Name: Dragan Primorac

Dragan Primorac is a pediatric medical doctor, forensic expert, geneticist and university professor. Dr. Primorac served as Minister of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia from 2003 to 2009. According to the International Republican Institute survey of October 1, 2007, he was rated as the most successful minister in the Government. Under his leadership, chapters ”Science and Research” and “Education and Culture” were the first two chapters that Croatia closed in negotiations with the European Union. As the Minister of Science, Education and Sports, Dr. Primorac launched a series of successful reforms in primary, secondary and tertiary education as well as in science, technology and sports that significantly improved the system. Minister Primorac was able to secure the greatest increase of the budget for science, education and sports in the history of modern Croatia. The budget in 2003 was $1.2 billion while the budget in 2009 was $2.3 billion (including loans for Croatian universities). During his mandate, strategic documents such as the Education Sector Development Plan 2005 – 2010 and the Science and Technology Policy 2006 – 2010 were prepared and subsequently adopted by the Government and supported by the World Bank loan in the amount of €68 million (Education) and €31 million (Science and Technology). The award for numerous efforts made by minister Primorac and his team on the Croatian educational system was the survey of the famous Newsweek (August 16, 2010) which rated Croatian education system 22nd in the World, ahead of 12 countries from the G20 group.

He is one of the founders of forensic DNA analysis in Croatia and he was among a few scientists in the word who applied DNA analysis with a goal to identify mass graves victims. Dr. Primorac serves as a Professor at the University of Split, School of Medicine and University of Osijek, School of Medicine as well as Adjunct Professor at Penn State University and at the University of New Haven. Also, he is co-founder of the Split University Center of Forensic Sciences. In addition, he is co-founder of the prestigious international organization, The International Society for Applied Biological Sciences (ISABS) whose meetings are held every two years in Croatia. Dr. Primorac is the author of more than one hundred and fifty scientific papers and abstracts in the field of forensic science, population genetics, the genetic legacy of homo sapiens sapiens, clinical medicine and molecular genetics, of which 65 are listed in CC and SCI. So far he has been cited more than a thousand and five hundred times. Also he is author of several books in Croatia and the United States, as well as of articles on education, science and technology, among which are papers published in reputable journals such as EMBO Reports and Science. The results of his work have been published in prestigious scientific journals such as JAMA, Science, Lancet and in the New York Times, USA Today, Chicago Tribune and the Hartford Courant. Furthermore, Connecticut TV Station Channel 8 filmed a television serial on Dr. Primorac's forensic work in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia.