Andjelkovic: We know the conditions here, but the award confirms we are on the right track

Recipient of the prestigious "International Medis Awards for Medical Research," pharmacist Milena Andjelkovic from Zvecan tells Kosovo Online that this award is very important for all young researchers but also confirms that they are on the right path, despite challenging conditions.

She applied with a scientific paper that stemmed from her doctoral dissertation, focusing on investigating the potential impact of toxic metals – potassium and lead – in malignant diseases.

"We selected this paper on testicular cancer for the Medis award precisely because of the impressive results we achieved. We made it to the shortlist and then to the finals. We all followed this major event like a film festival when this paper was chosen as the best paper in pharmacy for this year in Serbia," she says.

For her and her team, every award is significant, and, as she emphasizes, it is especially important for young researchers.

"It speaks to the fact that we are on the right track and that what we are doing is good and may even have some clinical application. We collaborated with professors from the Faculty of Pharmacy, with whom I worked on this dissertation. Our patients came from the Urology Clinic of the Clinical Center of Serbia. The study also required a control group, which consisted of patients without this type of disease, healthy subjects from Kosovo and Metohija, Zvecan and Mitrovica, as it was easier to access a larger number of samples there, collected at our institution," Andjelkovic explains.

Andjelkovic will continue to explore this topic with professors from the Department of Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade.

"We are working on other scientific research papers and projects, so there is never enough for us scientists. We always move forward and strive to discover something new, primarily ensuring that it is successful and perhaps has some clinical application," she adds.

"We all know the conditions here and the difficulties in obtaining everything, including supplies for us at the Clinical Hospital Center in Kosovska Mitrovica. However, if you have the will and desire, if you are motivated to work, you find a way for every solution," Andjelkovic concludes.