Igor Aurer

Igor Aurer graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Zagreb, in 1987. After completing his medical internship, he worked as a research trainee at the Department of Internal Medicine. From 1989 to 1991, he stayed as a fellow of the Fulbright Foundation at the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, USA. In 1992, at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Zagreb, he defended his dissertation entitled "Activation of ras and fms oncogene in acute myeloid leukemias." Igor specialized in internal medicine and then hematology at the Clinical Hospital Zagreb.

Igor is a full professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Zagreb, and the Faculty of Medicine, University of Mostar. He participates in undergraduate teaching in Clinical Propaedeutics and Internal Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Zagreb, and in Internal Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Mostar. In Zagreb, he also participates in postgraduate and doctoral studies. Since 2017 he is the Head of the Division of Hematology, Department of Internal medicine at the University Hospital Centre Zagreb.

Igor is the author of a large number of professional and scientific papers with over 1200 citations on the Web of Science. He has led three scientific projects funded by the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Croatia. His main field of scientific interest is lymphomas. He has developed international scientific cooperation and participates in international scientific projects within the European Organization for The Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), the Scientific Working Group on Lymphomas of the European Society of Haematology (EHA LyG), the European Lymphoma Institute (ELI) and the European Network for Mantle Cell Lymphomas. He serves as the president of the Croatian Cooperative Group for Hematological Diseases (KroHem) and the KroHem Working Group on Lymphomas. He is the former Assistant head of the Scientific Postgraduate Study in Biomedicine or Doctoral Study in Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine in Zagreb, Head of the subcommittee for phase II research of the EORTC lymphoma group, Head of the "Outreach Committee" of the EGBMT (European Blood and Marrow Transplantation Group) Working Group on Lymphoma, Head of the EORTC Lymphoma Group. He was the medical director of the Croatian Leukaemia-Lymphoma Association (charity).

Igor received several awards for his work, such as the Rector's Award for Student Scientific Work, the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Award for Scientific Work, the Plaques of the Croatian Medical Association, the Award of the Faculty of Medicine for successful management of scientific projects and the annual KroHem Foundation Award for the successful introduction of CAR-T cell therapy in 2020.

Under his leadership, the CAR-T cells treatment of pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and adults with diffuse B lymphatic lymphoma was initiated in 2020 at the Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Center Zagreb.