Rector Prof. Dr. Gregor Majdič

Gregor Majdič.jpgProf. Dr. Gregor Majdič is Full Professor of Physiology at the Veterinary Faculty, University of Ljubljana, and Full Professor of Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine in Maribor. He graduated from the Veterinary Faculty at the University of Ljubljana in 1992, where he also obtained his master's degree in 1994. He received his PhD from the School of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1996. He then worked abroad for another three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, USA. He was the vice-dean of the Veterinary Faculty at the University of Ljubljana from 2013 to 2021, and has been leading his research group since 2002. The main topics of his research are the differences in the brain between the sexes and the biological sex differences in other parts of the body, the long-term effects of stress on the brain and health, and the possible effects of endocrine disruptors on health. Another area of interest is stem cell research and regenerative medicine, particularly with the possibility of its application to treatment in animals, which he has been very successful in translating into the clinical practise of veterinary medicine. In 2011, for a method of treating dogs and horses with stem cells, Dr. Majdič and his colleagues received the Rector's Award for the best innovation at the University of Ljubljana and the award for the best innovation in the public sector in Slovenia. To commercialise this innovation, he founded the spin-out company Animacel, which already offers stem cell treatments in four EU countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Germany) and the UK, and was ranked as one of the five most promising new Slovenian companies in 2012. As part of this research, he and his colleagues are also studying cognitive decline in dogs, a disease very similar to Alzheimer's disease, about which very little is known.

He has published more than 90 scientific articles in peer-reviewed international journals, and his articles have been cited more than 2,000 times. He has held several national and international projects, and together with Dr. Stuart Tobet from Colorado State University in Colorado, he was co-leader of two National Institute of Health (NIH) projects. 

He was elected full visiting professor at the University of Zagreb and has given guest lectures at numerous universities around the world, including the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), University of California San Francisco (UCSF), Yunnan University in China, and Kyoto University in Japan.

He is very active in communicating science to the public, has written more than 90 popular science articles and regularly participates in radio and television programmes on science. For this work he received the Delo newspaper award for the best popular science article and the Prometheus Award of the Slovenian Science Foundation for merits in the promotion of science. In 2017, RTV Slovenia made a documentary about his research in the series My View of Science.

In addition, he is active in many other fields. He loves all outdoor activities such as rock climbing, ski touring, scuba diving, mountain biking and the like. He loves to travel and has visited more than 70 countries around the world. He is also an avid amateur cook and last but not least a writer, as he is the author of three works of fiction, the young adult book The Secret of Life and two historical novels, Gabriel's Passion and The White Saracen. In 2021, his book Soul Mate Biology: The science of attachment and love was published by one of the largest publishers in the world, Springer Nature. This book describes for a popular science audience the way love has evolved and what happens in our bodies, and especially in our brains, when we are in love.

He was elected the Rector of the University of Ljubljana, for a period from 1st October 2021 to 30th September 2025.

Personal website: http://gregormajdic.splet.arnes.si
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gregor.majdic
Twitter: @GregorMajdic
Instagram: @GregorMajdicUL