Zaostavština prof. dr Smilje Kostić-Joksić u Legatu dr Aleksandra Kostića u Grockoj

Abstract

The Republic of Serbia was, after World War II, amongst the countries whose population underwent intensive BCG immunization, and the doctor who immensely contributed to the widespread application of the BCG vaccine in the territory of Yugoslavia (FPRY) was awarded the Legion of Honor in 1952. It was only in 2020. that the public learned that this doctor was Dr. Smilja Kostić-Joksić, renowned pediatrician, Professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade, scientist, honorary member of the Serbian Medical Society and the Association of Pneumophthisiologists of Yugoslavia, member of the Association of Pediatricians in Paris, the first woman to become an assistant professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade, wife of the well-known scientist, Professor Aleksandar Đ. Kostić, and the mother of eminent composer and gastronome Vojislav Voki Kostić. During her successful career, in addition to her efforts in teaching pediatrics, she also worked as Chief Physician at the outpatient department of the Children's Hospital and as a doctor at the Counselling Center for Infants. She published over 120 papers in Serbian and French, in national and international journals, amongst them a large number of popular articles in the field of pediatrics. Half a century after her removal from the Faculty of Medicine and 20 years after her death, she was posthumously morally exonerated in 2001. The public was reminded of the importance of Dr. Kostić-Joksić and her work when work started on her husband's bequest. In 2018, the Dr. Aleksandar Kostić Legacy in the Municipality of Grocka was presented as a part of the newly restored heritage site Gročanska čaršija, within a gallery space adapted for this purpose at the Ilija GarašaninLibrary, where, just like in life, Dr. Smiljka Kostić found her place alongside her distinguished husband. Some of her few remaining personal belongings are on display, amongst them handbooks and other clinical laboratory diagnostics titles published in Serbia, as well as photo documentation that was compiled during her clinical work on tuberculosis issues in children.