The first Croatian textbook of rheumatology of the University of Zagreb:
Jajić Ivo. Klinička reumatologija (eng. Clinical Rheumatology). Zagreb, Školska knjiga, 1981 (1st ed.) and 1982 (2nd ed.), 1-474
The first Croatian comprehensive monograph on rheumatic diseases was published with the financial support of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of Croatia, and is dedicated to the Croatian defenders of the Homeland war 1990 to 1994 who laid their lives in the foundations of the Croatian state:
Jajić Ivo. Reumatologija (eng. Rheumatology), Zagreb, Medicinska knjiga, 1995, 1-685
The autobiographical book of professor Ivo Jajić, which he wrote at the age of 77, consistent with his attitude in life, “For me, work has always meant life”:
Jajić Ivo. Život s reumatologijom. Knjiga uputa i savjeta svima onim koji se žele baviti reumatologijom, granom medicine koja sve više osvaja svijet (eng. Life with Rheumatology. A book of instructions and advice for all those who want to practice rheumatology, a branch of medicine that is conquering the world more and more). Zagreb, Medicinska naklada, 2009, 1-204
Ivo Jajić
Ivo Jajić (1932 – 2010) Croatian rheumatologist, doyen of Croatian rheumatology of prestigious international reputation, clinician, scientist, 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 (1981) and the first Croatian comprehensive monographs on rheumatic diseases Reumatologija (1995).
A full professor with a permanent title at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb, where he founded and led the post-graduate specialist study in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (1988-2001), he was the head of the Department and leader of numerous courses in the continuing education of doctors.
Regular member of the Croatian Academy of Medical Sciences since 1982
Head of the Department for Rheumatology, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb KBC Sestre Milosrdnice (1985-2001), in which Department he established the teaching base of the Faculty of Medicine in Zagreb, and developed rheumatology through scientific, professional, teaching and journalistic work, achieved successful international cooperation, and the Department became the leading rheumatology center in Croatia – he established and managed the Reference Center for Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Croatia (the only such Center in Croatia).
Founder and president of the Croatian League against Rheumatism (1992-2001), which grew out of the Association of Rheumatic Patients of Croatia (which he founded in 1982), thereby establishing and implementing the first organized education of rheumatic patients in Croatia. He is the founder and editor of the journal Reumaticar – the newsletter of the Croatian League against Rheumatism. Initiator of publication and author of numerous manuals intended for patients published by the Croatian League against Rheumatism.
The editor-in-chief of the journal Reumatizam – the journal of the Croatian Rheumatology Society, he founded in 1994 the journal Fizikalna medicina i rehabilitacija – the journal of the Croatian medical profession of the same name and was the editor-in-chief. He is the founder of the Registry for rheumatic diseases in Croatia in 1980.
Promoter of Croatian rheumatology, achieving successful international cooperation with eminent experts in his field in the world. He organized international and domestic rheumatology conferences. He was a member of the most respected scientific and professional associations and organizations of rheumatology in the world, and an honorary member of the rheumatology societies of several European countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany and Poland), Russia, the Croatian Medical Association (HLZ) and several professional societies HLZ- And. He participated in international scientific projects and was project manager for Croatia, and was the main researcher in international pharmacological research in rheumatology. He led scientific projects of the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Croatia.
He published several discoveries in rheumatology: he described the heel-knee test (Jajić’s test) in the diagnosis of sacroiliitis (1999), radiological changes of the sacroiliac joints and the spine in psoriatic arthritis – one of the first contributions to this clinical problem (1968), the first research on the HLA antigens in rheumatic diseases (1975, 1977), co-author of the international consensus on the definition, classification and diagnostic criteria of hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (1993). He was the first to publish radiological changes in the flat bones of primary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (1998).
He chaired the Association of Rheumatologists of Yugoslavia, was the president of the Croatian Rheumatology Society and the initiator of the foundation and president of the Croatian Vertebrological Society.
He is the winner of the “Ruđer Bošković” award of the Government of the Republic of Croatia for scientific work (1987), the award of the Croatian Medical Association “Ladislav Rakovac” (1993) and the award of the City of Zagreb (2000). He was nominated for the president of the European League against Rheumatism (1991-1993). It was included in the book of contributions of clinicians and scientists of the world in the research of ankylosing spondylitis called Ankylosing Spondylitis 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”. He is included in the monograph Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb 1917-2017 in the particularly significant chapter Development and achievements in the field of clinical medicine.
A more detailed biography and bibliography of Professor Ivo Jajić is available on the links.
