Centenary of the Birth of Academician Sveto Suša

A ceremonial session in honour of the centenary of the birth of Academician Sveto Suša will be held on Monday, 1 December, at 11 a.m. at the SASA Grand Hall. Academician Sveto Suša was one of the most distinguished nephrologists of Yugoslav and Serbian medicine.

Born on 15 December 1925 in Kistanje, where he also finished primary school, he attended grammar schools in Knin, Šibenik and Belgrade. As a high-school student, he joined the Partizan Squad in Dalmatia and became a youth leader until he joined the People’s Liberation Front in 1943. From the Second World War, he emerged with the rank of an officer and following the liberation, he enrolled on the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade. He graduated in 1951 and completed his residency at the Medical Military Academy in Belgrade. From 1953 to 1956, he served as Chief of Health Care of the Šibenik Garrison Unit. He returned to the Military Medical Academy in 1956 and completed his specialisation in internal medicine in 1960.

He further pursued specialised training in nephrology, undertaking a fellowship at Necker Hospital in Paris, followed by additional training in Switzerland and Czechoslovakia.

In 1963, he established the Nephrology Unit and the Centre for Haemodialysis—the first of their kind in the former Yugoslavia—and became the head of both units.

He defended his doctoral dissertation, titled Clinical and Pathohistological Changes in Young Individuals with Proteinuria from Families with Endemic Nephropathy, in 1975 at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade.

He was elected an assistant in the course on Internal Medicine in 1962, promoted to assistant professor in 1966, and later advanced to associate and full professor. He also served as the Head of the Department of Internal Medicine.

The Nephrology Unit and the Centre for Haemodialysis were subsequently merged to form the Nephrology Clinic, with Professor Suša appointed as its head.

He was elected a corresponding member of the SASA Department of Medical Sciences in 1985 and its full member in 1994.

He was one of the founders of the Section for Nephrology of the Serbian Medical Society, and served as its president from 1970 to 1975. He was the one who initiated the establishment of the Association of Nephrologists of Yugoslavia.

In his professional and scholarly work, he addressed a wide range of topics covering issues in clinical and experimental nephrology, contributing to it becoming a separate discipline. His extensive bibliography contains over 300 scholarly and professional papers.

He received the 7th July Award in 1988, as well as numerous state decorations, including the Order of Bravery, the Order of Merit to the People with a Red Banner, the Order of Military Merits with Silver Swords and with Golden Swords, the Order of the National Army with a Silver Star, and the Order of the National Army with a Laurel Wreath.