Damjan Dimnjaković, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant professor Damjan Dimnjaković graduated at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine in 2010, followed by his internship at the Clinic for traumatology, University Hospital Centre Sestre Milosrdnice. The first time he showed interest in orthopaedic surgery was already at the 5th year of medical studies, when he started the scientific research under mentorship of prof. Ivan Bojanić. In addition, during the studies he took part at two IFMSA student exchange programs, in Martin, Slovakia and Barcelona, Spain, where he also visited the orthopaedics and traumatology department at the local hospitals.
In 2012 he started his residency in orthopaedic surgery and traumatology at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, and University of Zagreb School of Medicine. During his residency he showed particular interest in arthroscopy and sports traumatology. In February 2014 he did an AGA-sponsoring fellowship in sports traumatology in Innsbruck, Austria, under mentorship of prof. Christian Fink. After the fellowship the ACL reconstruction using the quadriceps tendon as the graft was started in Croatia and is performed today as well. During and after finishing his residency in 2018, he took part at various educations in knee and ankle arthroscopy, which is the area of special interest in his everyday work. In June 2023 he took part at the prestigious ''Anica Bitenc Travelling Fellowship'' in several cities Canada. During the rest of 2023 he participated at the ESSKA Certification Program- Ankle ligament pathology, expanding his knowledge in arthroscopic treatment of ankle instability even further.
In 2016 je defended his PhD thesis ''Value of Tourniquet Use in Anterior Ankle Arthroscopy'' at the Biomedicine and health postgraduate studies at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine. This research contributed to performing the knee and ankle arthroscopy as part of day-care treatment at the University Hospital Centre Zagreb. Assist.Prof. Dimnjaković published more than 40 scientific papers, with 11 of them published in journals indexed in Current Contents (CC) bibliographic database.
He has attended more than 40 national and international meetings, on most of them with an oral or poster presentation, while being in the organizing committee on several occasions. He is also a co-organizer of a Postgraduate course with prof. Ivan Bojanić, regarding treatment of foot and ankle pathology.
Since 2014 he is teaching Orthopaedics at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine Graduate studies. Since 2016 he is also teaching at the Postgraduate studies, at the course Podology- clinical pathology of foot and ankle and since 2024 at the course ''Sports traumatology''. In September 2022 he is working as a Senior Scientific Associate and since February 2023 as an Assistant Professor at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine. Besides the formal teaching at the School of Medicine, he is collaborating with Student section for orthopaedic surgery and traumatology. In addition, he has also mentored two graduation theses.
Assist.Prof. Dimnjaković is a member of several national and international societies, such as Croatian Medical Association, the Croatian Orthopedics and Traumatology Association, the Croatian Orthopedic Society, the Croatian Society for Sports Traumatology and Arthroscopy, the European Society for Sports Traumatology and Knee Surgery (ESSKA), the German-speaking Arthroscopy Society (AGA), the European Federation for Orthopedics and Traumatology (EFORT). Since January 2024, he has been the vice-president of the Croatian Orthopedic Society- Foot and Ankle Section (CROSFAS).
Besides the scientific and professional connection to sports, he is also a recreational futsal player. In addition, he is also a licensed physician of the football club HNK Gorica and basketball club ŽKK Medveščak, while he used to be the physician of futsal club MNK Futsal Dinamo during several seasons.
