Prim. dr sci. med. Vasa S. Petrović is a physician with more than three decades of professional experience in the health system, a specialist in gynaecology and obstetrics, a primarius and a Doctor of Medical Sciences. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Novi Sad, then continued his specialist education in gynaecology and obstetrics at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade. Alongside his medical training he completed a specialisation in health management and a master’s degree at the Faculty of Organisational Sciences, University of Belgrade. He defended his doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad.
A particularly important part of his career has been emergency medicine and emergency cardiology, in which he worked for about ten years. As a physician of the Emergency Medical Service he worked in a resuscitation ambulance, gaining extensive experience in the emergency care of the most critically ill patients. He was part of the first team in the then Yugoslavia to deal systematically with this type of pathology, achieving results that placed Novi Sad among the leading centres in the region.
Since 1994 he has been a member of the European Resuscitation Council, and he also took part in founding ERCA in Serbia. He has passed on his knowledge and experience in emergency medicine through professional education, including invited lecturing in Slovenia.
Since 2009 he has held the title of primarius.
He gained his professional experience across different areas of healthcare — from work as a general practitioner and in emergency medicine, through specialist practice in gynaecology and obstetrics, to senior management of health institutions. He served as director of the Novi Sad Health Centre and later as director of the “dr Milorad Pavlović” Health Centre in Inđija.
While leading health institutions he took part in organising and improving primary care, developing emergency medical services, introducing modern diagnostic capacity, and delivering numerous projects in prevention, early detection of disease and the quality of health services.
A special place in his professional and research work belongs to the WHO MONICA project, one of the largest international projects dedicated to monitoring cardiovascular disease and its risk factors. He was the project lead in Novi Sad, which, as one of 64 centres in the long-term study, achieved notable results internationally.
His professional work is also linked to many national and international health projects, including work in emergency medicine, prevention of chronic disease, early detection of malignancies and the improvement of primary care. He has led and taken part in a number of professional and research projects, and during his career has published 15 papers as first or sole author and contributed as co-author to a further 21, as well as authoring and co-authoring several monographs.
Preventive medicine and the early recognition of health risks hold particular importance in his career. His long-standing work covers not only treatment but also the improvement of healthcare through education, prevention and timely detection of disease.
In his work with patients he draws on experience gained over decades in conventional medicine, from primary and emergency care, through emergency cardiology and specialist practice, to research and management. He engages with integrative approaches to medicine as a complement to his core medical education and long clinical practice.
For the patient, a consultation with Prim. dr sci. med. Vasa S. Petrović is an opportunity to view their health from the perspective of a physician with more than three decades in medicine, specialist and doctoral education, experience in emergency medicine and emergency cardiology, primary and specialist care, international professional projects, and long-standing work on prevention and the quality of health services.
