Representatives of Clinical Centre of Montenegro talk to Minister Damjanović about Initiative to establish international institute

Minister of Science of Montenegro Dr. Sanja Damjanović paid an official visit to the Clinical Centre of Montenegro today, where she met the Centre’s management to discuss the Initiative to establish an international scientific institute in the area of South East Europe, whose implementation would enable the application of Hadron cancer therapy, i.e. treatment with beams of protons and ions, which represents the most successful cancer treatment instrument.

On behalf of the Clinical Centre, Minister Damjanović was welcomed by Dr. Filip Vukmirović, Head of the Pathology Department, and Prof. Dr. Vladimir Todorović, Director of the Oncology and Radiotherapy Clinic, who said that the Initiative represented an excellent opportunity for scientists and researchers and expressed full support for this unique project, which would significantly affect the region economically, culturally and socially and enhance scientific and research capacities, bringing the countries of the region closer to global scientific trends.

During the meeting with the representatives of the medical scientific community, it was concluded that it was necessary for the medical staff to actively participate in the implementation of the Initiative. The project can include experts from various branches of medicine: oncology, radiology, nuclear medicine, etc.

Also, it was assessed that young medical experts could exchange experiences and knowledge in contact with the international scientific community during the building of project expertise, through education programmes to be enabled by the Ministry of Science in the coming period.

The Minister informed the Centre’s representatives about the previous results in the implementation of the Initiative and the future steps.

As a reminder, the Ministry of Science of Montenegro organized a scientific conference in Hotel Avala in Budva last week, where the representatives of line ministries of the countries of South East Europe considered the draft Declaration of Intent that expresses the consent of the countries to the Initiative to establish the institute, which would be officially signed at a ministerial conference at CERN. Thus, the Initiative would be transformed into a regional project.

The first option is 'Synchrotron Light Source', which enables research in various fields such as biology, chemistry, pharmacology, ecology, geology and engineering, with wide application in various branches of industry. The second option is Hadron Cancer Therapy and Biomedical Research: proton and ion beam accelerators represent the most successful instrument for treating cancer today.

Two groups of scientific experts, who are also members of international commissions, are currently working on the preparation of 'Concept Studies' for both options of the Institute. The experts will present the technical details of the project in late October in Montenegro.