred to the Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine. He is elected Teaching Assistant trainee for the narrow scientific field of Anatomy, at the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Belgrade in May 2005. Master's thesis he entitled: "Findings of Microcysts Sarcocystis spp. in Certain Muscles in Domestic Animals" he defended in April 2008. He is elected Teaching Assistant for the narrow scientific field of Anatomy, at the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Belgrade in June 2009. He defended Ph.D. dissertation entitled: "Morphology, Topography, Vascularization and Innervation of the Thoracic Cavity Organs of Experimental Animals" in July 2010 and he is elected Assistant Professor in the field of Anatomy, at the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Belgrade in December 2011, elected Associate Professor for the narrow scientific field of Anatomy, at the Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Belgrade in October 2016.
Miloš Blagojević visited 2018 the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb and participated in teaching at the Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology as a Visiting Professor. Also he was a member of the organizing committee of the 2nd international scientific-professional meeting on reptiles and exotic animals "REPTILIA", which is held at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb. He visited 2021 the Faculty of Animal Science, University of Agriculture in Krakow and taught anatomy courses at the Department of Animal Reproduction, Anatomy and Genomics as a Visiting Professor, 2022 and 2023 taught anatomy courses at Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Life Science in Poznan.
Miloš Blagojević is a member of the Teaching-Scientific Council of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Belgrade, the Veterinary Association of Serbia, the Society of Anatomists of Serbia, European Federation for Experimental Morphology (EFEM) and International Federation of Association of Anatomists (IFAA).
Prof. Valentina Kubale Dvojmoč
Valentina Kubale Dvojmoč is currently an Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the Institute of Preclinical Sciences at the Veterinary faculty, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. She graduated from the Veterinary faculty, University of Ljubljana in 2002. In 2003, she continued her research activities as a junior researcher and completed her PhD thesis entitled “The role of endocytosis and dimerization in intracellular transport and signal transduction of G protein-coupled receptors” in 2007. The dissertation was written in English due to her 15 months of postgraduate training in the Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, The Panum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark. She received a fellowship from the Lundbeck Foundation and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Pharmacology, The Panum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark, until 2008. After returning to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Ljubljana, she worked as an assistant lecturer in the field of veterinary morphology and as a member of the research group “Endocrine, immunological, nervous and enzymatic reactions in healthy and sick animals”. As a young researcher, she was involved in teaching histology and then also expanded the field of anatomy of domestic, laboratory and exotic animals. She is professor and has her elective subject Anatomy of laboratory and exotic animals. She is a co-author of four university's textbooks for the subject and has authored more than 180 scientific and professional publications and conference proceedings. She is the editor of three books. Her research interests are broad – from membrane receptors to histology to anatomy. Among exotic animals, she has a special interest in reptiles. She has worked on many projects, most often Slovenian - Danish bilateral cooperation projects and also Slovenian - American bilateral cooperation projects. From 2008 - 2013 she was an animal welfare officer at the Veterinary faculty in Ljubljana. From 2008 she was an editorial assistant for Slovenian Veterinary Research and from 2021 an a Coeditor for Slovenian Veterinary Research. She is a member of the Slovenian Biochemical Society, the Endocrine Society, the Young Generation of Veterinary Anatomists, the European Association for Cancer Research, the International Society for Education in Animal Sciences, and the Society for Laboratory Animals. She is the Chair of the Academic Assembly of the Veterinary faculty in Ljubljana. She has been the leader of several projects and mentor for undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students. She is a member of the Student Affairs Committee of the University of Ljubljana, a member of the Student Affairs Committee and the Quality Committee at the Veterinary faculty in Ljubljana, and a contact person for students with special status and needs at the Veterinary faculty in Ljubljana and Chair of the Working Group for Students with Special Status and Needs.
Prof. Zdenek (Sid) Knotek, DVM, Ph.D, Dip ECZM (Herpetological Medicine and Surgery)
Professor Zdenek (Sid) Knotek is the Head of Avian and Exotic Animal Clinic, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Czech Republic and adjunct professor on Department of Veterinary Clinical Science, Purdue University (IN, USA). He is a founding member and active diplomate of the European College of Zoological Medicine (Herpetological Medicine and Surgery), member of ARAV, a past-president of the European Association of Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians (EAZWV), and a president of the Czech Association of Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians (CAZWV). As a visiting professor Sid Knotek had part of his teaching activities dealing with reptiles in other universities (Budapest, Copenhagen, Kosice, Ljubljana, Porto, Lisabon, Villa Real, Utrecht, Vienna, Warsaw, Cracow, Wroclaw, Zagreb, Purdue (IN, USA), Sydney (Australia), Denpasar and Malang (Indonesia). As a founder of reptile medicine specialty at Clinic for Reptile, Avian and Fish Medicine, professor Knotek headed the Unit for Reptiles and Pet Birds at University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (2010-2013). His current focus involves medicine and surgery in reptiles, small mammals and birds. Sid supervised international training courses for exotic medicine: Summer School for Exotic Medicine and Surgery (2004 - 2019) and ESAVS courses in Europe – Exotic Pets Medicine and Surgery (since 2005) and China (ESAVS, since 2015).
Current academic address: Avian and Exotic Animal Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Palackeho trida 1946/1, CZ 612 42, Brno, Czech Republic. knotekz@vfu.cz
Assoc. Prof. Duje Lisičić
Duje Lisičić was born 1976 in Split, Croatia where he graduated as the professor of Biology and Chemistry at the Faculty of Science. He became employee of the Department of Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science in Zagreb in 2001 as a professional associate and later promoted to a junior assistant. Duje become M.Sc. at the University of Zagreb in 2005, and in 2009 gained a PhD degree. Today, he still works at the Department of Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science in Zagreb as an Associate Professor.
His area of scientific interest is comparative animal physiology and behaviour, ecophysiology and interspecific relationships. He is particularly interested in complex biological / biomedical problems at the level of the whole organism that require integrative physiological, evolutionary and / or behavioural analysis. To do so, Duje study animal models in the laboratory and in natural environment, with a special interest in reptiles. Duje is author or co-author in 38 scientific papers, four papers in non-indexed journals and one book chapter. He participated in number of national and international conferences.
Duje is included in teaching at University courses on Physiology, Animal behaviour, and Laboratory Animals in Scientific Research. He was mentor or co-mentor in the preparation of many graduate theses, and mentored two PhD thesis. In addition, he actively participates in the work of student organizations (mentor at student organisation of Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb in the field of herpetology and mammalogy; and participate in the work of the group of students in Health Polytechnic Zagreb - EkoZvu). Duje is the author of several invited lectures, both of national and international.
Assoc. Prof. Jožko Račnik, DVM, PhD, dip ECZM (Wildlife Population Health)
Jožko Račnik, DVM, PhD, dip ECZM (Wildlife Population Health) is an Associate Professor, and Head of Clinic for Birds, Small Mammals and Reptiles at Veterinary faculty, University of Ljubljana. He is Slovenian specialist in veterinary medicine of birds, small mammals, and reptiles and an EBVS® European Veterinary Specialist in Wildlife Population Health. He has more than 20 years of clinical and teaching experiences with wild and exotic animals, mainly birds, small mammals, and reptiles. His primary research interests include clinical veterinary medicine and emerging diseases of exotic pets and wild birds.
Assoc. Prof. Elizabeth Moreira dos Santos Schmidt
Dr Elizabeth Moreira dos Santos Schmidt was born on March 1st, 1975, in Curitiba, Brazil. She graduated with BSc in Veterinary Medicine from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Brazil in 1997; with a master’s degree (MSc) in Veterinary Sciences in 2000, and from the São Paulo State University, Brazil (UNESP) in Veterinary Pathology with a PhD in Veterinary Medicine in 2008. She undertook a post-doctoral research study (FAPESP, Brazil Grant) for two years (2008-2009) in Veterinary Pathology at São Paulo State University (UNESP), campus of Jaboticabal, Brazil. She spent six months as a training fellow (2013) in Veterinary Biochemistry (Marie Curie Institute Grant - FP07 Nematode Health System) at the University of Glasgow. In 2015-2016 she spent twelve months working in a post-doctoral research project with biomarkers at the INTERLAB – University of Murcia, Spain (Science Without Borders – CNPq/Brazil, PD Grant). Since 2010 she is an Associate-Researcher at São Paulo State University (UNESP), School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, campus of Botucatu, Brazil. Since 2023 she is an Associate-Professor at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Department of Veterinary Medicine, in Curitiba, Brazil. In 2018 she received the Tzukimi Washizu Memorial Award for the Excellent Presentation “Haptoglobin concentration in cattle with inflammatory diseases” at the 18th Biennial Congress of the International Society for Animal Clinical Pathology (ISACP) in Tokyo, Japan. In 2019 she received a Best Poster Award in Environmental Sciences: “The Brazilian savannah (Cerrado) biome in the Elementary School: the value of fauna in children’s daily life” at the 6th Marie Curie Alumni Association Congress, University of Vienna, Austria.
Prof. Ivana Tlak Gajger, PhD
Ivana Tlak Gajger was born 1981 in Zagreb. She graduated (2005) and got her Ph.D. (2010) at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb. Since 2006 she is working at the Department of Biology and Pathology of Fish and Bees at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb. In 2008, she became a Scientific Advisor Tenure for the scientific field of Biomedicine and Healthcare, the scientific field of Veterinary Medicine, and the scientific branch of Animal Production and Biotechnology. She was the Head of the Department of Biology and Pathology of Fish and Bees for two mandates (2014-2019). Also, she was a Vice Dean for financial operations and investments (2019-2022). Prof. Tlak Gajger was a member of numerous Committees of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and the Council of the Field of Biomedicine at the University of Zagreb. Also, she is a lecturer of courses related to the biology and pathology of bees of integrated undergraduate and graduate Study of Veterinary Medicine, Postgraduate Master Studies, and Doctoral Studies in Veterinary Sciences. Furthermore, she is a course leader for Biology and Pathology of Beneficial Insects and Honeybee Diseases in Contemporary Production. In 2021, as course leader, she established a new Postgraduate Master's Study in English entitled Honeybee Health Protection. Also, she designed and established the Educational-archive station for beekeeping. She was a mentor of 43 graduates and three Ph.D. students. She is the Head of the national official and reference Laboratory for Bee Diseases APISlab, which is accredited in accordance with the HR EN ISO/IEC 17025 standard. Also, she is a leader of specialistic courses as a part of lifelong learning. She received a FEMS scholarship for the research project Reverse transcription PCR analysis for the detection of honeybee viruses which was conducted at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (2010). As a member of organization and program boards she actively participated in the work of international scientific congresses in the country and abroad. As a leader or associate, she participated in the realization of scientific-research national and international projects. Also, she published numerous papers related to the biology and diseases of beneficial insects. She is the author of a university textbook Honeybee Diseases in modern production in Croatian (2019) and English (2021) language, the handbook Appliance of Nutraceuticals in Beekeeping (2015), and co-author of the manuals Good veterinary practice at the apiary and Veterinary handbook (2012). Also, she is an author of the chapter Welfare of Fish in the university textbook Animal Welfare (2019). Furthermore, she was elected as a member of the international working group Bees on Project Essential Medicines List for Food-Producing Animals (WVA). She was a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Agriculture and Food Research (2012 -2020), Hrvatski veterinarski vjesnik (2020 - 2023), Veterinarska stanica (from 2014), and Veterinarski arhiv (from 2022). Also, she is a member of the publishing consultant of the journal Hrvatska pčela, and actively participates in the popularization of science and the veterinary profession in the field of beekeeping. For her work, she received the Academian Ivo Tomašec award from the Croatian Beekeeping Association for scientific and professional achievements in beekeeping (2011) and the Award of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts for the highest scientific and artistic achievements in the Republic of Croatia in the field of medical sciences for 2021. She is married and a mother of two children.
