Симо Милошевић : (1896–1943)

Simo Milošević was born on September 5th, 1896, in the small town Kamenari in the Bay of Boka Kotorska (Boka) where he fi nished primary school. He started Classical Gymnasium in Kotor but fi nished it in Zadar. He trained at Zadar Th eological Seminary which was almost at the rank of Th eological Faculty. In 1918 he enrolled at the Faculty of Philosophy, the Department of Biology in Belgrade, but in 1920 he signed over to the newly founded School of Medicine. During studies, he volunteered at the Dermatology and Venereology Clinic where he started research into the origins of dermatovenerologic diseases and their characteristics. He graduated (1926) as the 12th student of his generation and started working as a secondary care doctor, at the Chemotherapy Unit of the Bacteriological Department of the Central Institute for Hygiene (CIH) in Belgrade. He won a Rockefeller grant (1928) and started his specialist studies in Hamburg. He completed research in Paris, at the Paris School of Medicine (1930), where he worked with renowned professors of parasitology and mycology. Under Professor Vigren supervision he completed a course on the production of glassware apparatus used in medicine. At the Pasteur Institute in Paris, he completed courses in microbiology and biochemistry and the applications of industrial fermentation. Aft er returning to Belgrade he founded the Medical Mycological Laboratory within the Department of Parasitology of the CIH (1930) and it was the fi rst specialized laboratory in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the region. Because of his “left ist” and anti-regime political activities, he was arrested (1932) and sent to prison by the State Court. International scientifi c circles, especially the scientists from Paris and Professor Langeron in particular, objected his detention and he was released. Due to notable scientifi c research results he got a second Rockefeller grant which enabled him to continue scientifi c work at the Paris School of Medicine. Th ere he was elected“foreign assistant extraordinaire” at the Department of Parasitology and Natural History (1936) which was a prestigious title bestowed upon foreign researchers. During long term scientifi c collaboration with Professor Langeron he produced his most important scientifi c results. Additionally, he developed close and lasting friendship with Professor Langeron who respected very much his work. Out of this respect, Langeron named a newly discovered species of dermatophyte Achorion (Trichophyton) milochevitchi. On February 3rd, 1937, the School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, appointed Simo Milošević to the position of an associate professor of parasitology. At the time medical parasitology included multiple branches such as helminthology, protozoology and arachno-entomology and phytoparasitology (namely medical mycology). Milošević was very dedicated to teaching, not only of university students but also of secondary school ones for whom he wrote several textbooks on hygiene, two for upper-class schools and two for gymnasiums. He was an honorary president of the Yugoslav Association of Medical Students who saw him not only as a teacher but also as a guardian and a friend. Aft er the signing of the Tripartite Pact, Simo Milošević gave a fi ery speech by the Vuk Monument on March 27th, 1941 and invited the citizens of Belgrade to protest against the regime. He soon left Belgrade and went to Boka where he set out to organize rebellions against the Italian occupation forces. Together with Professor Niko Miljanić, he founded a hospital in the town of Risan where resistance fi ghters and wounded partisan were treated. In 1942, Milošević joined the Headquarters of Partisan units of Montenegro and was put in charge of the health services. He soon set up a partisan hospital near the town of Nikšić and became the Head of the Sanitary Unit for Montenegro and Boka. In September of 1942, he retreated to Bosnia, with the partisans. He organized the First Congress of the Partisan Physicians in the town of Bosanski Petrovac at which he submitted a report on the sanitary-epidemiological situation in the army and on the organization of the civilian health services. At the First Session of AVNOJ in Bihać, he was elected a member of the Executive Board and the organizer of the health service for the people, for which he developed thorough instructions in the war conditions. His eff orts in the organization of the health service of the Partisan units were hampered by constant fi ghting, known as the fourth and the fi ft h enemy off ensives. As a soldier of the 3rd Fighter Division, he was wounded in the Battle of Sutjeska. He and Ivan Goran Kovačić (famous writer) reached the vicinity of the town of Foča, in Bosnia, where they hid for a while. Th ey were soon found and executed by the Chetniks, in June or July of 1943. In general, Simo Milošević is better known as a partisan doctor than a scientist. Unfortunately, even our medical professionals did not have, nor do they still have, an accurate insight into the scientifi c achievements of Simo Milošević. Th e fi rst analysis of his contributions to the medicine, primarily medical mycology, was made by his student and successor in the department, Professor Milovanović. A much more comprehensive analysis of his research achievements was conducted by Grin and Ožegović (1958), and published as the English edition by the Springer Publishing Company. In the edition History of Medical Mycology Luciano Polonelli stated that the Еpidermophyton fl occosum type of dermatophyte fungus was described and classifi ed by Langeron and Milošević (1930). Th e scientifi c achievement of Simo Milošević is still not recognized nor appreciated enough. Th us, the biological classifi cation of dermatophyte, published by Langeron and Milošević (1930) is attributed to the American scientist Chester Emmons who came up with it few years later (1937). During the 17 years of scientifi c activities Simo Milošević primarily studied human infectious diseases and agents. He initially started with bacteria, and his experimental work proved that diff erent variations of bacteria can be obtained by using the fi ltration of bacterial or fungal cultures, He analyzed causative agent of tuberculosis and concluded that their genetic changes are possible reasons for epidemic outbreaks. Moreover, he demonstrated that fi ltrate from culture of fungus Aspergillus decrease acid resistance of this bacteria. In medical mycology fi eld Milošević examined immunological mechanisms important for the treatment of patients with dermatophytosis, the eff ect of environmental factors on fungal growth, fungicidal properties of certain compounds, and the appearance of pleomorphisms in the dermatophytes. He introduced new sampling methods for the laboratory study of dermatophytes and developed new simple procedures for laboratory examinations of clinical samples. Milošević also worked on the public health aspects of infectious diseases, the issues of hygiene, epidemiology and prevention of infection. He upgraded the guidelines of the health service organization, and promoted the importance of education of physicians and the population. His papers stood up with clarity and accuracy of theoretical hypothesis, and his practical guidelines provided easy solutions for laboratory work. He applied various methods of research; observation, case series analysis, cohort studies and laboratory experimental studies, but the most signifi cant results came from laboratory based investigations. Th e key results were observed in a series of properly selected and clearly systematized clinical cases of dermatomycosis by analyzing a large number of patients in former Yugoslavia. He collected a lot of clinically signifi cant fungi, and through experimental work he established laboratory criteria for the classifi cation of dermatophytes and their simple and precise taxonomy which was until then based only on clinical aspects. Th ese accomplishments were achieved in collaboration with great scientists such as Sabouraud, Ot, Matruchot, Dassonville, Harz, Brumpt, and Langeron, His most prominent contribution to the medical mycology was determination of criteria for classifi cation of dermatophytes which enabled the appropriate classification of several important species: Epidermophyton floccosum (Hаrz) (Langeron еt Milochevitch 1934), Тrichophyton schoenleinii (Lebert) (Langeron et Milochevitch 1930), and Trichophyton ferrugineum (Ota) (Langeron et Milochevitch 1930). Besides classifying already discovered species he identifi ed completely new dermatophyte in his patients: Тrichophyton langeronii (1931), Тrichophyton bossae (1935) and Тrichophyton immergens (1937). He published research results (1928–1940) simultaneously in French scientifi c journals Annales de Parasitologie Humaine et Comparee and Mycopatologia and in Serbian medical journals Medicinski pregled (Medical Review) and Glasnik Centralnog higijenskog zavoda (Th e Gazette of the Central Institute for Hygiene). Majority of these publications (circa 50) related to the medical mycology, mostly to the laboratory criteria for dermatophyte systematization, and have been cited in numerous international and national journals and books. How signifi cant is his contribution to the medicine, primarily to the medical mycology is the fact that the group of dermatophytes which Milošević reclassifi ed and identifi ed in 1930 have been recently confi rmed by molecular classifi cation.Биографије и библиографије / Српска академија наука и уметности ; књ.17. II Одељење, Одбор за проучавање живота и рада научника у Србији и научника српског порекла ; књ. 1