Academy Members

Curriculum vitae

Mirna Šitum was born in Cista Provo, Croatia, in 1962. She graduated from the University of Zagreb School of Medicine in 1985. From 1985 to 1991, she worked as a physician and Director of the Emergency Medical Service Unit in Split.

In 1991, she voluntarily joined the 4th Guards Brigade of the Croatian Army. Until the end of 1993, she served as a senior officer in the Croatian Army and commanded medical services in frontline units during the Croatian War of Independence.

She has been a specialist in Dermatology and Venereology since 1996 and was the first physician in Croatia to complete subspecialty training in dermatologic oncology. Since 2000, she has served as Head of the Department of Dermatology and Venereology at University Hospital Centre Sestre milosrdnice in Zagreb. Since 1999, she has also been Head of the Department of Dermatovenereology at the University of Zagreb School of Dental Medicine. In this role, she coordinates and teaches several courses in postgraduate doctoral programmes at the University of Zagreb Schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine, and Pharmacy and Biochemistry.

Professor Šitum is a visiting professor at Guglielmo Marconi University in Rome, Italy, where she is affiliated with the Department of Medicine and Life Sciences and the Department of Clinical and Experimental Dermatology. She is also a visiting professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek and at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose establishment she helped initiate.

She is President of the Croatian Society for Dermatologic Oncology of the Croatian Medical Association and President of the Central and Southeastern European Melanoma Expert Association. She serves on the governing boards of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology and the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology. She is an honorary member of several European professional societies, including the Société Française de Dermatologie, in recognition of her professional achievements and contributions to the international development of dermatology and venereology.

Professor Šitum is Croatia’s representative in the European expert group Euromelanoma and in the Vitiligo Research Foundation. In this capacity, she performed the first melanocyte transplantation procedure in Europe for patients with vitiligo. She is Chair of the Scientific Council of the Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences at the University of Split.

To date, Professor Šitum has organised 128 national and international scientific and professional meetings and has delivered invited lectures at more than 300 national and international conferences. She has authored or co-authored 901 publications, including 275 scientific papers. She has edited 24 books in Croatian and English—including textbooks, atlases, manuals, and scientific monographs—and has contributed 111 chapters to 28 books edited by Croatian and international scholars. She has participated in 22 scientific research projects.

She is Editor-in-Chief of the international scientific journal Acta Clinica Croatica, serves on the editorial boards of ten internationally indexed scientific journals, and has acted on several occasions as a guest editor for prestigious international journals. Professor Šitum founded and directs three Reference Centres of the Croatian Ministry of Health: the Reference Centre for Melanoma, the Reference Centre for Dermoscopy, and the Reference Centre for Chronic Wounds. She also established and directs the Vitiligo Biobank.

She has supervised 24 doctoral dissertations. She is Head of the Dermatovenereology Specialist Training Programme and Chair of the Croatian Ministry of Health Committee for Dermatovenereology. She previously served as Head of the City of Zagreb Health Office, where she was responsible for overseeing 20 healthcare institutions. Since 2000, she has led nationwide public-health initiatives for the prevention of skin cancer in Croatia. Since 2023, she has served as Head of the National Programme for the Prevention and Early Detection of Melanoma.

Professor Šitum has received numerous honours for her service during the Croatian War of Independence. In 1992, she was awarded the Homeland War Memorial Medal and the Homeland War Decoration by the President of the Republic of Croatia. Her military honours include the Plaque of the 4th Guards Brigade of the Croatian Army and the Medal for Bravery “Pauk”, the highest wartime distinction of the Brigade.

She is the recipient of the City of Split Award and the Municipality of Cista Provo Award. She received the Ladislav Rakovac Recognition, Diploma and Award of the Croatian Medical Association for her achievements in the development of healthcare, medical thought, and science, particularly in recognition of her contribution to the work of the Association. She has also received a Certificate of Appreciation and Recognition from the Croatian League Against Cancer.

In 2005, she received the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Award in Medical Sciences, and in 2016 she received the Croatian State Award for Science. She was elected a Corresponding Member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2012 and a Full Member in 2018. She is Head of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Institute for Scientific Research and Artistic Work in Vukovar.

In addition to her medical and academic career, Professor Šitum writes fiction. She has published two collections of short stories in Croatian and one in English. She is featured in the volume Physician-Writers in Croatian Literature from Dimitrije Demeter to the Present Day. She occasionally publishes short stories in Večernji list. Her short story, “Easter”, received the Ranko Marinković Award for Best Short Story in 2024.