Igor Rudan (born 7 March 1971) is a Croatian-

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

scientist and writer. He has notably conducted research in global health and genetics, authored several books, and produced a short video documentary series.https://igorrudan.com/videos/ Igor Rudan is a medical doctor with master's degrees in

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

and

Epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and Risk factor (epidemiology), determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent dise ...

, as well as PhD degrees in

Public Health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

and

Genetic Epidemiology Genetic epidemiology is the study of the role of genetic factors in determining health and disease in families and in populations, and the interplay of such genetic factors with environmental factors. Genetic epidemiology seeks to derive a statist ...

. As of April 2024, he has published more than 670 research articles and 15 books. Based on

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of Academic publishing, scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in Beta release, beta in November 2004, th ...

, he has received more than 268,000 citations and has an H-index of 201.

Early life and education

Family

Igor Rudan was born in 1971 in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, Croatia, then a city of

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. His father, Nikola Rudan, was a surgeon at the Institute for Tumors and Allied Diseases in

. Rudan's mother, Tatjana (née Valić), was a

concert pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz, blues, and popular music, including rock and roll. Most pianists can, to ...

. His sister, Mirna Rudan Lisak, is a Croatian author of books and essays on art and culture and an advisor at the Zagreb City Office for Culture". His uncle, Pavao Rudan was an

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

and a Croatian scholar who later became Secretary-General 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 ...

. Rudan's grandfather, Mario Rudan, was a judge on the

Croatian Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia () is the highest court in the country, which ensures the uniform application of laws and equal justice to all. Judicial system Courts protect the legal order of the Republic of Croatia as establish ...

, while his grandmother, Lucija (nee Perini) was a schoolteacher and a poet. The Rudan family originates from the village of Bogomolje on the island of

Hvar Hvar (; Chakavian: ''Hvor'' or ''For''; ; ; ) is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, located off the Dalmatian coast, lying between the islands of Brač, Vis (island), Vis and Korčula. Approximately long, with a high east–west ridge of M ...

, Croatia.

Education

From 1977 to 1985, Igor Rudan attended Veljko Vlahović Primary School on Krajiška Street in Zagreb. During this time, he participated in state championships in mathematics, physics, and chess, as well as city championships in swimming and athletics. In 1985, he enrolled at the High School for Mathematics and Computer Science (MIOC) in Zagreb, where he excelled academically. Through the 'Open Door' exchange program, Igor Rudan completed his senior year of high school in the United States. From 1988 to 1989, he attended

West Charlotte High School West Charlotte High School (also called Dub-C or WC) is a comprehensive high school in west Charlotte, near Beatties Ford Road in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is state-funded. History West Charlotte High School was founded in 1938. The original ...

, in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

Career

In his early career, Rudan developed a

biobank A biobank is a type of biorepository that stores biological samples (usually human) for use in research. Biobanks have become an important resource in medical research, supporting many types of contemporary research like genomics and personalized ...

in the isolated island populations of

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 ...

("10,001 Dalmatians"). He co-led the study that first identified associations between

SLC2A9 Solute carrier family 2, facilitated glucose transporter member 9 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''SLC2A9'' gene. This gene encodes a member of the SLC2A facilitative glucose transporter family. Members of this family play a signif ...

genetic variants,

uric acid Uric acid is a heterocyclic compound of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen with the Chemical formula, formula C5H4N4O3. It forms ions and salts known as urates and acid urates, such as ammonium acid urate. Uric acid is a product of the meta ...

levels, and

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of pain in a red, tender, hot, and Joint effusion, swollen joint, caused by the deposition of needle-like crystals of uric acid known as monosodium urate crysta ...

. He identified variants that regulate human

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

N-glycosylation ''N''-linked glycosylation is the attachment of an oligosaccharide, a carbohydrate consisting of several sugar molecules, sometimes also referred to as glycan, to a nitrogen atom (the amide nitrogen of an asparagine (Asn) residue of a protein), i ...

and predispose a person to

autoimmune disease An autoimmune disease is a condition that results from an anomalous response of the adaptive immune system, wherein it mistakenly targets and attacks healthy, functioning parts of the body as if they were foreign organisms. It is estimated tha ...

s and

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

s. Rudan also co-authored 12

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

and 64

Nature Genetics ''Nature Genetics'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was established in 1992. It covers research in genetics. The chief editor is Tiago Faial. The journal encompasses genetic and functional genomic studies ...

papers that assigned biomedical function to more than 2,000 human genetic variants. In his later career, he focused on international health efforts to reduce global

child mortality Child mortality is the death of children under the age of five. The child mortality rate (also under-five mortality rate) refers to the probability of dying between birth and exactly five years of age expressed per 1,000 live births. It encompa ...

as a member of the Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group (CHERG). He served as a consultant 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 ...

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

, the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $ ...

, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

, and other organizations. He developed the " CHNRI" methodology (in 2007) and EQUIST tool (in 2012). Both have been used by international agencies to prioritize investments in global health research and interventions, respectively.

University education

In 1989, Rudan returned to Zagreb to study medicine at the University of Zagreb Medical School. He studied during the period of the Homeland War in Croatia (1991-1995) and obtained a degree of Medical Doctor (M.D.) and winning a number of awards. He also engaged in

cancer research Cancer research is research into cancer to identify causes and develop strategies for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure. Cancer research ranges from epidemiology, molecular bioscience to the performance of clinical trials to evaluate ...

with his father, Nikola Rudan, and with Professor Marija Strnad, the head of the Cancer Registry of Croatia. This collaboration resulted in more than 20 research papers, case reports, and case series published by them between 1992 and 1995. He led this research as a medical student, publishing the results in journals ''Libri Oncologici'' and ''Acta Medica Croatica''. He graduated from medical school in 1995. During his medical studies, Rudan was awarded the Annual Award from the Principal (Rector) 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 ...

for the best student scientific article in the academic year 1992/93 and 1993/94. He was also awarded the Scholarship for the 50 most successful students from the

in 1993 and 1994 and the Scholarship of the City of Zagreb for the 20 most successful students in 1994. Later in 1994, he received the main Award for Presentation at the annual conference of the European Medical Students Association (EMSA) in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, Czech Republic. He continued his postgraduate education at the

. Mentored by Dr Branka Janicijevic from the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb, he obtained a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree from the

in 1997. This was for the study of the effects of

consanguinity Consanguinity (from Latin '':wikt: consanguinitas, consanguinitas'' 'blood relationship') is the characteristic of having a kinship with a relative who is descended from a common ancestor. Many jurisdictions have laws prohibiting people who are ...

and

inbreeding Inbreeding is the production of offspring from the mating or breeding of individuals or organisms that are closely genetic distance, related genetically. By analogy, the term is used in human reproduction, but more commonly refers to the genet ...

on cancer incidence in Croatian island isolate populations.Rudan I: Rak u stanovništva s visokim stupnjem srodstva. Magistarski rad. Prirodoslovno-matematički fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Zagreb, 1997. A year later, in 1998, he obtained the

Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

(D.Sc.) degree from the University of Zagreb Medical School. Mentored by Professor Silvije Vuletić from the Andrija Štampar School of Public Health, he studied the effects of isonomy and ancestral kinship on cancer in a remote island of

Lastovo Lastovo () is an archipelago municipality in Dubrovnik-Neretva County in Croatia. The municipality consists of 46 islands with a total population of 792 people, of which 94.7% are ethnic Croats, and a land area of approximately . ''Lastovo Munic ...

, Croatia, based on the reconstruction of genealogies for six generations of the local population.Rudan I: Izonimija kao rizik za rak. Doktorska disertacija. Medicinski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu; Zagreb, 1998. In 1999, he joined the European School for Advanced Studies at the University of Pavia, Italy. Mentored by Professor Nadia Ranzani, he obtained a Master's degree in Public Health (M.P.H.) for a genetic epidemiological analysis of familial clusters of cancer on the island of Lastovo, Croatia.Rudan I: Ancestral kinship and cancer in the island of Lastovo, Croatia. M.P.H. thesis. Universita di Pavia; Pavia, 1999. In 2000 and 2001, he received the British Scholarship Trust (BST) Fellowship, Overseas Research Scheme (ORS) Fellowship, and the Ph.D. fellowship from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. This allowed him to move to the United Kingdom and complete his Ph.D. in

genetic epidemiology Genetic epidemiology is the study of the role of genetic factors in determining health and disease in families and in populations, and the interplay of such genetic factors with environmental factors. Genetic epidemiology seeks to derive a statist ...

in 2005. Mentored by Professor Harry Campbell, he studied the effects of inbreeding and consanguinity on human quantitative traits and complex common diseases of late-onset. He presently works as a professor of international health and molecular medicine and joint director of the Centre for Global Health and

's Collaborating Centre for Population Health Research and Training at the

. As of September 2023, he has published more than 600 research articles and 12 books. Based on

, he has received more than 200,000 citations and has an H-index of 161.

Career in genetic research

After obtaining his first doctorate in 1999, Igor Rudan started to develop the biobank called "10,001 Dalmatians". At the time, this was a very rare DNA-based human biobank in a middle-income country. This resource for genetic epidemiological studies was established in a series of genetic isolate islands off the coast of

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

region in Croatia. In 2001 he received the International Research Development Award from the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...

for his research and vision. Further development of this biobank was achieved through collaboration with Professors Harry Campbell from the

and Alan F. Wright from the Human Genetics Unit of the Medical Research Council (MRC) in Edinburgh.

The outbreeding theory: Studying the effects of human inbreeding and admixture

Rudan's early work focused on studying the effects of inbreeding and admixture on

human health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, pain ...

and

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...

. At the time, in the early 2000s, one of the central questions relevant to

gene mapping Gene mapping or genome mapping describes the methods used to identify the location of a gene on a chromosome and the distances between genes. Gene mapping can also describe the distances between different sites within a gene. The essence of all ...

was to predict the genetic architecture of complex quantitative biological traits that underlie common late-onset diseases. Most research of that period assumed that it was "oligogenic", i.e., that only a handful of genes would confer the majority of genetic risk for complex quantitative traits and diseases. Using inbreeding studies within his PhD research, Rudan and his colleagues showed that the genetic architecture of those traits must be highly polygenic, with at least several hundred loci contributing to the genetic risk of human hypertension and late-onset diseases. These studies, published in 2003, were regarded as controversial at the time, which made them difficult to publish. Their implications were summarized in a review published by the influential scientific journal ''Trends in Genetics'' in 2003. A decade later, hundreds of

genome-wide association studies In genomics, a genome-wide association study (GWA study, or GWAS), is an observational study of a genome-wide set of genetic variants in different individuals to see if any variant is associated with a trait. GWA studies typically focus on assoc ...

have shown that the

genetic architecture Genetic architecture is the underlying genetic basis of a phenotypic trait and its variational properties. Phenotypic variation for quantitative traits is, at the most basic level, the result of the segregation of alleles at quantitative trait ...

of human

quantitative traits Complex traits are phenotypes that are controlled by two or more genes and do not follow Mendel's Law of Dominance. They may have a range of expression which is typically continuous. Both environmental and genetic factors often impact the variatio ...

and common complex

of late-onset is highly

polygenic A polygene is a member of a group of non- epistatic genes that interact additively to influence a phenotypic trait, thus contributing to multiple-gene inheritance (polygenic inheritance, multigenic inheritance, quantitative inheritance), a type ...

.Timpson NJ, Greenwood CMT, Soranzo N, Lawson DJ, Richards JB. Genetic architecture: the shape of the genetic contribution to human traits and disease. Nature Reviews Genetics 2018; 19:110–124.Boyle EA, Li YI, Pritchard JK. An expanded view of complex traits: from polygenic to omnigenic. Cell 2017; 169:1177–1186. Rudan's work on studying the effects of

and admixture on human disease was continued at the

through the PhD theses by Ozren Polasek, Ruth McQuillan, and Peter Joshi. After 16 years of continuous research, it resulted in a paper in ''Nature'', demonstrating effects on stature and cognition in diverse human populations.Joshi PK et al. Directional dominance on stature and cognition in diverse human populations. Nature 2015; 523(7561):459-462. Based on these results, Rudan proposed "the

outbreeding Out-crossing or out-breeding is the technique of crossing between different breeds. This is the practice of introducing distantly related genetic material into a breeding line, thereby increasing genetic diversity. Outcrossing in animals Out ...

theory", i.e., that large human movements, migrations and urbanization may be partly driving, through so-called "

hybrid vigor Heterosis, hybrid vigor, or outbreeding enhancement is the improved or increased function of any biological quality in a Hybrid (biology), hybrid offspring. An offspring is heterotic if its trait (biology), traits are enhanced as a result of m ...

", the observed secular trends, improvements in public

health indicators Health indicators are quantifiable characteristics of a population which researchers use as supporting evidence for describing the health of a population. Typically, researchers will use a survey methodology to gather information about a populati ...

and

human lifespan Human life expectancy is a statistical measure of the estimate of the average remaining years of life at a given age. The most commonly used measure is ''life expectancy at birth'' (LEB, or in demographic notation ''e''0, where '' ...

.Rudan I: Effects of inbreeding on human quantitative traits and common complex diseases of late-onset. Ph.D. thesis. The University of Edinburgh; Edinburgh, 2005.

10001 Dalmatians: Genome-wide association studies of quantitative traits

Rudan developed the resource "10001 Dalmatians" with the help of his close collaborators Harry Campbell and Ozren Polašek. The biobank mainly comprised the examinees from the islands of Vis and Korčula in Dalmatia, Croatia. With the advent of "chips" for genome-wide scans developed by the company ''Illumina'', genome-wide association studies became possible and the Croatian resource was among the first to carry them out. However, due to the highly polygenic nature of the studied traits, gene discovery required very large sample sizes. This led to many European and global biobanks joining together to form large collaborative consortia. Their work led to hundreds of original research papers, many of which were published in the leading science journals - ''Nature'', ''Science'' or ''Nature Genetics''. In collaboration with other international biobanks, the "10001 Dalmatians" resource contributed to the discovery of several thousands of human genetic variants that were associated with quantitative biological traits and complex diseases. Igor Rudan co-led the discovery of the

gene variants that were associated with uric acid levels and gout disease.Vitart V, Rudan I, Hayward C, et al. SLC2A9 is a newly identified urate transporter influencing serum urate concentration, urate excretion, and gout. Nat Genet. 2008; 40(4):437-42. In collaboration with Professor Gordan Lauc from the University of Zagreb, he also co-led the first two studies that identified genetic variants associated with human N-glycans levels.

Career in global health

Since March 2001, Rudan has been working as a Technical Expert within the Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group (CHERG) of the

and

. This influential group of researchers led the "child survival revolution" in the 21st century and made contributions that reduced global child mortality.

Child survival — United Nations's Millennium Development Goal 4

Igor Rudan's contributions to the CHERG work included leading a systematic assessment to identify gaps in child health information globally and producing several reports on the global burden of pediatric infectious diseases, such as clinical

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

and

diarrhea Diarrhea (American English), also spelled diarrhoea or diarrhœa (British English), is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements in a day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration d ...

and meningitis. He also contributed to numerous influential estimates of the causes of global child mortality. Working with Professor Harry Campbell, he developed guidelines for performing community-based studies of childhood infections and evaluated existing and emerging interventions.

CHNRI method — setting global research priorities

Working as a consultant for Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) of the

Global Forum for Health Research The Global Forum for Health Research is an international foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, established in 1997 to increase the amount of research into global health issues. It coined the phrase 10/90 gap to identify the observation ...

and funded mainly by the

, Rudan developed and implemented a systematic methodology for setting priorities in global health research investments. The CHNRI methodology has been implemented by many international organizations and countries to identify research priorities, resulting in more than 100 reports in leading journals to date. It became the most widely used method to set health research priorities in the 21st century.

EQUIST tool — prioritising investments in global health

Working as a consultant for

, Igor Rudan co-developed a method to address investment prioritization in health care and health interventions - Equitable Impact Sensitive Tool (EQUIST). The EQUIST tool was used by international organisations and national governments to conduct scenario analyses and identify priority populations, bottlenecks and operational strategies to reduce maternal and child mortality. EQUIST assists stakeholders to develop national health strategies that are evidence-based, equitable, and cost-effective in nature. In 2012-2013, the EQUIST model was expanded by

into a more user-friendly global data science platform. EQUIST has been used as a basis for Investment Case Studies required by a new global financial initiative called

Global Financing Facility The Global Financing Facility is an international development initiative that is supported by the world bank. It aims to fights poverty and inequity by advancing the health and rights of women and children. It focuses on the continuum of care duri ...

(GFF) launched in 2015 to finance the Sustainable Development Goals.

''Journal of Global Health''

In 2011, Igor Rudan founded a scientific journal — ''The Journal of Global Health'' — with two co-editors-in-chief. It was launched on the occasion of the 19th World Congress of Epidemiology. In 2017, he also founded ''Journal of Global Health Reports''. Since 2019, both journals are officially published by the International Society of Global Health. In 2022 and 2023, the Journal of Global Health has been ranked 1st among Scottish scientific journals, with impact factor greater than 7.

Global Health Epidemiology Research Group - global health metrics

With the launch of the new journal, Igor Rudan extended the CHERG work to non-communicable diseases through establishing a global academic collaboration - Global Health Epidemiology Reference Group (GHERG). He assembled and lead the "CHI Consortium" (CHI = China Health Information) and studied reports of Chinese researchers stored in searchable electronic databases in Chinese. He was also a co-developer of GATHER guidelines (Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting). Notable results of GHERG include the first estimates of child mortality causes in China and

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

prevalence in China, and the global epidemiological estimates for

peripheral artery disease Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a vascular disorder that causes abnormal narrowing of arteries other than those that supply the heart or brain. PAD can happen in any blood vessel, but it is more common in the legs than the arms. When narr ...

(PAD),

carotid In anatomy, the left and right common carotid arteries (carotids) () are arteries that supply the head and neck with oxygenated blood; they divide in the neck to form the external and internal carotid arteries. Structure The common carotid a ...

atherosclerosis Atherosclerosis is a pattern of the disease arteriosclerosis, characterized by development of abnormalities called lesions in walls of arteries. This is a chronic inflammatory disease involving many different cell types and is driven by eleva ...

and

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of progressive lung disease characterized by chronic respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. GOLD defines COPD as a heterogeneous lung condition characterized by chronic respiratory s ...

(COPD), aortic aneurysms, hypertension in children, H. pylori infection in children, asthma, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, vitamin A deficiency, accidents and injuries, sickle cell disease, inborn errors of metabolism, type 1 diabetes, and many others.

International Society of Global Health - co-founder and inaugural President

In 2019, Igor Rudan co-founded the International Society of Global Health (ISoGH) and was elected the inaugural President. The society aims to promote global health as a field of scientific research and health care practice nationally and internationally. It produces and disseminates information relating to global health research and practice. Also, it trains and expands the general pool of professionals skilled in global health research and practice.

Career in public communication of science

In 2016, Rudan became a science communicator. Since 2016, he published over 250 columns to popularize science for the Croatian newspaper Vecernji list and further 10 for the Croatian online news portal Index.hr. He also published over 40 long reads in English for

Medium.com Medium is an American online publishing platform for written content such as articles and blogs, developed by Evan Williams and launched in August 2012. It is owned by A Medium Corporation. The platform is an example of social journalism, hav ...

to popularise global health topics. Supported by

The Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predeces ...

and

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

, he developed a documentary series called ''Survival: The Story of Global Health'' (2017). Simultaneously, he wrote a 4-book popular science'' Tetralogy on the 21st century, ''which contained the books ''The Exact Colour of the Sky (2017), Evil Air (2018), In the Land of Clans (2019) and Awaiting the Fires (2020).'' All four books became national bestsellers in Croatia''.''

Role in COVID-19 pandemic response

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Igor Rudan engaged in several roles. He was a scientific adviser to the

Government of Croatia The Government of Croatia (), formally the Government of the Republic of Croatia (), commonly abbreviated to Croatian Government (), is the main executive branch of government in Croatia. It is led by the Prime Minister of Croatia, president o ...

in planning the COVID-19 response in Croatia. From his already established position of science communicator, he also launched a health education campaign, writing columns about the pandemic for Vecernji list. They were followed by up to 3 million people in all six countries of the former

, in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. They were also published in other countries via other international outlets, including comments for

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

and others. He was an Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Global Health, where many reports on the national-level response to COVID-19 were reviewed and published. As a member of the Early Pandemic Evaluation and Enhanced Surveillance of COVID-19 (EAVE II) group, he also wrote a number of editorials and co-authored research articles on COVID-19 pandemic.

Awards and recognitions

* 2005 - National Science Award, The Parliament of the Republic of Croatia * 2012 - Chancellor's Award for Research * 2015–present - Clarivate Analytics / Web of Science's Highly Cited Researcher (Top 0.1% in the World by Citations) * 2016 - Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) * 2017 -19 - Listed among "100 Most Powerful Croatians" *2019 - Principal's Medal for Outstanding Service *2022 - Elected Member of the Academia Europaea (MAE) *2023 - "Best Scientist 2022" by Research.com – listed among world's top 1,000 scientists based on Microsoft Academic (Knowledge) Graph (MAKG) *2023 - Elected Member of the

European Academy of Sciences and Arts The European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA, ) is a transnational and interdisciplinary network, connecting about 2,000 recommended scientists and artists worldwide, including 38 Nobel Prize laureates. The European Academy of Sciences and ...

(EASA) *2023 - Elected Member and Laureate for the Year 2023, International Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina *2023 - Mary Somerville Medal from the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

- as a member of the EAVE II collaboration for generating scientific analyses and insights that have supported evidence-informed policy and public health response throughout the COVID-19 pandemic

Television

In 2017, Rudan co-developed a documentary series on global health called ''Survival: The Story of Global Health''. He wrote the script and narrated the series. The series has 10 episodes and lasts for about 2 hours. It was then broadcast on Channel 1 of Croatian National Television in October and November 2018 and it cumulatively attracted 1.4 million viewers.

Newspaper columns on popular science

* 2017-18 - Vecernji list - "21st Century" - a series of 52 columns (in Croatian) * 2018-19 - Vecernji list - "Human Organism" - a series of 28 columns (in Croatian) * 2019 - Index.hr - "(Non)-Sustainability of the World" - a series of 10 columns (in Croatian) * 2020 - Vecernji list - "Survival: A Story of Global Health" - a series of 17 columns (in Croatian) * 2020-2021 - Vecernji list - "Wave after wave: A story of COVID-19 pandemic" - a series of 45 columns (in Croatian) * 2021-2022 - Vecernji list - "Project Radar: Career choice in the 21st century" - a series of 20 interviews (in Croatian) * 2023-2024 - Vecernji list - "Thus spoke Tesla" - a series of 68 columns (in Croatian) * 2020–present - Medium.com - >40 long reads on global health topics (in English)

Books

* Smoljanović M, Smoljanović A, Rudan I (2009): Croatian Island Populations in 2001. Zagreb: LaserPlus, pp. 1–577. * Rudan I, Sridhar D (2015): Healthy ideas: Improving global health and development in the 21st century. Edinburgh: JoGH, pp. 1–440. * Rudan I, Chan KY, Campbell H, Guo Y (2019, Editors): Elevation: Understanding China's Health Transition in the 21st Century. Edinburgh: JoGH, * Rudan I. Survival: A Story of Global Health. Edinburgh: JoGH, 2021; pp. 1–132. (in English) * Rudan I: Evil Air: A Story of Medicine. Edinburgh: Inishmore, 2022; pp. 1–226. (in English) * Rudan I, Yoshida S, Wazny K, Cousens S (Eds): Measuring ideas: The CHNRI method. A solution for setting research priorities. Edinburgh: JoGH, 2022; pp. 1–384; (in English) * Rudan I, Balaji L, Campbell H, Chopra M. Global Health Economics: The EQUIST and PATHS Tools. Edinburgh: International Society of Global Health, 2023, pp. 1–135. (in English) . * Rudan I, Adeloye D, Song P (Eds). Global health metrics: The GHERG approach. Edinburgh: International Society of Global Health, 2024, pp. 1–261. (In English) * Rudan I: The Breeze: A Story of Exploration, Art, Love and Faith. Edinburgh: International Society of Global Health, 2024, pp. 1–112. (in English) .

Books in Croatian

* Šamija M, Šarčević B, Rudan I (1997): Rijetki tumori (Uncommon tumors). Zagreb: Globus, pp. 1–235. (in Croatian). * Rudan I (1999). Mjesec improvizatora: roman. (Month of an Improviser: A novel). Med-Info Consulting, Zagreb, pp. 1–268. (in Croatian). * Vorko-Jović A, Strnad M, Rudan I (2010): Epidemiologija kroničnih nezaraznih bolesti (Epidemiology of chronic non-communicable diseases). Zagreb: Medicinska Naklada, pp. 1–296. (in Croatian). * Rudan I (2017): Točna boja neba: Razmišljanja o znanosti u 21. stoljeću (The Exact Colour of the Sky: Thoughts on Science in the 21st Century). Zagreb: Naklada Ljevak, pp. 1–355 (in Croatian). * Rudan I (2018): Zao zrak: Razmišljanja o zdravlju i bolesti u 21. stoljeću (Evil Air: Thoughts on Health and Disease in the 21st Century). Zagreb: Naklada Ljevak, pp. 1–451 (in Croatian). * Rudan I (2019): U zemlji klanova: Razmišljanja o prilagodbi u 21. stoljeću (In the Land of Clans: Thoughts of Adaptation in the 21st Century). Zagreb: Naklada Ljevak, pp. 1–356 (in Croatian). * Rudan I (2020): Očekujući vatre: Razmišljanja o izazovima u 21. stoljeću (Awaiting the Fires: Thoughts of the Challenges in the 21st Century). Zagreb: Naklada Ljevak, pp. (in Croatian). * Rudan I (2021): Povjetarac: roman (The Breeze: A novel). Vecernji list, Zagreb, pp. 1–101 (in Croatian). * Rudan I, Rudan T, Skoko B, Klaric D. On the Radar: Career choice in the 21st century. Zagreb: Vecernji list, 2023., pp. 1–302. (In Croatian)

Personal life

Igor Rudan has dual Croatian and British citizenship and is married to Tonkica Rudan. He has two children.

References

External links

igorrudan.com
* https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyxRuuY1APjPsJzJc89dKOg * https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4JAVZRQxSTfy65AOJ4Uqqg/videos * https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKMDe0Yi6SwfUNCXvXdogzA/videos * https://medium.com/@irudan * https://www.vecernji.hr/tag/igor-rudan-160282 * https://twitter.com/ProfIgorRudan {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudan, Igor 1971 births Living people Academics of the University of Edinburgh Physicians from Zagreb Croatian medical researchers Members of Academia Europaea