Andrija Štampar
(an excerpt from 'Selected Papers of Andrija Štampar': "Life and Achievements of Andrija Štampar, Fighter for the Promotion of Public Health" by M.D. Grmek)

	A New Era at the Zagreb Medical School
	(The Aftermath of World War II)

On his return from Graz in May 1945, Štampar resumed his duty as Professor of Hygiene and Social Medicine at the Medical School and became Director of the School of Public Health in Zagreb. In 'Lijecnicki vjesnik' he published a treatise on the effects of social and economic conditions on human life and health. The result of his work in internment in his book 'The Physician, His Past and Future' (1946), a monograph on the past of the medical profession, on the merits of physicians, and the scope of their work, their position and tasks in the contemporary world, with a short reference to their prospects in the future.

One of the basic ideas of social medicine is that work on health problems belongs not only to the physician but also to other experts, such as engineers, chemists, veterinarians, pedagogues, agronomists, etc. Stamar wanted to give a practical example of such collaboration by the work of the Zagreb School of Public Health, his pet institution, which in 1947, as a result of his endeavours, became an integral part of the Medical School, accredited with the task of providing training for undergraduate medical students and for physicians and other workers dealing with health matters. The School organized postgraduate courses on public health, environmental sanitation, occupational health, social pediatrics, nursing, anesthesiology, etc. According to Štampar's intentions, the School was meant to take over the organization of all postgraduate medical training.

From 1947 to 1957, under the leadership of Professor Štampar and his closest collaborators, B.Kesic, V.Vouk, B.Cvjetanovic, and B.Teodorovic, the School recorded remarkable successes. In this period over 15,000 students attended regular training, and in postgraduate courses there were over 500 candidates. In 1948 Štampar initiated the publication of "Zdravstvene novine Skole narodnog zdravlja" ('Health News of the School of Public Health') which at first had something of the character of a newspaper but from 1951 were edited as a technical journal.

Štampar was the Rector of the Zagreb University for the academic year 1945/46. In the autumn of 1952, he was again elected the Dean of the Medical School, and contrary to the established usage, he was re-elected the Dean for 5 years consecutively.

In a comparatively short time, he put into practice very important reforms: he gave training a more preventive and social note, introduce a strict regime of examinations and attendance at lectures and practical work, enlarged the practical part of the training, and extended teaching to non-university hospitals. Thanks to Štampar, the curriculum of the Medical School was supplemented by such new obligatory subjects as Nursing, Health Statistics, and Introduction to Medicine. Also, a mention should be made of the important role Štampar played in connection with the founding of the Medical School at Rijeka (1955).