About us | Slovenija Transplant

People

Andrej Gadžijev, MD, spec. in travm.

Director
E andrej.gadzijev(@)slovenija-transplant.si
T +386 1 300 68 60

Andrej Gadžijev, a specialist in trauma surgery, is an experienced expert in the field of donor medicine. He was appointed Director of the Slovenija-transplant Institute on 1 January 2022.
Gadžijev graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ljubljana (2000). He completed specialisation in traumatology with distinction (2009). For years, he worked as a specialist in traumatology at UMC Ljubljana. Between 2010 and 2017, he headed the Intensive Care Unit of the Clinical Department of Traumatology. He attended additional training in palliative care and clinical nutrition of severely debilitated patients at the end of life.
Throughout his career, he has been intensively involved in donor medicine. In 2002, when Slovenija-transplant was founded, he joined the team of central transplant coordinators. In addition to his regular work at the trauma clinic, he worked as a transplant coordinator until 2013. In 2010, he was the first expert from Slovenia to pass the international examination for transplant coordinators (CETC) at the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS). The examination was, among other things, a prerequisite for his appointment as the responsible physician for donor medicine in the Republic of Slovenia. He still fulfils the role of consultant physician today.
In 2012, he took over the management of the newly established national programme to ensure the quality and safety of organ and tissue donation (the so-called QAP). This made him the chief auditor in eleven donor hospitals around Slovenia.
Due to the rapid development and expansion of his professional involvments in donor medicine, he has been working 80% at Slovenija-transplant since 2017. At the beginning of 2022, he took over the management and continues to work on a limited basis as a specialist in traumatology in the Clinical Department of Traumatology at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana, providing outpatient and emergency care.
He is a member of many Slovenian and international professional organisations, including the European Association for Organ Donation and Transplantation (ESOT), more specifically the European Committee for Transplant Coordinators (EDTCO). At the level of the European Commission, he is the official representative of Slovenia at the meetings of the National Competent Authorities (NCA). Within the international organisation Eurotransplant, he is a member of the Advisory Committees for Registries (ERAC) and Organ Procurement and Coordination (OPCC). At national level, he is a member of the Extended Expert Committee for Transplantation at the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Slovenia. Between 2017 and 2021, he was a member of the Committee for Medical Issues at the Medical Chamber of Slovenia.
He is co-author of the handbook on donor medicine in Slovenia.
He regularly participates as an invited speaker at conferences and congresses. He is one of the main lecturers at the intensive training for Slovenian transplant coordinators (TPM), the seminar on the basics of the donor programme (ETPOD), the workshop on the histovigilance system and the workshop on breaking the bad news (communication with relatives about organ donation). He is a member of the expert group of evaluators in the public competition for the best research work in donor medicine, which is being organised by Slovenia-transplant from 2022. He is also a permanent member of the international team of lecturers who run courses for transplant coordinators around the world under the auspices of the Spanish organisation TPM-DTI.
In managing Slovenija-transplant, he acts responsibly, transparently and tolerantly. He continues the long-standing tradition of development orientation, multidisciplinary approach and good cooperation between the institutions and teams involved in the national donor programme. During his four-year term, he will focus on improvements in donor detection procedures, the ethical introduction of innovations and the further development of quality and safety in the donor programme. He will focus on communicating with the public and raising awareness of organ donation.
Andrej Gadžijev is happily married and a devoted father of two sons. He enjoys spending his precious free time with his family. He played ice hockey in his youth and still enjoys playing the sport. As far as his time allows, he enthusiastically follows the extraordinary successes of Slovenian sports.

Prim. Danica Avsec, MD, counceller

Deputy Director
E danica.avsec(@)slovenija-transplant.si
T +386 1 300 68 68

Boštjan Kušar, PhD, MA in management and economics in health care

Director's assistant for business affairs
E bostjan.kusar(@)slovenija-transplant.si
T +386 1 300 68 69

Gorazd R. Čebulc, DMV, FEBS

Professional associate for information affairs and quality
E gorazd.cebulc(@)slovenija-transplant.si
T +386 1 300 68 65

Dr. Jana Šimenc, Phd in Anthropology

Professional associate for communications, research and projects
E jana.simenc(@)slovenija-transplant.si
T +386 1 300 68 60

Slovenija-transplant

About the institute

The Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for the Transplantation of Organs and Tissues Slovenija transplant (Slovenija-transplant) is a national expert institution responsible for the operation and development of organ donation and transplantation in Slovenia. The Institute provides the organisational conditions, professional protocols and appropriate legislation for a successful, ethical, high-quality and transparent organ donation programme in Slovenia.

It supports donor hospitals in professional dilemmas. It educates the professional public and informs citizens about the possibility of treatment with transplantation and promotes the voluntary decision in favour of organ donation. It manages the national donor register.

At the Slovenija-transplant premises there is a central transplant coordination office where the transplant coordinators link and coordinate all activities on a daily basis so that patients on the waiting list for a transplantation receive a suitable organ on time. Co-operation takes place at national and international level, most frequently between the Eurotransplant countries. Slovenija-transplant also ensures the traceability, quality and safety of all transplant treatments.

The Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for the Transplantation of Organs and Tissues Slovenija transplant is a non-profit public body and was founded by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia (2002). It operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Slovenia.

Tasks and responsibilities

Vision

Financing

Public information

Tenders

History

For many years, patients in Slovenia have been guaranteed high quality treatment with organ and tissue transplantation. We were one of the first countries in the region to introduce an extremely well-organised and successful model for the procurement and provision of organs for transplantation. The creation of the independent coordination institution Slovenija-transplant, the establishment of the national network of donor hospitals and the connection with the international non-profit foundation Eurotransplant are primarily the merit of biologist and immunologist Prof. Mateja Bohinjec and anaesthetist Prof. Jasna Vončina.

When the institution was founded, the then very successful transplant coordinator and anaesthetist cf. Danica Avsec from UMC Maribor took over the management. Cf. Avsec managed Slovenija-transplant from its foundation in 2002 until the end of 2021 and is responsible for the national and international recognition of Slovenija-transplant, the connection of the donor network and the continuous professional and personnel development and expansion of the institution. As an excellent communicator, she has achieved a high level of public trust in organ donation.

In the scheme, key milestones in the development of donor and transplantation activity are stated. Transplantation activity was developed at UMC Ljubljana. For the last 20 years of deceased donation programme in Slovenia, please see scientific article.

1952

The first corneal transplantation at the Ophaltomology Clinic in Ljubljana

1969

Establishment of a laboratory for tissue typing, under the auspices of the Institute for Blood Transfusion of the RS (initiative of Prof. Dr M. Bohinjec)

1970

The first living donor kidney transplantation at UMC Ljubljana

1985

The Removal and Transplantation of Human Body Parts for the Purposes of Medical Treatment Act

1968

First Rules on medical criteria, methodology and procedures for certification of the brain death and on the composition of the Commission for the certification of the brain death

The first deceased donor kidney transplantation at UMC Ljubljana

1989

The first autologous transplantation of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs)

The first related donor allogenic transplantation of HSCs

Establishment of the Slovenian Register of Unrelated Haematopoietic Stem Cell Donors Slovenia Donor (Administrator: The Institute of Transfusion Medicine of the Republic of Slovenia)

1990

The first two cases of multiple organ removal

The first heart transplantation
The first pancreas transplantation

1992

Establishment of Extended Expert Committee for Transplantation (initiative of Prof. Dr. M. Bohinjec, president cf. J. Vončina, MD)

Guido Persin, MD, Director of Eurotransplant, visits Slovenia and introduces the international organisation for organ and tissue exchange

1993

Preparation of the study “Slovenija-transplant: National health system in the field of organ and tissue transplantation. Introduction, organisation and financing”, Editors: cf. J. Vončina, Prof. Dr. M. Bohinjec

Adapted 2nd Rule on certification of the brain death
Introduction of the national education programme on brain death

1995

The first deceased donor liver transplantation

1996

Establishment of a temporary Transplantation Center within the Surgical Clinic of the UMC Ljubljana (Head Prof. Dr. Zoran Arnež, MD)

Start of 24- hour of transplant coordinators’ state of readiness and donor coordination

1997

Start of 24- hour of transplant coordinators’ state of readiness and donor coordination

1999

The first temporary cooperation agreement between Eurotransplant and UMC Ljubljana was signed

2000

The Removal and Transplantation of Human Body Parts for the Purposes of Medical Treatment Act (basis for the foundation of Slovenija-transplant)

Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia on the start of operation of Slovenija-transplant in the process of establishment (acting director Danica Avsec, MD)
Slovenia joins Eurotransplant

2001

First “Delivering the bad news and conversation with the family about the donation” workshop for professional public

2002

Start of independent operation of the Slovenija- transplant Institute (director Danica Avsec, MD)

New agreement between Slovenija-transplant and Eurotransplant

2003

Publication of the first national professional guidelines on Transplantation: Donor programme (Organs), edited by J. Vončina and D. Avsec

The first deceased donor liver transplantation

2004

Establishment of a national donor register (Administrator: Slovenija-transplant)

2006

Solemn academy on the 5th anniversary of Slovenia-transplant

Expert meeting of the Slovenian Transplantation Association at the Slovenian Medical Association

2008

Start of training courses according to the European “Basics of the Donor Programme” (ETPOD)

The first celebration of the European Donation Day, Slovenija-transplant hosts a high-level meeting of the members of the European Committee for Organ Transplantation at the Council of Europe in Ljubljana

2009

The first simultaneous kidney and pancreas transplantation

2010

The first simultaneous heart and kidney transplantation

2012

Implementation of the quality assurance programme in the organ and tissue donation process (Head Andrej Gadžijev, MD)

First 3-day intensive training course as part of the Transplantation Procurement Management (TPM) programme; carried out by Slovenia-transplant and the Spanish institute DTI-TPM

2014

The first simultaneous kidney and liver transplantation

2015

Act regulating the procurement and transplantation of human body parts for the purposes of medical treatment (ZPPDČT)

Signed contract between MORS (Government of the Republic of Slovenia) and Slovenija-transplant on the use of the government’s Falcon aircraft for the transport of organs from abroad for our patients

2018

Brežice General Hospital joins the national donor network

An independent lung transplantation programme at UMC Ljubljana

Introduction of an electronic donor register, possibility of electronic registration via the eGovermental portal

2020

Solemn symposium celebrating 20 years of successful cooperation between Slovenia and Eurotransplant

2022

The management of Slovenija-transplant is taken over by Andrej Gadžijev, MD