History of the Department
The Department of Pharmacognosy was established in 1975 and is one of the oldest departments at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sarajevo. The courses comprising this Department are part of a scientific discipline studied at higher education institutions worldwide, where pharmaceutical knowledge and skills have been acquired for over two centuries. The Department started in a small space consisting of a laboratory, assistant's room, a drug chemistry laboratory, and one classroom. Equipment for carrying out practical work with students was procured from the beginning and satisfied the needs of the teaching process. The equipment included laboratory benches, analytical balances, microscopes, distillation apparatus, and devices for drying and grinding drugs.
At the University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Pharmacy, the teaching and research process in the field of pharmacognosy was led by eminent professors. The first lecturer and head of the Department was academician Prof. dr. Jela Grujić-Vasić until 1988. Thereafter, professors from Belgrade and Zagreb, Prof. dr. Momčilo Gorunović and Prof. dr. Danica Kuštrak became involved in the teaching process. Tamara Bosnić was appointed an associate professor in 1990, and Elvira Kovač-Bešović in 1993. Prof. dr. Elvira Kovač-Bešović headed the Department until 2017 when she retired as a full professor.
Today, the Department of Pharmacognosy is a unified entity comprising office spaces, a laboratory for microscopy, analitical laboratory, and research laboratorie for preparation, extraction and isolation. The laboratories are equipped with modern equipment for testing medicinal plants, including laboratory equipment and apparatus for analyzing herbal materials according to pharmacopoeial standards, preparing and optimizing procedures for obtaining medicinal plant preparations, isolating essential oils, and separating and isolating individual active principles for analytical and biological studies.
The current staff leading the teaching process at the Department are Kemal Durić, appointed a Full Professor in 2021, and Haris Nikšić, appointed an Associate Professor in 2020.
The Department studies natural medicinal compounds present in plants, animals, and microbes, from land and sea. Recent research includes phytotherapy and dietary supplements. A large number of plant species represent an inexhaustible source for research, and the results from such studies increase the possibility of safer use of herbal preparations in global health care.
Throughout its existence, the teaching staff of the Department has significantly contributed to the work, management, development, and improvement of the Faculty through two deans, vice-deans for education, doctoral program coordinators, and numerous other functions and activities.
In teaching and research activities, the Department actively uses and teaches English, Italian, German, Hungarian, French, and Slovenian languages.
Teaching and professional staff currently involved in the teaching process
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Kemal Durić |
Haris Nikšić |
Irma Gušić |
Emina Korić |
Vedad Hodo
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Teaching activities
The programs offered by the Department within compulsory and elective courses include well-designed curricula that keep pace with the latest achievements in the mentioned fields, catering to students of integrated and third-cycle studies. The Department serves as a scientific base for conducting theoretical and practical parts of research and teaching in the third-cycle studies and specialization in Phytopharmacy, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As part of the lifelong learning program, the Department organizes the School of Applied Phytotherapy, aimed at graduates in biomedical disciplines. Its goal is to meet the increasing demands of pharmacists, physicians, and others working in the production and application of natural products, as well as the ongoing educational requirements mandated by law for these professions.
The teaching staff of the Department contributes to the development and participates in the implementation of educational programs for students of integrated and third-cycle studies at other public universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the Faculty of Pharmacy in Tuzla and the University of „Džemal Bijedić“ in Mostar.
In addition, the instructors conduct and organize continuous professional education in Phytotherapy and Homeopathy for all healthcare workers in collaboration with professional associations and chambers of pharmacists.
Furthermore, the instructors participate as lecturers in lifelong learning programs at the Universities of Ljubljana and Zagreb.
Academic and professional activities
Metabolites from natural sources throughout the phylogenetic tree have always played a crucial role in pharmacy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, drug discovery, and medicine. Their separation, chemical analysis, and pharmacological/biological evaluation are key elements of modern pharmacognosy, making it a highly interdisciplinary area of research. This is why, from a scientific and professional standpoint, the Department has established collaborations with numerous other institutions, serving as a base for master's, doctoral, specialist theses, and scientific reasearch projects. In this regard, interdisciplinary teams collaborate on a large number of projects, including staff from the Department and the Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Sarajevo, the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Sarajevo, the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sarajevo, the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ljubljana, the Institute of Pharmacognosy at the University of Zagreb, the Institute for Research on Natural Products at the University of Illinois Chicago, and the Institute of Natural Sciences at the University of Trieste.
As part of their professional activities, teaching staff from the Department, specialists in the field of phytopharmacy, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, provide expert and scientific opinions for plant-based products registered in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina area. The teaching staff of the Department have participated in the work of numerous committees for the preparation of master's, doctoral, and specialist theses. Kemal Durić, Full Professor, was the first recipient of the Fulbright scholarship at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sarajevo, during which he spent the academic year 2015–2016 as a researcher at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Illinois Chicago. Kemal Durić, Full Professor, as a member of the Pharmacopoeia Commission representing the Agency for Medicines of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was one of the authors involved in the preparation of the first edition of the Pharmacopoeia of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2022).
The teaching staff of the Department are members of the Society for Medicinal Plants and Natural Product Research (GA).