President Milanović Receives Students, Organizers of International Brain-Gut Axis Conference
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović received today the Organizing Committee of the Students Brain-Gut-Axis Conference. The International Students Brain-Gut-Axis Conference was held on 8-9 October in Zagreb under the auspices of the President of the Republic. The theme of the Conference was the popularization of the connection between the nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract in various scientific, clinical and industrial branches.
The organizers of the Conference were the Student section for Gastroenterology and Hepatology of the Faculty of Medicine and the Section for Neurobiology of the Faculty of Science in conjunction with the Student section for Neuroscience and the Student section for the promotion of healthy eating habits and health of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb, the Youth Association for Personalized Medicine PROMISE (Personalized Medicine Inquiry Based Education) and the Association of Students of Biotechnology of the University of Rijeka. The students explained that they founded the Brain-Gut-Axis Conference due to the growing need for a personalized approach in treating all diseases, especially neurological, and with the goal of strengthening interdisciplinarity and the modernization of the approach of physician and scientific practice.
The goals they wanted to reach with the conference were to achieve better insight into the mechanisms of the ever more popular connection between the gastrointestinal tract and the nervous system, the popularization of the scientific problematics with the incentive to perceive neuropsychiatric disorders. Furthermore, one of the goals was to provide a framework for understanding the complexity of the interaction of the nervous and gastrointestinal systems and raise awareness of the importance of the proper perception of the organism as a whole in the context of improving the approach to the research of neurological and psychiatric illnesses and ultimately the potential treatment.
The Conference was endorsed by a number of prominent institutions and societies such as the Croatian Society for Neuroscience, the Croatian Pharmaceutical Society, the Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, the Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences in Split. Conference lecturers were scientists from the Croatian Institute for Brain Research, the Institute for Medical Research, the Faculty of Science and the Ruđer Bošković Institute as well as physicians from University Hospital Centre Zagreb and Faculties of Medicine.
Members of the Organizing Committee of the Students Brain-Gut Axis Conference attending the meeting with President Milanović were president Kamelija Horvatović, secretary Ema Vidaković, member of the Administration Department Rebeka Rumbak, member of the Financial Department for Croatian-speaking Sponsorships Lorena Beretin, member of the Financial Department for Foreign Language Sponsorships Marjan Kulaš, member of the Financial Department for Donations Margareta Sačer, members of the Scientific Department Ana Adžić and Sandro Kukić, and members of the Design and PR Department of the Brain-Gut Axis Conference Antonia Alfirević and Patricia Barić.
Alongside President Milanović was the Adviser to the President for Education Jadranka Žarković.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Filip Glas