Prof. Sanja Musić Milanović, MD, PhD, is a physician, specialist in epidemiology, scientist, and university professor, born in 1969 in Zagreb, Croatia.
Her entire scientific and professional career has been dedicated to the preservation and promotion of health. After graduating from the University of Zagreb School of Medicine, she completed an international postgraduate program, “Master in Public Health Methodology,” at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health, earning the degree of Master of Science. She obtained her PhD at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine with a thesis titled “Demographic, Behavioral and Socioeconomic Determinants of Obesity in Croatian Adults”. Her scientific interests focus on the epidemiology of non-communicable diseases, particularly obesity, and health promotion.
She is a professor at the Department of Medical Statistics, Epidemiology and Medical Informatics at the Andrija Štampar School of Public Health, University of Zagreb School of Medicine. She serves as the Head of the Health Promotion Division at the Croatian Institute of Public Health, the Ministry of Health’s Reference Center for Health Promotion, and leads the National Health Promotion Program Living Healthy.
She also coordinates the implementation of the WHO European Office’s Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (CroCOSI) in Croatia and participates in numerous other research and professional projects. Prof. Musić Milanović is a member of the Advisory Council of the WHO Regional Director for Europe on Innovation in Chronic Non-Communicable Disease Prevention and a member of the WHO’s Special Working Group on Childhood Obesity Prevention.
Additionally, she represents Croatia in various international bodies in the field of health promotion, including: WHO and European Commission Working Group on Health-Enhancing Physical Activity, WHO Working Group on Lifelong Health Promotion and WHO Working Group on Obesity and Nutrition.
As a representative of the European Parliament, she serves on the Management Board of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). She is also a member of the Scientific Council for Anthropological Research at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and of the Governing Board of the Croatian Society for Obesity.
In recognition of her long-standing advocacy and achievements in health promotion, she received a special award from the Director-General of the World Health Organization in 2022, being named “Health Champion of the Year.” She is the author of numerous scientific papers and book chapters on obesity and health promotion.
She is the mother of two sons, Ante Jakov and Marko, and the wife of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Zoran Milanović.
