Izidor Papo
Izidor PapoKBE(31 December 1913 – 14 October 1996) was a surgeon, general, military medical chief and academician.
Papo was aSephardi Jewborn inLjubuški,Austria-Hungary(present-dayBosnia and Herzegovina). He finished high school inMostarin 1932. Papo enrolled in the Medical faculty of theUniversity of Zagrebon which he graduated on time with a perfect 10.0 record and then worked as a doctor at the state hospital inSarajevoup to 1941.
Following theAxis powers'invasion of Yugoslavia,he joined the national liberation movement in 1941 and thepartisanarmy in 1942 as doctor of the Mostar battalion, head of the 3rd division and partisan army supreme command surgical staff. He became a member of theCommunist Partyin June 1943. He graduated from themilitary medical academyinLeningradin 1947 and became chief army surgeon and head of the surgical department of the army medical academy inBelgrade.
After the war, Papo turned to heart, lung and respiratory system surgery. His greatest achievements were in heart surgery. He performed 2,000 open heart operations and gave 400 of his patients artificial heart valves. He was elected as assistant professor in 1950, an associate professor in 1953 and professor in 1956. He was also promoted to general-colonel of theYugoslav Army's medical unit in 1975.
Between 1963-66 he served as Surgical Section's President. That period saw very intensive work by the Section. He invited prominent surgeons from abroad to hold lectures at the Section's meetings. He became a correspondent member of theSerbian Academy of Sciences and Arts(SANU) in 1961 and a regular member in 1968.
He was a correspondent member of the academy ofBosnia and HerzegovinaandPeru,a member of the French surgical academy and many international associations. He won theAVNOJ(the Antifascistic Council for the People's Liberation ofYugoslavia) and Belgrade October awards. He received a number ofYugoslavand foreign decorations. Papo published 217 works in extenso, 13 of which abroad.
Later years
[edit]Papo served over 30 years as chief surgeon of theYugoslav People's Army(JNA). He retired in 1982 and died on 14 October 1996, aged 82, and was buried in the Jewish Cemetery inBelgrade.[citation needed]
Family
[edit]Papo's wife Anastasia, nicknamed Asija (1922-2009) was a Red Army nurse. She was Russian and Papo's third wife. They were childless.