Stipan Jonjić received his MD from the Faculty of Medicine University of Rijeka, Croatia, in 1976. He made his PhD in Rijeka and Tuebingen (Germany), working in the field of immunology and completing it in 1985. In the period from 1999 to 2003 he was the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine University of Rijeka. In 2006, as part of the Faculty of medicine, he founded the Center for Proteomics, which specializes in various modern technologies, including the generation of monoclonal antibodies in a high-throughput manner. Later, he established a modern animal facility to further support the development of biomedical science. Prof. Jonjić’s group has more than dozen active collaborations with various research institutions in Europe, US and Canada.

Most of his research was focused on elucidating antiviral immune response and viral immunoevasion mechanisms. He worked as a principal investigator on numerous national and international scientific projects, including EU ERC Advanced Grant and US National Institutes of Health R01 grant. Over the years, he was awarded with many grants and prizes for his achievements and held many executive positions within the University of Rijeka and in national Croatian societies. In 2012 he became a member of German National Academy of Sciences – Leopoldina, and a board member of several leading scientific journals. In 2013. he received Lifetime Achievement Award in Science of the Republic of Croatia and was also awarded Lifetime Achievement Award in Science by the City of Rijeka in 2017. He is also leading and co-ordinating Center of excellence for virus immunology and vaccines.