Igor Rudan

Igor Rudan (born 7 March 1971) is a Croatian-British scientist, writer, and science communicator. He creates popular science books and documentaries.
== Early life ==
Igor Rudan was born in Zagreb, Croatia's capital in 1971, which was then a city in the former Yugoslavia. His father Nikola Rudan, MD, PhD, was a surgeon at the Institute for Tumours and Allied Diseases in Zagreb. His mother Tatjana (nee Valić) was a concert pianist. His uncle Pavao Rudan, MD, PhD, Nikola's younger brother, was an anthropologist and an eminent Croatian scholar who later became Secretary-General of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Their father and Igor's grandfather, Mario Rudan, was a judge of the Croatian Supreme Court, while his wife Lucija (nee Perinić) was a school teacher and a well-known Croatian poet. Family Rudan originates from the village of Bogomolje at the island of Hvar, Croatia.
Igor Rudan attended Primary School "Veljko Vlahović" in Krajiška Street in Zagreb from 1977-1985. He took part in several state championships in Mathematics, Physics, and Chess in 1983-1985. He also represented his school at the Zagreb city championships in swimming (breaststroke style) and in athletics (long jump) [5,6]. He was the top of his class throughout primary education.
In 1985 he joined High School for Mathematics and Computer Science (MIOC) in Zagreb, where he was also top of his class. This led him to take up the offer for the "Open Door" exchange programme to finish the 4th year of High School in the USA. From 1988-1989 he attended West Charlotte High School in Charlotte, N.C., USA. There, he was the single awardee of the Annual School Award for Mathematics in 1989. He also led his school to the honours at the state championships in French and German language and was a member of their varsity tennis team and varsity chess team. He was also awarded as the high school top unrated player at the chess championship of North Carolina.
== Education ==
From 1989-1995 he returned to Zagreb to study medicine at the University Medical School. He studied during the period of the Homeland War in Croatia (1991-1995) and obtained a degree of Medical Doctor (M.D.) as the joint top of his Class. He also engaged in cancer research with his father Nikola Rudan and with Professor Marija Strnad, the Head of the Cancer Registry of Croatia. This collaboration resulted in more than 20 research papers, case reports, and case series published between 1992 and 1995. He led this research as a medical student, publishing the results mainly in Croatian journals "Libri Oncologici" and "Acta Medica Croatica".
During his medical studies, he was awarded the Annual Award from the Principal (Rector) of the University of Zagreb for the best student scientific article in the academic year 1992/93 and 1993/94. He was also awarded the Scholarship for the 50 most successful students from the University of Zagreb in 1993 and 1994 and the Scholarship of the City of Zagreb for the 20 most successful students in 1994. Later in 1994, he received the main Award for Presentation at the annual conference of the European Medical Students Association (EMSA) in Prague, Czech Republic.
He continued his postgraduate education at the University of Zagreb. Mentored by Dr Branka Janicijevic from the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb, he obtained the Masters of Science (M.Sc.) degree from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, in 1997. This was for the study of the effects of consanguinity and inbreeding on cancer incidence in Croatian island isolate populations.Rudan I: Rak u stanovništva s visokim stupnjem srodstva. Magistarski rad. Prirodoslovno-matematički fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Zagreb, 1997. A year later, in 1998, he obtained the Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) degree from the University of Zagreb Medical School. Mentored by Professor Silvije Vuletić from the School of Public Health "Andrija Štampar", he studied the effects of isonymy and ancestral kinship on cancer in a remote island of Lastovo, Croatia, based on the reconstruction of genealogies for 6 generations of the islanders.Rudan I: Izonimija kao rizik za rak. Doktorska disertacija. Medicinski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu; Zagreb, 1998.
In 1999 he joined the European School for Advanced Studies at the University of Pavia, Italy. Mentored by Professor Nadia Ranzani, he obtained a Masters degree in Public Health (M.P.H.) for a genetic epidemiological analysis of familial clusters of cancer on the island of Lastovo, Croatia.Rudan I: Ancestral kinship and cancer in the island of Lastovo, Croatia. M.P.H. thesis. Universita di Pavia; Pavia, 1999. In 2000 and 2001 he received British Scholarship Trust (BST) Fellowship, Overseas Research Scheme (ORS) Fellowship, and the Ph. D. fellowship from the University of Edinburgh, UK. This allowed him to move to the UK and complete his Ph.D. in Genetic Epidemiology in 2005. Mentored by Professor Harry Campbell, he studied the effects of inbreeding and consanguinity on human quantitative traits and complex common diseases of late-onset.Rudan I: Ancestral kinship and cancer in the island of Lastovo, Croatia. M.P.H. thesis. Universita di Pavia; Pavia, 1999.
He presently works as a Professor of International Health and Molecular Medicine and joint Director of the Centre for Global Health and World Health Organization's Collaborating Centre for Population Health Research and Training at the University of Edinburgh. As of August 2020, he published more than 530 research articles and 10 books. Based on Google Scholar, he received more than 135,000 citations and has H-index of 129.Rudan I: Effects of inbreeding on human quantitative traits and common complex diseases of late onset. Ph.D. thesis. The University of Edinburgh; Edinburgh, 2005.
== Career in genetic research ==
After obtaining his first doctorate in 1999, Igor Rudan started to develop the biobank called “10,001 Dalmatians”. At the time, this was a very rare DNA-based human biobank in a middle-income country.Rudan I, Marusić A, Janković S, Rotim K, Boban M, Lauc G, Grković I, Dogas Z, Zemunik T, Vatavuk Z, Bencić G, Rudan D, Mulić R, Krzelj V, Terzić J, Stojanović D, Puntarić D, Bilić E, Ropac D, Vorko-Jović A, Znaor A, Stevanović R, Biloglav Z, Polasek O. "10001 Dalmatians:" Croatia launches its national biobank. Croat Med J. 2009;50(1):4-6.Rudan I, Campbell H, Rudan P: Genetic epidemiological studies of eastern Adriatic Island isolates, Croatia: objective and strategies. Coll Antropol. 1999;23(2):531-46. This resource for genetic epidemiological studies was established in a series of genetic isolate islands off the coast of Dalmatia region in Croatia. In 2001 he received the International Research Development Award from The Wellcome Trust for his research and vision. Further development of this biobank was achieved through collaboration with Professors Harry Campbell from the University of Edinburgh and Alan F. Wright from the Human Genetics Unit of the Medical Research Council (MRC) in Edinburgh. As co-PIs, they obtained support in excess of GBP 21 million through 17 grants from the Medical Research Council UK, The Wellcome Trust, The British Council, the Croatian Ministry of Science and Technology, The Royal Society UK, the National Institutes of Health in the USA, the European Union Framework Programmes 6 and 7 and other donors. The biobank "10001 Dalmatians" became one of the most productive and fruitful research programmes in Eastern Europe in the 21st century.
=== The outbreeding theory: Studying the effects of human inbreeding and admixture ===
Igor Rudan's early work focused on studying the effects of inbreeding and admixture on human health and disease. At the time, in early 2000s, one of the central questions relevant to gene mapping was to predict the genetic architecture of complex quantitative biological traits that underlie common late-onset diseases. Most research of that period assumed that it was "oligogenic", i.e. that only a handful of genes would confer the majority of genetic risk for complex quantitative traits and diseases. Using inbreeding studies and very elegant designs within his PhD research, Rudan and his colleagues showed that the genetic architecture of those traits must be highly polygenic, with at least several hundred loci contributing to genetic risk of human hypertension and late-onset diseases.Rudan I, Rudan D, Campbell H, Carothers A, Wright A, Smolej-Narancic N, Janicijevic B, Jin L, Chakraborty R, Deka R, Rudan P. Inbreeding and risk of late onset complex disease. J Med Genet. 2003 Dec;40(12):925-32.Rudan I, Smolej-Narancic N, Campbell H, Carothers A, Wright A, Janicijevic B, Rudan P. Inbreeding and the genetic complexity of human hypertension. Genetics. 2003;163(3):1011-21. 
These studies, published in 2003, were entirely against the predominant thinking. This made them were very difficult to publish. Their implications were summarized in a review published by the influential scientific journal Trends in Genetics in 2003.Wright A, Charlesworth B, Rudan I, Carothers A, Campbell H. A polygenic basis for late-onset disease. Trends Genet. 2003 Feb;19(2):97-106. A decade later, hundreds of genome-wide association studies have shown beyond any doubt that the genetic architecture of human quantitative traits and common complex diseases of late-onset is highly polygenic.Timpson NJ, Greenwood CMT, Soranzo N, Lawson DJ, Richards JB. Genetic architecture: the shape of the genetic contribution to human traits and disease. Nature Reviews Genetics 2018; 19:110–124.Boyle EA, Li YI, Pritchard JK. An expanded view of complex traits: from polygenic to omnigenic. Cell 2017; 169:1177–1186. Rudan's work on studying the effects of inbreeding and admixture on human disease was continued at the University of Edinburgh through the PhD theses by Ozren Polasek, Ruth McQuillan, and Peter Joshi. After 16 years of continuous research, it resulted in a paper in the leading scientific journal, Nature, demonstrating effects on stature and cognition in diverse human populations.Joshi PK et al. Directional dominance on stature and cognition in diverse human populations. Nature 2015; 523(7561):459-462. Based on these results, Rudan proposed "the outbreeding theory", i.e. that large human movements, migrations and urbanization may be partly driving, through so-called "hybrid vigor", the observed secular trends, improvements in public health indicators and human lifespan.
=== 10001 Dalmatians: Genome-wide association studies of quantitative traits ===
Igor Rudan developed the resource "10001 Dalmatians" with the help of his close collaborators Harry Campbell and Ozren Polašek. The biobank mainly comprised the examinees from the islands of Vis and Korčula in Dalmatia, Croatia. With the advent of "chips" for genome-wide scans developed by the company Illumina, genome-wide association studies became possible and the Croatian resource was among the first to carry them out. However, due to a highly polygenic nature of the studied traits, gene discovery required very large sample sizes. This led to many European and global biobanks joining together to form large collaborative consortia. Their work led to hundreds of original research papers, many of which were published in the leading science journals - “Nature”, "Science" or “Nature Genetics”. 
In collaboration with other international biobanks, the "10001 Dalmatians" resource contributed to the discovery of several thousands of human genetic variants that were associated with quantitative biological traits and complex diseases. Igor Rudan co-led the discovery of the SLC2A9 gene variants that were associated with uric acid levels and gout disease.Vitart V, Rudan I, Hayward C, et al. SLC2A9 is a newly identified urate transporter influencing serum urate concentration, urate excretion and gout. Nat Genet. 2008; 40(4):437-42. In collaboration with Professor Gordan Lauc from the University of Zagreb, he also co-led the first two studies that identified genetic variants associated with human N-glycans levels.Lauc G, Huffman JE, Pučić M, Zgaga L, Adamczyk B, Mužinić A, Novokmet M, Polašek O, Gornik O, Krištić J, Keser T, Vitart V, Scheijen B, Uh HW, Molokhia M, Patrick AL, McKeigue P, Kolčić I, Lukić IK, Swann O, van Leeuwen FN, Ruhaak LR, Houwing-Duistermaat JJ, Slagboom PE, Beekman M, de Craen AJ, Deelder AM, Zeng Q, Wang W, Hastie ND, Gyllensten U, Wilson JF, Wuhrer M, Wright AF, Rudd PM, Hayward C, Aulchenko Y, Campbell H, Rudan I. Loci associated with N-glycosylation of human immunoglobulin G show pleiotropy with autoimmune diseases and haematological cancers. PLoS Genet. 2013;9(1):e1003225.Lauc G, Essafi A, Huffman JE, Hayward C, Knežević A, Kattla JJ, Polašek O, Gornik O, Vitart V, Abrahams JL, Pučić M, Novokmet M, Redžić I, Campbell S, Wild SH, Borovečki F, Wang W, Kolčić I, Zgaga L, Gyllensten U, Wilson JF, Wright AF, Hastie ND, Campbell H, Rudd PM, Rudan I. Genomics meets glycomics-the first GWAS study of human N-Glycome identifies HNF1α as a master regulator of plasma protein fucosylation. PLoS Genet. 2010; 6(12):e1001256.
== Career in global health ==
Since March 2001, Igor Rudan has been working as a Technical Expert within the Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group (CHERG) of the World Health Organisation and UNICEF. This influential group of researchers led the "child survival revolution" in the 21st century and made important contributions that reduced global child mortality.
=== Child survival - United Nation's Millennium Development Goal 4 ===
Igor Rudan's contributions to the CHERG work included leading a systematic assessment to identify gaps in child health information globally and producing several reports on the global burden of pediatric infectious diseases, such as clinical pneumonia and diarrhea and meningitis Working with Professor Harry Campbell, he developed guidelines for performing community-based studies of childhood infections and evaluated existing and emerging interventions. 
=== EQUIST tool - prioritising investments in global health ===
Working as a consultant for UNICEF, Igor Rudan developed a method to address investment prioritization in health care and health interventions - Equitable Impact Sensitive Tool (EQUIST). He developed it together with Dr Mickey Chopra, UNICEF's Chief of Health and later World Bank's Director of Service Delivery. The EQUIST tool was used by international organisations and national governments to conduct scenario analyses and identify priority populations, bottlenecks and operational strategies to reduce maternal and child mortality. EQUIST helps stakeholders to develop evidence-based, equitable and cost-effective national health strategies. In 2012-2013, the EQUIST model was expanded by UNICEF into a more user-friendly global data science platform. EQUIST has been used as a basis for Investment Case Studies required by a new global financial initiative called Global Financing Facility (GFF) launched in 2015 to finance the Sustainable Development Goals.
=== Journal of Global Health - science journal co-founder and Editor-in-Chief ===
In 2011, Igor Rudan founded a scientific journal - "Journal of Global Health" - with two co-Editors-in-Chief, Professors Ana Marusic and Harry Campbell. It was launched on the occasion of the 19th World Congress of Epidemiology. In 2017, he also founded "Journal of Global Health Reports". Since 2019, both journals are officially published by the International Society of Global Health.
=== Global Health Epidemiology Research Group (GHERG) - global health metrics ===
With the launch of the new journal, Igor Rudan extended the CHERG work to non-communicable diseases through establishing a global academic collaboration - "Global Health Epidemiology Reference Group" (GHERG). He assembled and lead the “CHI Consortium” (CHI = China Health Information) and studied reports of Chinese researchers stored in searchable electronic databases in Chinese. He was also a co-developer of GATHER guidelines (Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting). Notable results of GHERG include the first estimates of child mortality causes in China, dementia prevalence in China and the global epidemiological estimates for peripheral artery disease (PAD) carotid atherosclerosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
=== International Society of Global Health - co-founder and inaugural President ===
In 2019, Igor Rudan co-founded the International Society of Global Health (ISoGH) and was elected the inaugural President. The society aims to promote global health as a field of scientific research and health care practice nationally and internationally. It produces and disseminates information relating to global health research and practice. Also, it trains and expands the general pool of professionals skilled in global health research and practice.
== Career in public communication of science ==
Since 2016, Igor Rudan has become an active science communicator. Supported by The Wellcome Trust and BBC Scotland, he developed a documentary series "Survival: The Story of Global Health" (2017). He published a series of 52 columns called "21st century" in Vecernji list in 2017-18; then, a series of 28 columns called "Human organism" in Vecernji list in 2018-19. This was followed by a series of 10 columns called "Sustainability of our world" in Index.hr in 2019. Then, he wrote a series of 17 columns in Vecernji list in 2020 called "Survival: The Story of Global Health" (all of them were in Croatian). Simultaneously, he wrote a 4-book popular science "Tetralogy on the 21st century", which contained the books "The Exact Colour of the Sky" (2017), "Evil Air" (2018), "In the Land of Clans" (2019) and "Awaiting the Fires" (2020). All four books became No. 1 national bestsellers in Croatia.
== Role in COVID-19 pandemic response ==
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Igor Rudan engaged in several roles. He was a scientific adviser to the Government of Croatia in planning the COVID-19 response. From his already established position of science communicator, he also launched a massive health education campaign, writing columns about the pandemic for Vecernji list. They were followed by up to 3 million people in all six countries of the former Yugoslavia, in the United Kingdom and the United States of America, as his columns were further shared by web-based news sites 24ur, Naš dom and Slovenske novice (in Slovenia); Dnevni Avaz, Klix.ba, Kamenjar and 6yka (in Bosnia and Herzegovina); Kurir, Nedeljnik, Telegraf, Espreso.rs, Blic, Danas, Zena and Saopstenja (in Serbia); Vijesti (in Montenegro); Balkan Insight, Magazin.mk and Faktor.mk (in North Macedonia); Total Croatia News (for the audience in the United Kingdom); and Medium.com (for the audience in the United States of America). He was active as an Editor-in-Chief of the "Journal of Global Health", where many reports on the national-level response on COVID-19 were reviewed and published. He also wrote a number of notable editorials and research articles on COVID-19 pandemic.
== Personal scholarships and fellowships ==
1988 - "Open Door" Scholarship - exchange program with the USA for the most successful high school pupils in Croatia
1993 - Scholarship of the University of Zagreb for 50 most successful students
1994 - Scholarship of the University of Zagreb for 50 most successful students
1994 - Scholarship of the City of Zagreb for 20 most successful students
2000 - British Scholarship Trust (BST) Fellowship, UK
2001 - Overseas Research Scheme (ORS) Fellowship, UK
2001 - University of Edinburgh Ph.D. Fellowship, UK
== Major awards and recognitions ==
1993, 1994 - Annual Awards from the Principal of the University of Zagreb for the best student scientific article in the academic year 1992/93 and 1993/94;
1994 - Main Award for Presentation, Annual Conference of the European Medical Students Association, Prague, Czech Republic
1998 - Annual Award from the Society of Zagreb University Professors for the best scientific article in 1998
1999 - Annual Award from the Croatian Medical Association for the best scientific article in 1998
2001 - International Research Development Award, The Wellcome Trust, UK
2002 - "Collegium Antropologicum" awarded by Thomson ISI the "Most improved scientific journal in the world" in the area of General Social Sciences; Igor Rudan was Managing Editor of the journal 1999-2001;
2003 –National Science Award for the best young scientist (under 35) in Croatia in 2002
2006 –National Science Award for the best biomedical scientist in Croatia in 2005
2007 – “Rising star” status by Thomson ISI for the scientist with the greatest increase in number of citations in the field of general social sciences in the world (“social sciences” field includes public health and health policy)
2008 – His research discovery that SLC2A9 gene causes gout disease (Nature Genetics, 2008) declared the 3rd most significant contribution of Croatian scientists to global scientific heritage by the leading Croatian weekly magazine, “The Globe”.
2010 – Charter of the University of Split, Croatia, in recognition for major scientific achievement and contribution to research capacity development of the University;
2011 – Co-Editor-in-Chief, “Journal of Global Health”
2012 - Chancellor's Award for Research, the University of Edinburgh; presented by HRH Princess Anne, the Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, UK;
2012 - Visiting Professorship for Senior International Researchers, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
2013 - Honorary Member of the Faculty of Public Health, UK (HonMFPH)
2015-2019 - Inclusion in "Highly Cited Researchers" by Clarivate Analytics;
2016 - Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE)
2016 - Charter of the School of Medicine, University of Split, Croatia, in recognition of major scientific achievement and contribution to research capacity development of the School of Medicine;
2016 - Voted among "Croatian Persons of the Year for 2016" by all three main Croatian newspapers (printed daily newspaper Evening Herald, web-based Index.hr and weekly magazine Gloria)
2017-2019 - Selected among "100 most powerful Croats" by the leading Croatian daily newspaper Evening Herald;
2018 - Finalist, Grand Prix "Communicator of the Year" from the Croatian Public Relations Society; 
2019 - Appointed the "International Tie Ambassador", Academia Croatica;
2019 - Honorary Ph.D. for outstanding achievement, The University of Split, Croatia;
2019 - Principal's Medal Award for Outstanding Service, The University of Edinburgh;
2019 - Listed among "10 Croatians of the Year" by Index.hr news portal
2019 - Elected President, International Society of Global Health
== Books ==
1. Šamija M, Šarčević B, Rudan I (1997): Rijetki tumori (Uncommon tumors). Zagreb: Globus, pp. 1-235. (in Croatian). ISBN: 953-167-097-8.
2. Rudan I (1999). Mjesec improvizatora: roman. (Month of an Improviser: A novel). Med-Info Consulting, Zagreb, pp. 1-268. (in Croatian). ISBN: 953-979-820-5.
3. Smoljanović M, Smoljanović A, Rudan I (2009): Croatian Island Populations in 2001. Zagreb: LaserPlus, pp. 1-577. ISBN: 978-953-977-399-9.
4. Vorko-Jović A, Strnad M, Rudan I (2010): Epidemiologija kroničnih nezaraznih bolesti (Epidemiology of chronic non-communicable diseases). Zagreb: Medicinska Naklada, pp. 1-296. (in Croatian). ISBN: 978-953-176-480-3.
5. Rudan I, Sridhar D (2015): Healthy ideas: Improving global health and development in the 21st century. Edinburgh: JoGH, pp. 1-440. ISBN: 978-099-336-380-1.
6. Rudan I (2017): Točna boja neba: Razmišljanja o znanosti u 21. stoljeću (The Exact Colour of the Sky: Thoughts on Science in the 21st Century). Zagreb: Naklada Ljevak, pp. 1-355 (in Croatian). ISBN: 978-953-355-143-2.
7. Rudan I (2018): Zao zrak: Razmišljanja o zdravlju i bolesti u 21. stoljeću (Evil Air: Thoughts on Health and Disease in the 21st Century). Zagreb: Naklada Ljevak, pp. 1-451 (in Croatian). ISBN: 978-953-355-197-5.
8. Rudan I (2019): U zemlji klanova: Razmišljanja o prilagodbi u 21. stoljeću (In the Land of Clans: Thoughts of Adaptation in the 21st Century). Zagreb: Naklada Ljevak, pp. 1-356 (in Croatian). ISBN: 978-953-355-144-9.
9. Rudan I, Chan KY, Campbell H, Guo Y (2019, Editors): Elevation: Understanding China's Health Transition in the 21st Century. Edinburgh: JoGH, ISBN: 978-199-995-648-6.
10. Rudan I (2020): Očekujući vatre: Razmišljanja o izazovima u 21. stoljeću (Awaiting the Fires: Thoughts of the Challenges in the 21st Century). Zagreb: Naklada Ljevak, pp. (in Croatian). ISBN: 978-953-355-426-6.
== Television ==
In 2017, working with his Ph.D. student Iain Campbell and supported by The Wellcome Trust, Igor Rudan developed a documentary series on global health called "Survival: The Story of Global Health". He wrote the script and narrated the series. The series has 10 episodes and lasts for about 2 hours. It attracted more than 100,000 viewers on YouTube since Aug 2017. It was then broadcasted on Channel 1 of Croatian National Television in Oct-Nov 2018 and it cumulatively attracted more than 1.4 million viewers. The series was broadcasted again during the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.
== Companies ==
Igor Rudan is a keen entrepreneur and he co-founded several start-up and spin-out companies. They are all based on knowledge dissemination to the scientific community and general public.
== Personal life ==
Igor Rudan married his fellow medical student Diana Rudan, M.D., Ph.D., in Hvar city, island of Hvar, Croatia in 1996. They have two children, Bozidar (born 1997) and Klara (born 2004). Since 2001, he has lived in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, while his family continued to reside mainly in Zagreb, Croatia, with some years spent in Edinburgh. He was naturalized as a British citizen in 2011.
== References ==
== External Links ==
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* Igor Rudan at The University of Edinburgh
* Igor Rudan on Medium
* Igor Rudan on Scholar Google
Category:1971 births
Category:British people of Croatian descent
Category:British scientists
Category:English scientists
Category:British writers
Category:Science communicators
Category:Croatian scientists