PROFESSOR IVO SVEL: THE FIRST DOCTOR OF SCIENCE FROM THE RIJEKA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

After having completed medical studies and specialisation in paediatrics in Zagreb, Ivo Svel (born in Vrbanja near Zupanja in 1923, died in Zagreb in 2000) moved to Paris to subspecialise in social paediatrics. In 1956, he and professor Karlo Pansini moved to Rijeka where he set up an outpatient paediatric clinic for the Quarnero area. In 1959 he obtained the first doctoral degree in paediatrics at the University of Rijeka, and habilitated at the same University in 1963. He returned to Zagreb with Pansini in 1965 to work at the Zagreb Mother and Child Healthcare Centre. After professor Pansini's death, he took over the paediatric department (later Paediatric Clinic) as an associate professor, and since 1981 ran it as the full professor until his retirement in 1990. With professor Josip Grguric he published the following textbooks in Croatian: Social Paediatrics in 1986, Paediatric Health Care in 1996, and Health Care for Chronic Paediatric Patients in 1998.