Proffesor dr Srboljub Stojiljković (1922-1974), rborn in village Dubnica near Vranje, from housewife mother and father who was a teacher. He completed elementary school in his native place and high school in Skopje. He enrolled the School of Medicine in Belgrade in 1940 as the scholarship holder of the Army and Navy Ministry. During occupation, he volunteered as medical student. He was in the Army from 1944 to 1946, when he was demobilized to continue his studies. He graduated from the Faculty in 1949, having worked three years as undergraduate assistant at Department of Physiology. He started working at the Clinic of Neuropsychiatry in 1950, and passed his Board Examination summa cum laude in 1954. In the same year, he was appointed a teaching assistant, associate professor in 1957, extraordinary (part-time) professor in 1964 and full professor in 1969, when he became a Head of Department of Psychiatry and elected vice-dean of the School of Medicine. Since 1972, he was a Director of the Clinic of Neuropsychiatry and was reappointed vice-dean of the School of Medicine. He was a founder of the Institute of Alcoholism and its director for life. While he was director, this institution won high reputation in the country and abroad. He had great merits for improvement of teaching activities at the Department of Neuropsychiatry. While he was teaching, he showed remarkable pedagogic capabilities in theory and practice. At the beginning, he was equally involved in neurology and psychiatry, but over time he was more engaged in psychiatry and became famous as one of the most prominent psychiatrists in former Yugoslavia.
Besides enormous publishing activities and successful research work, he introduced into field of alcoholism his own method of formation of conditioned reflexes for giving up alcohol consumption. He was a founder of the journal “Alcoholism”. He was an author of the first textbook for medical students entitled “Psychiatry with Medical Psychology”, which ran through ten editions; it was useful for numerous generations of students and residents for two full decades at five faculties in Serbia. Since 1954, Professor Stojiljkovic was continuously in management of the Serbia Medical Society, beginning from the secretary through general secretary to president in the same year. In 1969, he was elected lifetime president of SMS. Among recognitions awarded to professor Stojiljkovic for his fruitful work, worth mentioning are Order of Labour with Golden Wreath, Belgrade October Prize (in 1964) and the Serbian Medical Society Award for research achievements in psychiatry in 1969.
A doctor, neuropsychiatrist, professor of the School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, originated from the school of Vladimir Vujic, one of the most fruitful authors in Serbian psychiatry. He published over 150 research works and many monographs. He organized the publishing of the first encyclopedia in Serbian language “Mental Life of a Man”. He was a principle investigator of several international research projects. He organized first counseling clinics, outpatient departments and Institute for Anti-alcoholism and Drug Addiction in Belgrade. He was elected vice-dean of the School of Medicine and director of Clinic of Neuropsychiatry Clinic, headed by him from 1972 to 1974.
Prof. Dr. Srboljub Stojiljkovic, in the capacity of director, simultaneously continued with development of all outreach facilities, from “Avala” to “P” Department, and Laboratory of Isotopes was also open at that time.
There are three personalities of the School of Medicine in Belgrade who passed away too early, and who in the context of time they lived in, were brilliant minds, men with unsurpassable erudition and unattainable flair for creativity. These GIANTS of Belgrade Faculty of Medicine: Ivan-Ivica Stankovic, an ophthalmologist, Srboljub-Srba Stojiljkovic and Ljubodrag-Buba Mihajlovic, a neurophysiologist, have remained legends and models of knowledge, dedication and enthusiasm, comprehensive initiative and endless organizational capacities. Srba Stojiljkovic definitely stands side by side with Vladimir Vujic, especially regarding the achievements in psychiatry as well as recognized and diverse activities in this field. He used to sleep no more than 4 hours, and smoke 100 cigarettes a day. He could write, in a spectacular way, any text in one breath, without any need to be revised, amended or abridged. The sentence he used to repeat many times read as follows: “An idea should be reflected on and made it real”. The personality of Srba Stojiljkovic was graced by many wonderful virtues. To all his close associates, he was an inexhaustible resource of ideas for research and elaboration in psychiatry. He had charm and talent for gathering and persuading young colleagues to be persistent in work, creative and innovative in profession. He was tireless in spreading his knowledge all over medical affiliates in Serbia and in lending precious aid and support everywhere and every time regarding development of psychiatry and mental hygiene at all levels of education of health personnel. He had the innate gift to predict the imminent time and events to come. Accomplished research programs of the international project “Alcoholism on the territory of Serbia”, published results evaluated positively by world experts, all of them confirmed the potential of Srba Stojiljkovic, whose works remained the guidance for future generations and their mission to improve, upgrade and enlighten the people of Serbia and the country of Serbia. He was swept away by illness in his literary prime, and he truly lived for better this-world life and advancement of psychiatry.
For his extraordinary activities and professional contribution, Srboljub Stojiljkovic was awarded by Belgrade October Prize in 1963, and the Serbian Medical Society for research work; he was also an honorary president of the SMS.