Members of government
Bela Balint
Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation
Born in 1952 in Ostojićevo. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad. He received his Master’s degree in 1984 and his PhD in 1997. He is a specialist in transfusion medicine and a subspecialist in haematology.
From 1980 to 2018, he worked at the Institute of Blood Transfusion and Hemobiology of the Military Medical Academy, and from 2010 as its Head.
From 2018 to 2021, he was Head of the Transfusion Department of the Dedinje Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases.
He worked as an experimental haematologist at the Institute for Medical Research, UB in the period 1997-2015.
Since 2022, he has been working at the Faculty of Medicine of the Military Medical Academy as a professor emeritus.
He was a full professor at the Military Medical Academy and a scientific advisor at the Ministry of Science. He is a lecturer at the postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade and a visiting professor at the faculties of medicine in Niš, Banja Luka and Štip.
He is a lecturer at the European School of Transfusion Medicine (Milan, Italy).
Since 2023, he has been a member of the Council of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade.
In 2002, he became an associate member, and in 2008, a full member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the Serbian Medical Society.
He has been a full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts since 2021, and in 2022, he became a full member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Branch in Novi Sad.
He is the President of the National Council for Higher Education of the Republic of Serbia (2018-2022; 2022-2026).
He has published 937 scientific papers. He is the author and editor of 20 monographs and editor of several professional journals.
He is the leader of several scientific research projects and the first in the world to introduce certain new therapeutic procedures.
He is one of the founders of the Centre for Stem Cell Transplantation at the Military Medical Academy and the Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the Military Medical Academy.
He introduced and improved methods of collecting stem cells and their cryopreservation using original methods for the needs of transplantation and regenerative medicine.
He is the recipient of several awards and decorations, including the Order of Sretenje, first degree, from the President of the Republic for achievements in medicine in 2024 and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Serbian Medical Society in 2025.
