Stipan Jonjic - Biography#

Stipan Jonjić received his MD from the Faculty of Medicine University of Rijeka in 1976. He made his PhD in Rijeka and Tuebingen in the field of viral immunology and completing it in 1985. In 1992 he became Full Professor and since 1996 he has been Head of the Department of Histology and Embryology. From 1999 to 2003 he was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine University of Rijeka. Since 2006 he has been Chair of the newly established Center for Proteomics with focus on characterization of various viral and cellular proteins.

He worked as a principal investigator on numerous national and international scientific projects, including EU ERC Advanced Grant and US NIH R01 grants. Over the years he was awarded with many prizes for his achievements and held many executive positions within the University of Rijeka and in national societies. In 2012 he became a member of German National Academy of Sciences – Leopoldina and in 2015 a member of European Academy of Microbiology . He serves as a board member of several scientific journals. In 2013 he received Lifetime Achievement Award in Science of the Republic of Croatia. He is also leading the Center of excellence for virus immunology and vaccines.

Professor Jonjic has published over 250 papers in the field of virology and immunology and has been invited lecturer to prestigious international conferences and universities. He made several seminal discoveries in understanding of antiviral immune response. One can point out his contribution in characterization of viral immunoevasion mechanisms. Recently his work shifted toward more translational immunology through designing new vaccine vectors based on recombinant cytomegalovirus.

Professor Jonjic has strong leadership characteristics and motivation essential for research collaboration. He is well embedded in European research area, with more than dozen active collaborations with various research institutions in Europe, US and Canada. He has been principal advisor to 22 PhD students. Several of them have been very successful in developing their own career and were awarded most prestigious grants and fellowships, including the Humboldt fellowship, EMBO fellowship, HHMI scholarship and ERC Starting Grant and are already established leaders in the field of immunology and virology.