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Traditions and Perspectives of History of Medicine Teaching at Medical School University of Zagreb

History of Medicine teaching at Zagreb School of Medicine started on November 5th 1927, when Lujo Thaller (1891-1949) as appointed part-time lecturer performed the first ex chatedra lecture on History of Medicine in this part of Europe. It took him a decade to introduce History of Medicine in medical curriculum. But it also took him next fifteen years of struggle for the proper status and institutional scientific base, which in spite of his strong personal attitude, enthusiasm , devotion, professionalism and international reputation was never achieved. After the World War II venia docendi in History of Medicine at Zagreb School of Medicine has been granted to Lavoslav Glesinger, Mirko Dražen Grmek and Biserka Belicza. M.D.Grmek was primarily engaged in Introduction to Medicine teaching program, while L.Glesinger ( from 1948749 TO 1974/75) and B.Belicza ( from 1975 to present time) devoted their work to teaching History of Medicine. The status and role of the subject in medical curriculum, the status of the lectures, and the institutional base of the Chair and Department of History of Medicine at Zagreb School of Medicine has been exposed to constant struggle and pressure. Despite of the tradition and excellency of the lecturers. That long lasting struggle never reached proper understanding and support by the authority of Medical Faculty in Zagreb. From the very beginning there seems to be a conflict and misunderstanding between the authorities and History of Medicine promoters, which L.Thaller described not as a result of the ignorance about what history is, but what the meaning of medicine itself is. According to the experience of teaching History of Medicine for medical students during last two decades we would like to present our teaching model that is oriented to active participation of students, and to the goal which has been defined as : the development of critical thinking and responsible decision making in evaluation and implementation of modern science and technology in the field of health care, medical practice and biomedical research; promoting medical humanities and bioethics. It is History of Medicine that, in this age of matter and energy, of scientific knowledge and technology domination, has to remind us that human being is more than a basic matter or energy. Therefore in the age of revealing the secrets of human genome it is up to History of Medicine teaching to inaugurate the necessity of revealing the origin and evolution of human cultural genome. We have to become aware of its significance related to the phenomena of human life and death, health and disease in everyday medical and health care practice, as well as in biomedical research in the 21st century, before it is universally accepted that mankind can reach desired well-being only by reshaping the human genome and by enslavement of human consciousness.

History of medicine; teaching; Zagreb School of Medicine; Zagreb; Croatia.

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