Biography - Miranović Vesna+

I was born in 1962. I completed elementary school and high school in Niš and I was awarded Vuk’s diploma both times. I graduated in 1986 from the Medical Faculty of the University of Niš (average grade 8.91). I completed my professional training in specialist studies in the field of pediatrics for the needs of the Medical Institute in Podgorica in 1995. I acquired the professional title of cardiologist subspecialist at the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade in 2008 by defending a paper entitled "Frequency and results of treatment of children with congenital heart defects in Montenegro in the period from 1995-2005. “

I completed my academic postgraduate studies in the field of cardiology in 1999, defending my dissertation entitled "Natural Evolution of Ventricular Septal Defect".  I acquired the title of Doctor of Medical Sciences in 2002, by defending my doctoral thesis entitled "Possibilities of modern echocardiography in assessing the morphology and hemodynamics of ventricular septal defect."

I have expressed my professional competencies by working in numerous professional bodies of national importance:

• Membership of the National Coordination Body for the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases (2020),
• Chief of the Operational Staff for the Prevention of Infectious Diseases (2020),
• Member of the Operational Staff for Tourism Activities in conditions of Existence of Infectious Diseases (2020),
• Member of the Joint External Evaluation Operational Team, aimed to complete the WHO Joint External Evaluation (2019),
• President of the National Coordination Body for Organ Transplantation for Medical Purposes (2018-2020),
• Member of the interdepartmental Working Group for the preparation of the Smart Specialization Strategy of Montenegro - S3 (2018-2022) (2018),
• Member of the Working Group for the needs of the implementation of the entrepreneurial discovery process within the development of the Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) for the field of health tourism (2018),
• President of the National Commission for Quality and Safety of Health Care (2017-2020),
• President of the National Commission for the Control of Nosocomial Infections (2017-2019),
• President of the National Expert Advisory Body for Immunization - NITAG (2017-2019),
• President of the Commission for taking professional exams of health workers and health associates (2017-2020),
• President of the Working Group for Monitoring the European Health Consumer Index (ECHI) (2017),
• President of the Working Group for the preparation of the Draft Law on Medically Assisted Insemination (2017),
• Member of the Working Group for the preparation of the Draft Law on Medicinal Products (2017),
• Member of the Working Group for the development of learning outcomes in the study programs of the Faculty of Medicine (2015),
• Member of the Commission for Quality Assurance and Improvement at the Faculty of Medicine (2015),
• External expert of the Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices (CALIMS) (2013),
• Member of the Commission for providing expert opinion in the procedure of recognition of foreign certificates in the field of pediatrics - appointment by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (2013),
• Member of the Expert Commission of the Medical Chamber of Montenegro (2010-2017),
• President of the Commission for Referral of Patients for Treatment Abroad of the Health Fund of Montenegro (2009-2016),
• Member of the Commission for taking professional exams of health workers and health associates (2009-2015),
• Vice President of the Commission for Prevention of interhospital Infections at the Clinical Center of Montenegro (2009-2013),
• Mentor of a part of the specialist internship in pediatrics (2004-2017).

I give an active contribution to the work of professional bodies of international importance:

• Member of the Working Body, established by the Central European Initiative (CEI) in cooperation with the WHO – consisting of representatives from 17 Ministries of Health, aimed to create a unified regional approach in the fight against the pandemic COVID-19 (2020).
• Representative of Montenegro in the European Committee for Organ Transplantation (CD-P-TO) at the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines (EDQM) (2019 onwards).
• Member of the WHO Working Group on “Small Countries Initiative (SCI) Ad Hoc Working Group on Human Resources for Health in Small Countries” (2019-2020).
• Representative of Montenegro in the States Representatives Group for the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 EU IMI2-Innovative medicines Initiative (2017 onwards).
• The Ministry of Science of the Government of Montenegro has appointed me the National Contact Person (NCP) for “Health, Demographic Changes and Well-being” of the EU Research and Innovation Program "Horizon 2020" (2016-2017).

In the period between two appointments, I took part in the following projects:

• Member of the research team of the scientific research project "COVID 19 - The Case of Montenegro", conducted by the Montenegrin Academy of Science, the Ministry of Health and the Clinical Center of Montenegro in cooperation with the Institute of Public Health (2020),
• Researcher in the project “Studies in biomedical engineering and medical informatics”, BioEMIS, 530423-TEMPUS-1-2012- UK TEMPUS-JPCR (2016),
• HERIC project leader of the Government of Montenegro, the Ministry of Science and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development entitled: "Development, validation and implementation of telemedicine system TELEMONTEKG for rapid detection of heart rhythm disorders in Montenegro" (2015-2017),
• Researcher in the project of harmonization of the VMŠ curriculum with EU directives and introduction of a competency-based program 544169-TEMPUS-1-2013-1-BE-TEMPUS-JPCR (2013-2016).

As the head of the Directorate for Improving the Quality of Health Care and Human Resources Development in the Ministry of Health (2017-2020), I had the opportunity to actively participate in creating legal solutions and strategic documents relevant to the development of the health system of Montenegro:

• Amendments to the Law on Health Care (2020),
• Ordinance on the manner of taking organs from a deceased donor, donor card, statement of opposition to organ harvesting, as well as registers of consent for organ harvesting, statements of opposition to this procedure and deceased organ donors (2020),
• Law on Amendments to the Law on Human Organ Transplantation for Medical Purposes (2019),
• Strategy for improving the quality of health care and patient safety for the period 2019-2023. with the Action Plan for 2019-2020. (2019),
• Smart Specialization Strategy of Montenegro (2019-2024) (2019),
• Ordinance on the types of health services for which waiting lists can be made, as well as the manner and procedure of compiling waiting lists (2017).

I consider my participation in activities carried out under the auspices of the WHO to be extremely important for personal professional advancement:

• Head of the delegation at the WHO Ministerial Consultation on "Protecting people from health emergencies together", Istanbul, February 2019.
• Presentation at a panel discussion at the WHO conference entitled "Future of Digital Health Systems". Title of the presentation: "Electronical Appointment Sheduling Project: Is it possible to meet the needs of patients and do not annoy the doctor?" Copenhagen, February 2019.
• Member of the ministerial delegation on the challenge of labor migration in the field of health of small countries at the WHO "Sixth high-level meeting of small countries: equity and sustainable development-keeping people in the center", San Marino, March 2019.
• Member of the delegation to the 72^nd session of the WHO Assembly. Member of the Committee on Credentials at the same meeting, Geneva, May 2019.
• Head of the delegation at the WHO Ministerial Conference South-Eastern Europe Health Network (SEEHN) on the provision of primary health care for the aging population, Tel Aviv, April 2018.

Following the recommendation and with support of the Ministry of Science of the Government of Montenegro, I took part in the following activities:

• Member of the delegation during the official evaluation of the S3 Smart Specialization Strategy in Seville ("Country dialogue for the assessment of the Smart Specialization Strategy of Montenegro 2019-2024") before the European Commission in charge of a presentation on Sustainable and Health Tourism (2019),
• IAEA Scientific Forum Nuclear Techniques in Human Health, Vienna (2017),
• Responsible Research and Innovation Workshop, Kolašin (2016),
• First Annual Conference of the Better Research for Better Health, Brussels (2016).

The knowledge I possess about the functioning of the health care system and the needs of patients in Montenegro were my main asset in introducing digital technologies in the functioning of the health care system:

• Creation of a Unified platform for electronic scheduling of specialist examinations at the secondary and tertiary level of health care. Thanks to the successful implementation of this innovative project, the Montenegrin health system has advanced on the ECHI 2018 list from 35^th to 23^rd place, and health care has become more accessible to patients.

• Digitization of treatment protocols for urinary and respiratory infections at the primary level of health care.

I consider my engagement as the head of the National Coordinating Body for Organ Transplantation for the purpose of treatment to be truly important. In a relatively short period of time, since 2018, a number of activities have been launched: which were aimed at making the Waiting Lists for Organ Transplantation visible, amendment of the Law on Transplantation of Organs of Human Origin for Treatment was aimed at increasing the number of cadaveric transplants, introduction of donor cards, launch of a campaign to raise awareness of the importance of organ donation, improvement of cooperation with EUROTRANSPLANT through the implementation of Teaching and Training programs that provides an opportunity for Montenegro to develop its own transplant programs.

During my professional career, I have participated in the work of numerous professional bodies:

• Secretary of the Cardiology Section of the Medical Association of Montenegro (1996-2000)
• Member of the Presidency of the Association of Pediatricians of Serbia and Montenegro (2002-2006)
• Vice President of the Pediatric Section of the Medical Association of Montenegro (2001-2008).
• Member of the Association for Preventive Pediatrics of Montenegro (2015)

I am fluent in English, and I speak Italian to a lesser extent.

DATA ON POSITIONS AND TITLE ELECTIONS

I started working in 1986 at the Titograd Medical Institute, where I worked in Occupational Medicine as a general practitioner. For the needs of the Children's Hospital of the Medical Institute Titograd, I received a specialization in pediatrics, which I completed in 1995. After completing my specialization, I continued my work engagement in the Children's Hospital of the Clinical Hospital Center Podgorica (later known as the Institute for Children's Diseases of the Clinical Center of Montenegro). According to the decision of the Government of Montenegro, in 2017 I was appointed a General Director of the Directorate for Improving the Quality of Health Care and Human Resources Development. I have been performing this function until November 2020, after which I continued my work engagement at the Institute for Children's Diseases of the Clinical Center of Montenegro. During my working career at the Clinical Center of Montenegro, I managed the Pediatric Clinic in the period from 1999 until 2008, and after that I was the director of the Institute for Children's Diseases until 2012.

From 2002 until 2007, I was involved in teaching at the Medical Faculty of the University of Montenegro, as an associate. In 2007, by the Decision of the Senate of the University of Montenegro, I was elected as an assistant professor at the same faculty. Furthermore, by the decision of the Senate of the University of Montenegro, I was elected as an associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine in March 2013. In the period from 2016 until 2018, I was appointed a responsible holder of the module concerning General Medicine in the study program Dentistry. In 2019, I was appointed a responsible holder of the module concerning Fundamentals of Clinical Practice I and Fundamentals of Clinical Practice II. By the decision of the Senate of the University of Montenegro, I was appointed full-time professor at the Faculty of Medicine in June 2021.