Zdenko Škrabalo (4 August 1929 – 12 January 2014) was a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

academician An academician is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an honorific title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life. Accor ...

and diplomat and former

foreign minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

of Croatia. After finishing high school in his home town of Sombor, Škrabalo enrolled at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine, and graduated in 1953, where he also received a doctorate with a thesis on disorders of endocrine glands. He attended several seminars around Germany, and he founded the first German laboratory for the

cytopathology Cytopathology (from Greek , ''kytos'', "a hollow"; , ''pathos'', "fate, harm"; and , ''-logia'') is a branch of pathology that studies and diagnoses diseases on the cellular level. The discipline was founded by George Nicolas Papanicolaou in ...

of endocrine glands. He also attended seminars at medical schools in London, Leuven, Boston and Toronto. In 1976 he became full professor at the Zagreb University School of Medicine. He was also a guest lecturer at universities in Dacca, Boston, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Valletta. He spent his career at the , which he founded and developed into an internationally known center for

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

, as well as a collaborative institution of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

. Škrabalo also worked for the

as an advisor to various bodies concerned with

treatment. He is notable for being the first researcher who described the parasitic disease piroplasmosis in humans and his later research was concerned with

thyroid The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans, it is a butterfly-shaped gland located in the neck below the Adam's apple. It consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by ...

pathology,

andrology Andrology (from , ''anēr'', genitive , ''andros'' 'man' and , ''-logy, -logia'') is a name for the medicine, medical specialty that deals with male health, particularly relating to the problems of the male reproductive system and urology, urologi ...

and diabetes. He authored over 250 research articles and is a member of numerous Croatian and international physicians' associations. He is also a member of the

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under the patronage of the Croatian bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer under the name Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (, JAZU) since its ...

since 1992. Škrabalo became engaged in politics in the early 1990s, and between 1991 and 1992 he was advisor to the

President of Croatia The president of Croatia, officially the president of the Republic of Croatia (), is the head of state, commander-in-chief of the military and chief representative of the Republic of Croatia both within the country and abroad. The president ...

Franjo Tuđman Franjo Tuđman (14 May 1922 – 10 December 1999) was a Croatian politician and historian who became the first president of Croatia, from 1990 until his death in 1999. He served following the Independence of Croatia, country's independe ...

for dealing with specialised agencies of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. From 1992 to 1993 he was appointed

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

, and after that he served as Croatia's ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein (1993–1995). In 1995 he was awarded the honorary title of ''professor emeritus'' of the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

and from 1996 to 2000 he served as ambassador to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. In 2000 Škrabalo went into retirement. His younger brother Ivo Škrabalo was also active in Croatian politics, but in the

Croatian Social Liberal Party The Croatian Social Liberal Party ( or HSLS) is a conservative-liberal political party in Croatia. The HSLS were established in May 1989 in Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#Li ...

. On 12 January 2014, he died at Zagreb.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skrabalo, Zdenko 1929 births 2014 deaths Croatian endocrinologists Croatian Democratic Union politicians Croatian diplomats Ambassadors of Croatia to Hungary Ambassadors of Croatia to Switzerland Ambassadors of Croatia to Liechtenstein School of Medicine, University of Zagreb alumni Academic staff of the University of Zagreb Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Foreign ministers of Croatia People from Sombor Endocrinologists Yugoslav physicians Diabetologists