Staff and associate lecturers and consultants of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Capacity Building in HIV/AIDS Surveillance in Croatia
Professor Stipe Orešković, PhD
The responsibility of professor Orešković is to ensure coherence and quality in the activities, and overall leadership in terms of organisation and accountability for performance of the work plan. His role is to shape the direction and management of the Centre with particular reference to identifying opportunities for development. Professor Orešković has a PhD in behavioural sciences and was one of the first researchers on epidemiology of HIV and hepatitis in Croatia.
E-mail: soreskov@snz.hr
Dr Ivana Božičević, MSc (LSHTM), DrPH (LSHTM)
Her responsibilities at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Capacity Building in HIV/AIDS Surveillance include surveillance-related research, training courses development and provision of technical assistance. Ivana holds an MSc in Public Health and a doctorate in public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she is currently an honorary research fellow. Her doctorate thesis included assessment and comparisons of correlates of STIs from clinic-based and population-based datasets in England, as well as research into determinants of asymptomatic STIs. She has done country-level work on HIV surveillance in Croatia (including a general population-based survey on sexual behaviours and attitudes in youth, and a bio-behavioural survey using respondent-driven sampling in homosexual men); and has worked as a WHO consultant in Egypt, Pakistan, Sudan, Iran, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Yemen. Other tasks include writing up Guidelines for HIV/AIDS Surveillance in Low-Level and Concentrated Epidemics.
E-mail: Ivana.Bozicevic@lshtm.ac.uk; ivanabozicevic@yahoo.com
Dr Luka Vončina, MSc (LSE)
Luka Vončina has strong research and analytical skills. He was educated in international health policy at the London School of Economics. Luka is experienced in research in HIV/AIDS surveillance as well as in research in health policy, financing and economics. He is also experienced in providing technical assistance and capacity building. He is able to manage and coordinate complex and multisectoral projects and has professional experience with both Croatian and international health focused companies, universities and NGOs; such as the World Health Organization and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.
E-mail: lvoncina@gmail.com
Dr Ognjen Brborović
Dr Brborović presently works at the School of Public Health Andrija Stampar, Medical School, University of Zagreb where he holds the position of a research fellow, concentrating on social medicine, health promotion, health policy, health management and statistical analysis. He was trained at the Medical School, University of Zagreb with further training being accomplished in the USA. Dr Brborović main interest is in using time-location sampling to recruit most-at-risk groups in HIV bio-behavioural surveys.
E-mail: obrborov@gmail.com
Lucija Žigrović, BSc
Lucija Žigrović has a degree in psychology and as a research fellow assists in research and training activities at the Centre. Her main interests are in development of questionnaires for assessing HIV-related behaviours among vulnerable groups and in designs of surveillance surveys. As a speaker of Russian, she also handles translation and communication with Russian speaking partners.
E-mail: lucija.zigrovic@gmail.com
Danijela Lešo
Danijela is working in the administration of the Centre and she is responsible for the organisation of the training courses. She is also working on the development of The Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region’s new training curricula for postgraduate studies in public health. Danijela is also the administrative co-ordinator of the summer scientific programme “Designing Clinical Research – a Course for New Post-Doctoral Researchers” which is funded by the Institute for Global Health, University of California, San Francisco and organised by the Andrija Stampar School of Public Health and the University Hospital for Infectious Diseases.
E-mail: dleso@snz.hr
Professor Josip Begovac, PhD, MD
Dr. Begovac is Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Zagreb Medical School. He is also Vice Chair of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Committee of the Government of Croatia and the Head of the Reference Centre of HIV/AIDS at the University Hospital of Infectious Diseases in Zagreb, Croatia. Educated at University of Zagreb Medical School, he specialized in infectious diseases at the University Hospital of Infectious Diseases in Zagreb. He has worked primary in infectious diseases and during his last 10 years was mainly involved in public health and clinical issues concerning HIV/AIDS.
Professor Aleksandar Stulhofer, PhD
Head of Sexology Unit at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb and Affiliated Faculty of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. His recent research focuses of HIV risk taking in vulnerable groups. He worked as short-term WHO consultant in Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, and Iran. Dr Stulhofer is associated member of the International Academy of Sex Research.
E-mail: astulhof@ffzg.hr
Iva Jovović, BSc
Iva Jovović holds a degree in Social Work and has been participating in numerous international trainings and conferences on HIV and AIDS since 2000. The responsibilities of Iva Jovović at the Centre include project management and coordination on behalf of UNDP Croatia. Iva now holds a position of a National HIV/AIDS Advisor or UNAIDS Focal Point for Croatia and is studying for an advanced degree in Social Policy at the University of Zagreb. She has extensive knowledge of HIV and AIDS issues and related political, economical and social consequences in the country and the region. She is continuously providing trainings, writing articles and publications on HIV/AIDS, especially on intravenous drug use and human rights. Iva joined UN in early 2003. Her main duties include coordination of a joint UN response to HIV/AIDS in Croatia, mostly focusing on strengthening national capacities for monitoring and evaluation and harmonizing national documents with international guidelines. In late 2002, Iva founded and has to date remained an Executive Director of a NGO called Life Quality Improvement Organisation LET that strives to improve quality of life of vulnerable groups by implementing public health and social services programs.
E-mail: iva.jovovic@undp.org
Snježana Židovec Lepej, PhD
Dr. Židovec Lepej is a Senior Scientific Associate at the University of Zagreb Medical School. She is also the Head of Laboratory for Molecular Diagnostics and Cellular Immunity at the University Hospital for Infectious Diseases „Dr. Fran Mihaljević“ in Zagreb, Croatia. She graduated molecular biology at the Faculty for Natural Sciences, University of Zagreb. She worked in biotechnological company Institute of Immunology, Zagreb as a Head of Interferon Department. Her Master of Science thesis included research on cytokine synthesis in vitro. Her PhD thesis included analysis of the kinetics of immune reconstitution in HIV-patients receiving HAART. Her scientific interests include molecular diagnostics of infectious diseases and immunology. She is the principal investigator of the scientific project „Immune reconstitution and resistance to antiretrovirals in HIV-patients in Croatia“ supported by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport, Republic of Croatia.
Email: snjezana.zidovec.lepej@bfm.hr
Dr Oktavija Rode, MSc
Dr Rode, a specialist in medical microbiology and parasitology, is the Head of Division of
serological diagnostic at the University Hospital of Infectious Diseases in Zagreb. Her
Master of Science thesis included research on antibodies for herpesviruses and Toxoplasma
gondii in HIV-infected patients in Croatia.
Email: orode@bfm.hr
Valerio Bačak, BSc
Valerio is a graduate student of sociology at the University of Oxford and a teaching and research assistant at the Department of Sociology, University of Zagreb. For the last few years Valerio has been doing research on HIV/AIDS and most at risk populations. Most
recently, as a research fellow at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Capacity Building in HIV/AIDS Surveillance, he co-ordinated a research project on injection drug users and HIV/AIDS in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a WHO consultant he provided expert assistance for using respondent-driven sampling among injection drug users and female sex workers in Azerbaijan. He is currently working on a study examining HIV-related risk-taking behavior among female sex workers, and preparing a time-location sampling study of long-distance truck drivers in Croatia. His main interests in AIDS research are social explanations of risk-taking behaviour among most vulnerable groups and sampling methods for hidden and hard to reach populations.
Email: vabacak@gmail.com
Branko Kolarić, MD, PhD
Branko Kolarić is a specialist in epidemiology and the Head of HIV/AIDS Department at the Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Service at the Croatian National Institute for Public Health. Aside from his work as an epidemiologist at the Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Service, he is WHO/ECDC focal point for HIV surveillance in Croatia and he is actively involved in voluntary HIV counseling and testing as a counselor in the Zagreb VCT center and national VCT coordinator. Dr. Kolarić has also attended various training courses in epidemiology and bio-statistics such as the “Erasmus Summer Programme”. His doctorate thesis included assessment of the level of HIV epidemic in Croatia. He has lectured on the 2nd Generation HIV/AIDS Surveillance and acted as a consultant of the Global Fund project. Since 2003 he has also been teaching epidemiology to undergraduate students at the Medical Faculty in Zagreb.
Email: Branko.Kolaric@hzjz.hr
Jasmina Pavić, BA
Ms Jasmina Pavić works on monitoring and evaluation of the National AIDS Programme at
the Croatian Institute for Public Health. Jasmina assists the Knowledge Hub as a facilitator
on the training course on M&E of national AIDS programmes.
E-mail: Jasmina.Pavic@hzjz.hr
Bruno Kljajo, BA
Bruno Kljajo has a degree in Biology and his responsibilities within the project is to provide support and assistance on behalf of the UNDP Croatia. Prior, he worked in the harm reduction programmes focused mostly to risk communities, such as drug users, commercial sex workers as well as young people with riskier behaviours.
E-mail: bruno.kljajo@undp.org
