It is my great honour to say, as co-director of Cochrane Croatia, a few words about our beloved Davorka, a colleague and friend, who was part of Cochrane Croatia and was Training Coordinator from 2012 to 2015.
From the very first day Davorka joined Cochrane Croatia, she was delighted to promote the principles of evidence-based medicine (EBM), for which Cochrane stands. Immediately she went to action by visiting colleagues at KBC in Split where she talked about the importance of EBM in clinical practice. It was not easy to pass enthusiasm for Cochrane on clinicians, but Davorka did not give up. When the idea of creating partner network of Cochrane Croatia was presented at the 5th Croatian Cochrane Symposium in 2013, Davorka immediately proposed the president of the Society of Family and General Practitioners (DNOOM), prof. Bergman Markovic, to become partners of the Croatian Cochrane. That same year, Croatian Cochrane was awarded funds from the Ministry of Science and Education for the project 'Popularization of Science' with the aim of educating patients, so Davorka volunteered to hold a workshop for her dear patients from Split's Diabetic Society. Thanks to Davorka, they soon became official partners of the Croatian Cochrane.
In January 2014 Dubravka held a lecture on EBM in the City Library Marko Marulić for the public, and in March of that same year held a workshop, together with prof. Puljak at the DNOOM Congress. A month after Davorka and I presented the work on EBM at the annual congress of the Croatian Association of Family Medicine. She was tireless! At the same time, she also engaged in scientific research work and published several articles on EBM, including Cochrane's systematic review of 'Celeoxib for osteoarthritis' in a prominent journal Cochrane Library. And all in addition to working every day in her Family Medicine Practice and taking care of a large number of patients.
Davorka was a woman who generously shared her time and experience with others and all were enriched by her contribution. I would finish with the quote of prof. Ana Marusic: "She went on as she was living and working - quietly and with dignity." Thank you Davorka!
Irena Zakarija - Grković, co-director of Cochrane Croatia