KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Jelena Bozek, PhD

Jelena Bozek is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb (UNIZG-FER). She received her BSc and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from the UNIZG-FER in 2008 and 2013, respectively. During her PhD research she obtained scholarships for 3-month and 5-month research visits at the University of Oxford, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, UK in 2010 and at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Department of Radiology, Netherlands in 2011, respectively.

From 2013 until 2015 she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB), UK on the Developing Human Connectome Project.

She is a member of IEEE and ELMAR societies and program committee member of the international symposium ELMAR, Croatian Computer Vision Workshop and Symposium on Image and Signal Processing and Analysis.

She is an author or co-author of a book chapter, 14 journal and over 30 conference publications. Her research interests include brain MR image analysis and machine learning approaches in neuroimaging.

Associate Professor Alan Jovic, Ph.D.

Alan Jović received the Dipl. Ing. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER), Zagreb, Croatia, in 2006 and 2012, respectively.

From 2006 to 2007, he was an expert associate with the Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia. Since 2007, he has been with FER, where he is currently an Associate Professor in Computer Science.

He has authored or co-authored more than 70 peer-reviewed articles in international publications, including more than 20 journal papers. He has been an associate editor for the scientific journal “CIT. Journal of Computing and Information Technology” since 2014 and managing editor for the same journal since 2018. He is an organizing committee member of the international ICT convention “MIPRO” as well as conference chair of MIPRO’s “Artificial Intelligence Systems” conference.

He has been the principal investigator on several national scientific and R&D projects in the fields of biomedical engineering and data mining.

His research interests include machine learning with applications, biomedical engineering, and software engineering. His particular focus is on biomedical time series analysis. Dr. Jović is a member of IEEE, EMBS, and MIPRO organizations.

Assoc. Prof. Željka Lučev Vasić, Ph.D.

Zeljka Lucev Vasic received her Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb in 2014, where she is now an associate professor. Her professional and research activities are in the areas of intrabody signal transmission, biomedical electronic instrumentation and measurement, and wearable sensor networks for muscle fatigue monitoring.

She participated in two international projects as a principal investigator and in three international, seven national scientific projects, and one Horizon 2020 funded project (EIT Health) as a researcher. She is a co-author of two book chapters, 16 international journal papers, and more than 30 international conference papers. She received the 2020 National science award for her work in the field of intrabody communication and muscle fatigue monitoring using electrical impedance myography.

Dr. Lučev Vasić is a member of professional societies IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), IFMBE (International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering), and CROBEMPS (Croatian Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics Society). She served as a chair and vice chair of the IEEE Croatia Section Engineering in Medicine and Biology Chapter and a vice chair of the IEEE Croatia Section Instrumentation and Measurements Chapter. She has been a secretary of CROBEMPS since 2015 and was Croatian delegate to the IFMBE general assembly in 2015 and 2022. She was a member of the organizing committee of the IFMBE conference MBEC2014 and the IEEE International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference, I2MTC 2020.

Iva Dekaris, M.D., Ph.D.

Iva Dekaris is a Medical Director of University Eye Hospital “Svjetlost”, past-President of the European Eye Bank Association and associate-member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. She obtained her medical degree, Masters and PhD degree at the University of Zagreb. She trained in ophthalmology at the Universities of Zagreb and Harvard Medical School in Boston and finished Postdoctoral Cornea Research Fellowship at Harvard Medical School. Currently she teaches as ophthalmology professor at universities of Zagreb, Rijeka and Lugano (Swiss). She also acts as surgical instructor for the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons and European School for Advanced Studies in Ophthalmology. She had held dozens of invited lectures all over Europe, published more than 100 professional and scientific papers (50 in CC journals), and co-authored five international books. For her work dr. Dekaris received several rewards: Croatian State Annual Award for scientific work, Croatian Ministry of Health Award for the achievements in Ophthalmology and South-eastern European Society Award for development of ophthalmology. She is an Editorial board member of three and a reviewer of another seven international scientific journals. She currently acts as an expert for three EU projects. The area of her surgical expertise is corneal transplantation and cataract surgery, with the overall experience of over 20 000 surgeries. She was the first surgeon in south-eastern Europe to start with modern transplantation techniques – lamellar corneal grafts and corneal limbal stem cell transplantation. She speaks english (very good), french (good), italian (average) and german (poor).

Tvrtko Hudolin, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Tvrtko Hudolin was born in 1972 in Vinkovci, Croatia. In 1998, he graduated from the University of Zagreb’s School of Medicine. He received his doctorate in 2004 from the same Faculty. He was a research associate at the University of Zagreb’s School of Medicine in 2011.
In 2022, in the School of Medicine, Clinic of Urology, University of Zagreb in Croatia, he received an associate professor promotion. He got his training at the Slovenj General Hospital Gradec in Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia; the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York; the University Hospital Basel in Basel, Switzerland; and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in the United States. He participates in a number of scientific projects and is the author of more than scientific 50 papers on PubMed. He is currently Head of the Department of Oncology and Reconstructive Urology, Zagreb Clinical Hospital.

Invited reviewer:

Journals: BJU International, Urology, Eur Radiol, Acta Clin Croat, Urologic Oncology: Semin Orig Investig, Urol Oncol, Int J Mol Sci, Biomedicine, Antibiotics, Biomolecules, Int J Med Rob, Heliyon

Grants: To determine the expression of tumour antigen NY-ESO-1, and the humoral and cellular immune responses in Prostate cancer patients. Ministry of Health Singapore 2006.

Citations: (Web of Science) je 864, H-index 15.

Professor Mario Kasovic, Ph.D.

In Zagreb, Professor Mario Kasovic was born in 1970. At the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Kinesiology in Zagreb, Croatia, he earned his PhD in 2009. He currently holds the positions of full professor of human and sports biomechanics at the Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, and associate professor at the Division of Sport Motorics and Methodology in Kinanthropology at the Faculty of Sports Studies Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. His specific area of study in science is how load affects the biomechanics of human mobility. Interest-worthy topics include the effects of exercise on the elderly’s brain health and gait biomechanics, the effects of children’s schoolbag loads on gait and health, and the effects of equipment on the frequency of injuries to police officers. He participates in numerous projects and is the author of various professional and scientific papers.

Prof Matthew J Allen, M.D., Ph.D.

Prof. Matthew J Allen graduated from the University of Cambridge with a veterinary degree (1991) and a PhD in orthopaedics (1995). After post-doctoral training at Purdue University, He took up a research-intensive faculty appointment in Orthopaedic Surgery at the Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, where he set up and ran a program on preclinical orthopaedic animal models. In 2008, He moved to the veterinary school at The Ohio State University. As director of the Surgical Research Laboratory, He performed preclinical and clinical trials in total joint replacement, orthopaedic oncology, spine surgery, regenerative medicine, and osteoarthritis. In September 2014, Matthew was elected Professor of Small Animal Surgery at Cambridge. In this new position, he combines clinical interests in total joint replacement (with a particular emphasis on primary and revision total knee replacement) with an expanded preclinical and clinical research effort through the newly established Surgical Discovery Centre. Matthew also participates in campus-wide research initiatives such as the Cambridge Centre for Musculoskeletal Repair, Regeneration and Replacement (r3), and the Cambridge Cancer Centre.   He is honorary member of the Association for Orthopedic Engineering ORTHOING.

Research interests: Prof. Matthew J Allen’s research themes include musculoskeletal surgery focuses on the use of preclinical animal models, either natural-occurring or induced, musculoskeletal oncology (bone cancer), implant fixation, regenerative strategies for enhancing bone healing, orthopaedic infection, and retrieval analysis of orthopaedic implants. He is clinically active around total joint replacement, emphasizing primary and revision total knee replacement. He is very interested in developing translational research collaborations between the veterinary school and the medical school in using the small animal caseload to develop and evaluate new therapies for osteoarthritis, osteosarcoma, and post-surgical pain.

Bibliography:

For publications see:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?sort=pubdate&term=Allen+MJ&cauthor_id=29206794

Professor Michael Sutcliffe, Ph.D.

Professor Michael Sutcliffe completed his PhD at Cambridge University on tribology in metal rolling in 1988. After working for the metals processing company Davy McKee, he returned to Cambridge University as a post-doctoral researcher in the field of composite materials. Since his appointment as a lecturer in 1992 he has been conducting research in the fields of tribology, composites and biomechanics with over 100 journal publications.

Professor Michael Sutcliffe is currently Head of Division C: Mechanics, Materials and Design and Head of the Biomechanics Group and the Department of Engineering University of Cambridge. His area of interest within which he has a number of outstanding papers and projects includes: mechanical behavior of materials, biological tissue behavior (e.g. arteries, brain, Eustachian tube), joint biomechanics (e.g. human and canine knees), and composite materials. He is honorary member of the Association for Orthopedic Engineering ORTHOING.

Bibliography:

For publications see:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xXU7cLgAAAAJ&hl=en

Lana Popovic - Maneski, Ph.D.

Lana Popovic Maneski was born in Belgrade in 1983. She graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade in 2007 (the five-year program), where she defended her doctoral thesis titled Upper extremity tremor suppression system based on functional electrical stimulation out-of-phase with tremor in 2011. Between 2008 and 2012, she worked at the company Tecnalia Serbia in Belgrade and was responsible for developing devices and methods for rehabilitation of upper extremities after injury of the central or peripheral nervous system using surface electrical stimulation. She was elected an assistant professor at the State University of Novi Pazar in 2012. Since 2013, she has been involved in teaching at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade (Biomedical Engineering). She was elected a Research Associate in 2015 and Senior Research Associate. She is a reviewer of the Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, Journal of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Biomedical Signal Processing & Control and has been employed at the Institute of Technical Sciences of SASA since 2012. She is honorary member of the Association for Orthopedic Engineering ORTHOING.

Fields of interest: biomedical engineering, technology for rehabilitation and assistance to the disabled, functional electrical stimulation.

Professor Ratko Magjarevic, Ph.D.

Professor Ratko Magjarevic obtained his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering in 1982 and his master’s degree in 1988. He earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Zagreb in 1994. He spent the most of his academic career at the University of Zagreb, where he was promoted to full professor with tenure in the department of Electrical Engineering in 2011. His research interests include biomedical engineering and health informatics, with a focus on data gathering, transmission, and processing in health care, as well as developing tools for personalization, prevention, monitoring, and risk prediction in medicine and health care. In addition to Zagreb, he has taught at the universities of Trieste, Ljubljana, and Bogota, Colombia. During the academic year 2005-06, he is based at the University of Stuttgart’s Institute for Biomedical Engineering. He was a member of the European Commission’s “Chartography of Medical and Biological Engineering in Europe” project in 2002-04, and afterwards on European programs FP6, FP7, Horizon 2020, TEMPUS, and COST. He has led bilateral scientific initiatives with Slovenia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Macedonia, Hungary, France, and Colombian partners. He has directed an IRI-funded R&D project as well as a number of other research and professional endeavors. He has over 80 papers published in journals and conference proceedings, as well as many edited volumes.

Professor Magjarevic is a member of a number of international and national scientific and professional organizations, as well as an official. He was twice elected President of the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) for three-year terms: 2012-15 and 2022-25. In 2014, he was awarded the FER Golden Plaque “Josip Loncar” for his contributions to biomedical engineering education and development, as well as the Senate of the Republic of Colombia’s acknowledgment for his global contributions to biomedical engineering development. He was named Honorary Senator of the University of Ljubljana in 2013. He was named IUPESM Inaugural Fellow in 2020.

Professor Toma Udiljak, Ph.D.

Professor Toma Udiljak is a full professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture. He graduated in 1980 and received his doctorate in 1996 from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture. He has been a member of the Academy of Technical Sciences of the Republic of Croatia since 2009. Additionally, he is member of HUPS (Zagreb); Scientific Council for Technological Development at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts; DAAAM (Vienna), HDO (Zagreb), International Academy of Engineering (Vienna) and honorary member of the Association for Orthopedic Engineering ORTHOING. He is the leader of numerous projects, especially those related to the development of machine tools in orthopedic surgery. He is the author of many scientific papers and books, and is a mentor to a large number of students in final, graduate and doctoral theses. His scientific work is especially related to innovations in orthopedics engineering. He is the winner of the Rector’s Award, the Medal of the Faculty of FSB, the Golden Plaque of HUPS and the HDO Gold Plaque.

Prof Bojan Jerbic, Ph.D.

Professor Bojan Jerbic graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FSB) of the University of Zagreb in 1983. He defended his master’s thesis at the FSB in 1987, in the field Technology in Mechanical Engineering. He conducted research as part of his doctoral dissertation in 1989 as a Florida State University Fellow at the Department of Industrial Engineering. He defended his dissertation entitled “Interpretation of CAD model geometry in the design of automatic assembly by an expert system” at the FSB in 1993.

After graduating in 1984, he got a position at the FSB, where he worked at the Department of Technology, first as an intern and then as a professional associate until 1986 when he was elected assistant. He was elected as a research assistant in 1988. He acquired the title of assistant professor in 1995, associate professor in 2000, and full professor in 2005. He was elected as a full professor in 2009. From 1993 to 2006 he was the head of the Laboratory for the Manufacturing and Assembly Systems Planning. From 2005 to 2008, he was the head of the Department of Robotics and Automation of Production Systems of the FSB. From 2007 to 2020, he was the head of the Chair of Manufacturing and Assembly Systems Planning. In 2021 Prof. Bojan Jerbić founded the Regional Center of Excellence for Robotic Technologies (CRTA), which includes the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems, the Laboratory for Computer Intelligence, the Laboratory for Medical Robotics, the Practicum for Automatic Programming and the Prototype Tool Shop. In the same year, he founded the Department of Autonomous Systems and Computer Intelligence, of which he is also the head.

Professor Bojan Jerbic has been participating in organized scientific research and professional work since 1987. He devoted himself to the development of computer methods in engineering and artificial intelligence methods in industrial robotics. For the last ten years he has been working on research and development of robotic applications in medicine, collaborating with prominent physicians. In doing so, notable results have been achieved in clinical application, recognized internationally. He has been a leader or collaborator on a number of domestic and international scientific and technological development projects. A particularly significant result of his scientific research work is the neurosurgical robot RONNA, which has been operating regularly at the Dubrava Clinical Hospital since 2016. He has published 155 papers, of which 44 papers in journals, 80 papers in conference proceedings, 5 papers as book chapters and 26 papers in other publications He successfully improves and promotes scientific and professional work through scientific organizations and professional societies. Since 2021, he has been a member of the University Council of the University of Zagreb. He has been a member of the Croatian Academy of Technical Sciences (HATZ) in the Department of Systems and Cybernetics since 2007. He is the Secretary of the Department of Systems and Cybernetics from 2013 to 2017. From 2015 to 2020 he was the president of the Croatian Society for Systems (CROSS) and a member of the International Academy of Engineering (Moscow). He is the editor of Transactions of FAMENA and a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Simulation Modeling. In 2022, he became a full member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Professor Vida Demarin, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor Vida Demarin was born on June 15, 1944 in Zagreb. he earned her PhD in the Zagreb Faculty of Medicine, where she also graduated. Since 2010, she has held a full membership in the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Until 2011, she was the Head of the University Department of Neurology at the Sestre milosrdnice Clinical Hospital, Zagreb, and the founder of two reference centers of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (for neurovascular disorders and headaches). Her primary areas of study are cerebral vasoreactivity, cerebral autoregulation, and vascular diseases of the brain. In Croatia as well as in Central and Southeastern Europe, Professor Demarin is a pioneer in Doppler diagnostics, and her work has greatly advanced non-invasive diagnosis of cerebrovascular problems for the primary prevention of stroke. She is also a pioneer in enhancing quality of life and taking preventive measures for cerebrovascular illnesses. She has produced more than 1,050 papers, served as the director of various scientific endeavors, and supervised a sizable number of students.

She has organized numerous congresses, symposia, and seminars on a national and international level with success. She contributes to the Association for Orthopedic Engineering ORTHOING as an honorary member.

FAAN, FAHA, FESO, FEAN, and the 2016 National Award for Life Sciences are just a few of the honors Professor Demarin has received.

Martina Topic, Ph.D.

Dr Martina Topic is a behavioural sociologist and communications scholar currently working as a Reader at Leeds Beckett University, UK. She is a research lead for the #WECAN (Women Empowered through Coaching and Networking) project funded by the Department of Work and Pensions and the European Social Fund. Previously, she was also a lead for the British Academy project on Women in Advertising and she has been successfully leading a EUPRERA project, Women in Public Relations from 2018-2021, now a research network. She is an author of ‘Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Affairs in the British Press: An Ecofeminist Critique of Neoliberalism’ (Routledge, 2021).

Petra Bonacic Bartolin, Ph.D.

Petra Bonacic Bartolin was born on December 18, 1985 in Zagreb. From 2011 to 2014 she worked as a mechanical engineer and coordinator of EU-funded projects, while in 2014 she was employed at the Zagreb University of Applied Sciences where she worked as a project manager, assistant project manager, teaching assistant and lecturer. In 2015, she enrolled in doctoral studies at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, where in 2017 she was employed as an research/teaching assistant. She obtained her doctorate in the field of technical sciences, more precisely orthopedic engineering in 2021, and the title of her doctorate is Numerical and experimental modeling of anterior cruciate ligament biomechanical implant support of the knee joint. Petra is the winner of the SUMMA CUM LAUDE award (Master with the highest award, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb), Award for Young Scientist; In recognition of his outstanding work (Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, University of Zagreb) and the National Award for the best paper (Croatian Society for Sports Traumatology and Arthroscopy). She received a short scientific research visit to Oxford University, Botnar Research Center in 2018. In 2019, she received a research fellowship from the University of Cambridge that includes research based on the application of engineering in orthopedics under the guidance of Professor Michael Sutcliffe and Professor Matthew Allen. She is a member of the Croatian Society for Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics (Zagreb, Croatia) and the founder and president of the Association for Orthopedic Engineering ORTHOING (Zagreb, Croatia). With her knowledge and skills, she contributes to the progress of the community on a daily basis by volunteering for the most needy.

Igor Erjavec, Ph.D.

Igor Erjavec is a research associate, working at the Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb. He received his PhD in Medical Sciences at School of Medicine, University of Zagreb (Croatia). Alongside teaching, he is also participating in an international Horizon 2020 project „Osteoprospine“ and 2 projects funded by Croatian Science Foundation regarding bone regeneration. At CEMBIO he worked from 2017-2018, where he learned advanced metabolomics methods and analyses under supervision of Coral Barbas and Alma Villaseñor. He co-authored more than 20 papers.

Professor Igor Karsaj, Ph.D.

Igor Karsaj is a full professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb (FSB). His research is related to the development of numerical methods and material models in the mechanics of deformable bodies with application to biological tissues. Specifically, his scientific interest is numerical modeling of elastoplastic processes of deformation of structural elements from isotropic and anisotropic materials, development of numerical models that can describe diseases of the vascular system (aneurysms, aortic dissections). Dr. Karšaj has published 18 papers indexed in the citation database of the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC), and participated in more than 70 presentations at scientific conferences.

For his scientific work, he received the National Award for Science to Research Fellows, the “Vera Johanides” Award of the Croatian Academy of Technical Sciences in 2011. As a visiting scientist, he spent a total of 26 months researching at reputable international scientific institutions; 10 months as Fulbright Scholar at Texas A&M University, USA, 12 months at TU Graz, Austria as a Lise Meitner fellow, and 4 months at Karlsruhe University, Germany.

Professor Ivan Juraga, Ph.D.

Professor Juraga has been working at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, since 1980. He defended his doctoral dissertation in 1994. His special field of scientific and professional work is the study of complex local corrosion phenomena in the area of stainless steel welded joints. Before his university career, he worked as a welding engineer on the construction of the Slovenian gas pipeline, a section of 100 km, the construction of the oil terminal on the island of Krk and the Arzew oil complex in Algeria. From 2007 to 2010, he was the director of the Technology Transfer Center of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, and from 2010 to 2014, he was the Dean of the Faculty. On several occasions he was a visiting professor at Universities in California, namely at the California State University of Northridge in Northridge, at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and at the Institute of Materials in the Departments of Corrosion and Corrosion Testing. He made significant contributions to Croatian business and education in the fields of material science and welding techniques through his work.

Visnja Stepanic, Ph.D.

Dr. Visnja Stepanic is a computational (bio)chemist devoted to finding and designing novel molecules with biological activities. In her research mainly in the fields of medicinal chemistry and chemical biology, Dr. Stepanic applies methods of molecular modelling and quantum-mechanical calculation as well as machine learning approaches for finding structural-activity relationships and optimizing molecular structures for target activities, of the practical usage for the end users, synthetic chemists and molecular biologists.

Višnja Stepanic graduated Chemistry and won PhD in 2001. Afterward, she joined the modelling group of the pharmaceutical industry PLIVA (till 2005) and GSK where she won GlaxoSmithKline Exceptional Science Award for international in house contribution. Since 2009 she has been a researcher at the Rudjer Boskovic Institute, at first in the Group for epigenomics of Division of molecular medicine and in 2019 she moved to the Laboratory for machine learning and knowledge representation. Dr Stepanic has participated in 19 research projects and published 50 articles, 3 book chapters, provided oral presentations at international meetings and participated in organization of international meetings. Dr Stepanic has regularly participated in COST Actions. She is a member of Council for Medicinal Chemistry of Croatian chemical society

Hrvoje Klobucar, M.D. Ph.D.

Dr. Hrvoje Klobucar was born in 1972 in Zagreb. In 1996, he received his degree from the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Medicine. In 2004, he completed his orthopedic residency. He received his science master’s degree in 2002 with a thesis titled “New surgical approach to the humerus.” With a thesis titled “Comparison on fixation strength of the sheep infraspinatus tendon reconstructed with transosseous technique and double row technique,” he earned his doctorate in 2009. He began his work as an orthopaedic surgeon at the University Clinical Hospital in Zagreb after finishing fellowships in Canada and Switzerland. Since 2007, he has been a co-owner and partner of the exclusive Akromion Orthopaedic Hospital in Krapinske Toplice. He co-authored or was an author on numerous papers that were published in scholarly journals and book chapters. He also organized numerous scientific meetings and participated actively in over a hundred congress reports. He is an Arthrex consultant and a full member of the European Shoulder and Elbow Association (SECEC), the European Foot and Ankle Association, and the Croatian and European Ortopaedic Association (EFORT) (EFAS).

Professor Hrvoje Gasparovic, M.D., Ph.D.

Hrvoje Gasparović, born in 1973, is a specialist in surgery and cardiac surgery and Professor of Surgery at the School of Medicine, University of Zagreb. In addition to University Hospital Center Zagreb, he did an important part of his education in cardiac surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, USA. He is Director of the Department for Adult Cardiac Surgery at the University Hospital Center Zagreb, Croatia. He is also the Director of the surgical arm of the institutional heart transplantation program. His surgical portfolio includes heart failure surgery (heart transplantation, durable mechanical circulatory assistance), minimally invasive heart surgery, valve reconstruction, complex aortic root surgery and coronary surgery.

He is one of the leading cardiac surgeons in Croatia, as evidenced by the fact that he also acts as president of the Croatian Society for Cardiac Surgery of the Croatian Medical Association, as well as that he is the head of the specialist postgraduate study in cardioraccal surgery at the School of Medicine, University of Zagreb.

His academic activity includes over 100 peer reviewed articles, 11 book chapters and numerous presentations at international meetings. So far, he has published a total of 104 articles in extenso in internationally indexed scientific-professional journals, of which 87 are indexed in the Current Contents database. The total number of his citations is 1,556 according to Google Scholar, according to Scopus 713, and according to the Web of Science 1135. The H-index, depending on the databases, is 14-17.

Prof. Gasparovic is an associate member of the Croatian academy of sciences and art since 2020. With his excellence as one of the world’s best cardiac surgeons, he contributed to the development and progress of cardiac surgery in Europe and beyond.

Tomislav Tokic, M.D.

Tomislav Tokic, M.D., is a cardiac surgery resident at the University Hospital Center Zagreb. He graduated from the University of Zagreb School of Medicine in 2018. While studying at the university he has attended clinical observerships at Cleveland Clinic, USA, and Clinica Planas, Barcelona, Spain. He has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals. His memberships include Croatian Society for Cardiac Surgery and European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery. He is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine.

Filip Suligoj, Ph.D.

Filip Suligoj was born on March 25, 1986. in Zagreb. He enrolled in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FSB) at the University of Zagreb, where he graduated in 2009., under the mentorship of Professor Bojan Jerbic. He completed his postgraduate studies in Robotics and Automation on October 1, 2018. The topic of his PhD thesis was Spatial patient registration in robotic neurosurgery. Since February 2013, he has been working at the Department of Robotics and Automation of Production Systems, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb. In the period from March 2020 to March 2021 he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Surgical robotics laboratory, University of Twente, the Netherlands.

His research interests include medical robotics, computer vision with emphasis on medical image analysis and artificial intelligence methods. His current research activities are focused on medical image processing methods and the control of robots in surgical procedures. He was an active member in scientific projects: “ACRON – A new concept of Applied Cognitive Robotics in clinical Neuroscience”, technological project: “Application of robots in neurosurgery – RONNA”, structural project “RONNA – Robotic neuronavigation” and project preparation “CRTA – Regional Center excellence in robotic technologies ”, funded by the European Regional Development Fund. During his time with the University of Twente, he conducted his research within the SAMURAI research project – Steering Actuated Probes under Magnetic- and Ultrasound-Guidance for Targeted Interventions.

So far, as an author or co-author, he has published 20 papers in scientific journals and 13 conference papers.

Professor Zdenko Kovacic, Ph.D.

Zdenko Kovacic is full professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb and head of the Laboratory for Robotics and Intelligent Control Systems (LARICS). In 1990/91 he was a visiting researcher at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the State University, Blacksburg, USA. For contributions to the fields of robotics, automation, and control, he received the University of Zagreb Award “Fran Bošnjaković” for the year 2013 and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing Award “Josip Lončar” for the year 2018. He was the principal researcher of more than 40 international and Croatian R&D projects including 3 ongoing ESF funded R&D projects and 3 R&D projects with industrial partners. He is the MC member of COST Action CA19104 Advancing Social inclusion through Technology and Empowerment (a- STEP). He is the author of 3 books in the fields of robotics, manufacturing systems and intelligent control. He is a member of the EuRobotics PhD Award Jury (2016-2022). He is the Senior Member of IEEE. He was president of Croatian Robotics Society 2005-2010. In the years 2012-2015 he was the elected president of Croatian Robotic Association. He is also a member of Croatian Society for Communication, Computer, Electronics, Measurement and Control. He is active in editorial boards of international journals and participated in the organization of numerous international conferences, workshops and academic seminars, and other events aimed at popularizing science.

Vladimir Ivkovic Ph.D., MSc, MSS, ScD hc

Dr. Vladimir Ivkovic is a translational neuroscientist and integrative physiologist. His research focuses on applying ambulatory brain and physiology monitoring for assessment of neurobehavioral function in spaceflight and other extreme environments, development of mitigation strategies, and their translation into clinical/operational practice. Dr. Ivkovic’s work spans studies on the effects of spaceflight on sleep, brain function, operational performance, psychoneuroimmunology and metabolomics, development of neuromodulation countermeasures for Moon/Mars missions, as well as identifying predictors of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in firefighters, and neuromotor integration in Parkinson’s Disease patients. He has extensive research experience in real-life and simulated extreme environments such as International Space Station (ISS), ESA/NASA microgravity parabolic flights, NASA’s Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA), and operational firefighting, as well as clinical emergency, neurological, and psychiatric settings. Dr. Ivkovic teaches academic courses and mentors students at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Current positions and affiliations:

Director, Laboratory for Neuroimaging and Integrative Physiology, Neural Systems Group, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
Instructor in Neuroscience, Mind Brain and Behavior Interfaculty Initiative, Harvard University
Instructor in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Advanced TBI & Polytrauma Neuropsychiatry Fellow, National Center for PTSD | Veterans Administration Boston Healthcare System
Instructor in Psychophysiology and Neuroscience, Harvard University Extension School
Instructor in Psychophysiology and Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Boston College
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Biology, Webster University

Petra Margetic, M.D., Ph.D.

Petra Margetić graduated from Faculty of Medicine, University of Zagreb. After graduating from University, she worked at the Ministry of Defense as a senior expert advisor in the recruitment commission. Since 1997 she has been working at the Clinic for Traumatology in Zagreb, specializing in radiology and subspecialization in ultrasound. She has a master’s degree in musculoskeletal ultrasound and PhD in subjects about low back pain. She was a senior lecturer at the University of Applied Health Sciences in the study of radiological technology. She is now employed at the School of Dental Medicine, University of Zagreb as a postgraduate. During her working life, she has published about thirty scientific and professional papers and actively participated in two projects. She has been a lecturer at hundreds of national and international congresses and meetings. As a contributor, she has published two chapters in professional books. She has reviewed more than a hundred professional and scientific papers. Participates in organizing and conducting the Basics of Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Course. She works as the head of the Department of Traumatological Radiology at the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, KBC Sestre Milosrdnice. As a radiologist, she understands the technical characteristics and operation of conventional X-ray devices, ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and modern digital technology. In everyday practice she uses telemedicine for better communication with colleagues.

Professor Darko Chudy, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor Darko Chudy was born in Zagreb, Croatia on February 8, 1962. In 1988 he obtained his M.D. after completing his studies at the Medical School of the University of Zagreb. In 1997, he completed his neurosurgery residency at the Clinical Hospital in Zagreb. His dissertation, The Clinical Study of Possibilities and Usefulness of the New Stereoadapter in Computer Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging, was awarded a Ph.D. in 2000. He received his training in stereotactic neurosurgery at the Kolone University Clinic under the direction of Professor V. Sturm, Sophiahemmet Hospital in Stockholm under Professor L. Laitinen, Umeo Northland Clinic under Professor M. Hariz, and La Timone Hospital ( prof. J. Regis). His primary area of study is stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, which he successfully introduced to Croatia. These functional neurosurgical techniques include deep brain stimulation, motor cortex stimulation, and electrode implantation for stereo EEG. He has written chapters for various books on neurosurgery, including the second edition of Sekhar Fessler’s Atlas of Neurosurgical Technique, which includes a chapter on stereotactic biopsy. He started working as an associate on the technology projects Robotic neuronavigation in neurosurgery (RONNA) in 2010 and Robotized Stereotactic Frame (NERO) in 2018. In the scientific study Deep brain stimulation in patients with disturbance of consciousness: potential predictive factors and structural alterations in the brain, which was initiated in 2021, he serves as the primary investigator. He works as a deep brain stimulation (DBS) proctor for Medtronic Co. in the south-east. He currently holds the positions of Head of the Neurosurgery Department at the Clinical Hospital Dubrava, Professor in the School of Medicine of the University of Zagreb, and Associate Affiliated Professor at the Medical School of Washington University in Seattle, USA.

Awards:

1999. Award of the Croatian Medical Association.
2004. Award of the Medical School University of Zagreb

Membership in professional societies:
1987- present: member of the Croatian Medical Association (CMA),
1991-present: member of Croatian Neurosurgical Association (CNA),
1994-present: member of European Association of Neurosurgeons (EANS),
1994-present: member of World Neurosurgical Society (WNS),
1997-present: member of the World Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (WSSFN).
2009-prsent: member of the European Society for stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery

Ljiljana Fruk, Ph.D.

Ljiljana obtained International Baccalaureate from United World College of the Adriatic (Italy), studied chemistry at the University of Zagreb and then went on to explore advanced biospectroscopy (PhD at the Universtiy of Strathclyde, Glasgow) and DNA structuring and artificial enzyme desing (postdoc at Technical University of Dortmund). She was a group leader at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany for 7 years before joining Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology in 2015. She is a Reader in BioNano Engineering and teaches Bionanotechnology, Chemical Product Design and Engineering Ethics. Her group explores nature-inspired photocatalysts for sustainable manufacturing, bio-nano hybrid materials for DNA vaccine design and drug nanocarriers and imaging probes for pancreatic cancer (TEDx talk here) and cancer-related senescent cells.

In her spare time, on the issue of turning the molecules into chocolates (Molecular Chocolates) and failed experiments into artistic installations (ExoEvolution)

More details on fruk-lab.com

Bill Oxley, MA VetMB, DSAS (ortho), MRCVS

Bill graduated from Cambridge University vet school in 1997, and after a period in general practice undertook an orthopaedic Residency at Willows Referral Service between 2009 and 2011. Bill was RCVS board-certified in 2013 and remains an RCVS Orthopaedic Surgery Specialist. Bill continued to work in referral orthopaedic practice until 2019 when he moved to Vet3D full-time.

Bill founded Vet3D in 2015 to exploit the potential of CAD-based surgical planning to create patient-specific surgical guide systems for orthopaedic and neurosurgical applications. Vet3D has so far provided over 1200 guide systems to surgeons throughout the UK, Europe, USA, and the rest of the world.

Dr. Kirsten Häusler (PHD, CCRP)

Kirsten Haeusler is a rehabilitation specialist for animals, from Germany, with over a decade of experience in animal physical therapy. At her clinic in Stuttgart, she sees a lot of orthopedic and neurologic cases referred by various veterinary clinics in and around Stuttgart.

She obtained a degree in Agricultural Biology from the University of Hohenheim, Germany, focusing on Animal Behavior and Animal Nutrition in 2004. A Ph.D. followed this in Animal Science with a specialization in the Motivational Behavior of animals from the University of Hohenheim, Germany, and graduated in 2006.

She was always inclined to animal science, veterinary medicine, and animal physical therapy growing up. However, her real passion came to life when she enrolled in the Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner Class in 2006 and received her Certificate as a CCRP in 2008 from the University of Tennessee, USA.

In 2018 at the IARVPT World Rehab Summit in Knoxville, Tennessee, she held a workshop on shockwave assisted fascia treatment in animals. That same year she was invited to talk at the WVOC in Barcelona about “The Art and Science of Shockwave.”

Part of her research involves applying, improving, and investigating therapies, such as treatment on the underwater treadmill, a regular treadmill, shockwave therapy, pulsed electromagnetic field, etc., to animals for post-illness rehabilitation and recovery treatments.

To intensify her studies regarding shockwave therapy in the clinic and in the scientific field, in 2017, she was invited to collaborate with Professor M. Allen at the Surgical Discovery Center at the University of Cambridge, UK.

In 2019 she was invited to be part of a study with Professor Martin Fischer and his team at the University of Jena (also known as “Dogs in Motion“), Germany. These studies aim to evaluate gait in dogs using biplanar fluoroscopy, force plates, and pressure-sensitive treadmills. In May 2021 the group started another study to evaluate developing gait patterns in growing canines of different breeds.

Apply for the Award!

INSTRUMENTATION, IMAGING AND IMAGE-GUIDED THERAPY

The aim of the workshop is to show that medical navigation systems can simulate real-time image guidance and thus reduce radiation exposure, as well as provide a full range of digital image processing during an intervention.

APPLICATION OF REHABILITATION ENGINEERING IN EVERYDAY PRACTICE

Rehabilitation engineering has wide application in orthopedics and neurology making patients’ lives better and easier. The aim of the workshop is to present how rehabilitation engineering affects the quality of life of patients.

TECHNOLOGY FOR EXPANDING ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE

The aim of the workshop is to show how the application of technology can influence better cooperation between the public and private health sectors in order to break down barriers that prevent greater acceptance of these innovative technologies throughout the continuum of care.

THE FUTURE OF ARTIFICIAL ORGANS

Tissue engineering is one step closer to making moderate organs that will be an adequate replacement for biological ones. Are we really close to that goal?

FUNDAMENTALS OF ANATOMY IN ENGINEERING

The aim of the workshop is to acquaint scientists from various fields dealing with the application of engineering in medicine with the existing literature and online annals in the study of anatomy from an engineering point of view.

TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS IN THE SPORTS INJURY

The aim of the workshop is to present technology-based prevention programs and solutions to prevent injuries in professional sports.

BIOMATERIALS & REGENERATIVE MEDICINE

The application of new and advanced materials has left a big mark in medicine. Find out what are the new materials that are embedded and what is the future of biomaterials.

REPAIR AND REPLACEMENT OF HUMAN TISSUES DAMAGED BY INJURIES, AGING AND DISEASE

The aim of the workshop is to present the techniques of reparation and reconstruction of biological tissues and the current state of the art solution.

CAN ANIMAL RESEARCH STOP: HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP IN IT

Have we finally come close to the period when animal testing will be replaced by artificial intelligence?

HOW TO ESTABLISH YOUR OWN START UP ON THE BASIS OF RESEARCH RESULTS

How to go from idea to product and start your own start up is the goal of this workshop.

ETHICS IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE AND RESEARCH

The aim of this workshop is to clarify the concepts of ethics in biomedical engineering, which often lacks appropriate training to deal with these moral and ethical issues.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EMPATHY IN SCIENCE

The aim of the workshop is to point out the importance of empathy in science, which has a key interpersonal and social role, enabling the exchange of experiences, needs and desires among individuals and thus results in the development of products and services for all living beings.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR FINANCING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH WORK: THEORY AND EXPERIENCE

Scientists are often unaware of the possibilities of external funding for their scientific papers. The aim of this workshop is to acquaint scientists with the possibilities of financing smaller research projects.

POSSIBILITIES OF PROJECT FINANCING: THEORY AND EXPERIENCE

The aim of the workshop is to acquaint young researchers with the possibilities of financing their scientific research projects and ideas.

PATENT PROTECTION AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Through the workshop, participants will master the basic terminology used in patent protection as well as searching patent databases and application steps.

3D PRINTING IN VETERINARY AND HUMAN MEDICINE

The workshop is interactive and provides medical and veterinary staff with training on how to handle 3D printers and create a 3D model.

PATENT PROTECTION AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The aim of the workshop is to introduce scientists to writing a patent application that requires extensive knowledge and different areas, such as engineering, in-depth data analysis, and legal information. Through the workshop, participants will master the basic terminology used in patent protection as well as searching patent databases and application steps.

We are very excited to introduce you to our keynote speakers, who have outstanding international careers.