Ceremonial session in honour of 175 years since the birth of Professor Milan Jovanović Batut

The 175th anniversary of the birth of Milan Jovanović Batut will be marked by a celebration at the SASA Grand Hall, on 16 May, at 10 a.m.

Milan Jovanović Batut (b. Sremska Mitrovica, 10 October 1847 – d. Belgrade, 11 September 1940) was a Serbian and Yugoslav physician, university professor and the founder of the Faculty of Medicine.

He completed his studies in medicine in Vienna. Invited by the Principality of Montenegro, he spent the period 1880-1882 as the chief of the Medical Corps at their Ministry of the Interior and head physician of the Hospital of Cetinje.

Through Vladan Đorđević efforts, he received a state scholarship for specialization abroad. For several years, he worked in leading medical institutions of the Europe of that time: Munich, Berlin, Paris and London. He focused his studies, particularly on the issues of hygiene and bacteriology. He was a full professor of the Department of Hygiene and Forensic Medicine at the Belgrade Higher School. One of his most outstanding achievements was the foundation of the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade. He will be remembered as the first dean in the history of this faculty.

In addition to his educational and scientific activities, Professor Batut was actively involved in social issues. He was the president of the following institutions: the Serbian Medical Society, the Yugoslav Medical Society and the Society for the Protection of Public Health. It was on his initiative that the Ministry of Public Health was established following the First World War. He was highly dedicated to raising people’s health awareness. He published several hundred articles, dozens of brochures and books.

He left an indelible mark on the history of Serbian medicine with his decade-long scientific and community work.