I LOVED CLINICAL MEDICINE MOST BUT I CHOSE AUTISM-I GRADUATED FROM UNIVERSITY ONE YEAR EARLIER

He had no dilemma that medicine is the right choice for him. Prof. PhD. Vladimir Trajkovski has been teaching at the Institute for Special Education and Rehabilitation (former Institute of Defectology) for over 22 years. Although he loved clinical medicine most, he gradually oriented towards the problem of autism, a field for which he says that even in his time was a field with aspirations to rise in the world, a field that was very little explored at the time. He graduated at the Faculty of Medicine within 5 years and 3 months which was a huge success if taken that medical studies, at that time, lasted 6 years.

Number one student in high school

Trajkovski was the number one student in the medical high school, dedicated to his studies but to friendships as well. He says that he had very little doubt as to whether he should enroll in a gymnasium or not, but says that he does not regret his choice. He grew up among medical personnel, his father was a doctor, some of his relatives were doctors, his mother worked at the hospital (Voena Bolnica) in Skopje as a social worker for many years. He was not pressured to study medicine, no one forced this on him, he only received support from his family and he is very grateful for it.

-At that time there were entrance exams, we had to take the biology and chemistry exams. In high school I had attended many competitions and I was confident about these subjects. I had won several first awards in Macedonia and also in Yugoslavia, especially in chemistry. Biology was my favorite class but I had not attended any competitions because I simply could not manage to do it all. As an insight for young people today, at that time we had to study at a hell-like rhythm to pass the entrance exam. I scored 96.2 points and that was the second best result. We were waiting for the results in front of the Faculty of Medicine for all night, unaccompanied by parents. For me it is very immature nowadays when I see graduates coming to University with their parents to submit their enrollment documents-says Trajkovski.

His grade in clinical classes was 10, and he loved these classes most. After he graduated in 1994 he volunteered in two clinics. His first love was internal medicine, his second was surgery and third, psychiatry.

-But unfortunately, because my father was not professor at the Faculty of Medicine and I had no political party to support me, I did not manage to get a job in one of the clinics. It turned out that at that time (in 1997) the Faculty of Philosophy, at the former Institute of Defectology  was looking for a young teaching assistant in human genetics and I decided to apply. Ten of our colleagues applied, since the call said that only medical doctors can apply, and I got accepted. My wish to work in clinical medicine was not granted-says the professor.

He prepared for his exams in clinics

His grades were very important to him but he never redid any of his exams, he only had one 8. Exams that he remembers and had to work very hard for are the ones on anatomy and pathophysiology and yet, he did not score 10 on these exams. These exams were the hardest to pass because of the sizable study materials.

-It was interesting that I had spent the afternoons and evenings working the night shifts while I was preparing for the exams in clinical medicine classes. For example, with Prof. Dr. Branka Krstevska I attended the Clinic of Endocrinology. At the Clinic for Infectious Diseases I was going while there was a measles pandemic, much bigger outbreak that the one happening now. As a child I had the measles and therefore I did not care and went to prepare for the exams on the spot. Prof. Dr. Tihomir Krckovski was the first to welcome me to volunteer at the Clinic for Thoracic and Vascular Surgery and I was his first assistant. I assisted him with around 250 surgeries-recalls the professor.

There are many professors that he will never forget. He says that his friends who had nothing to do with psychiatry had attended to listen to the lectures of professor Miodrag Micev.

-My PhD mentor Mirko Spiroski that taught physiology at the time, was an excellent professor. Later on he established the Institute of Immunobiology and Human Genetics. I remember the professors in pathophysiology because they were very strict, they had attitude and principles and rarely one could pass an exam from the first go and there were students who had been dragging their exams for 10 years with these professors. Professor Koco Caklarovski who taught internal medicine was literally a walking encyclopedia. He was my mentor for my masters-recalls Trajkovski.

– I prepared for the exams on my own, in essence I like doing things on my own. But we socialized a great deal. We organized private parties. In my time it was not that cool to take photos in bars to show that you are out and this is why we do not have that many photos. We hiked on Vodno, we went for walks…we went out in Tropikana, Make Up, Matinik, MNT, Hard Rosk, Manda, Apolon, Bulevar…until 6 in the morning. I was not one of the persons who regularly attended parties, at least not as some of my friends did. When I had to prepare for the exams I would stay at home for three whole weeks. My friends often commented on it but I never caved. For the holidays I was more relaxed and went out more-explains the professor.

He liked to be DJ on parties

He still nourishes some of his university friendships and his closest friend, who now lives in the USA, was the best man at his wedding.

He liked to play music on parties.

-Towards the end of my studies one of my friends, Andrej Andreev, later on Aleksandar Karaev too, started working in the coffee bar Tunel. So we, Andrej Zhernovski and I, would play music there. He was my friend from primary school. DJing was very cool back then and I was the best at playing ex-YU music-smirks Trajkovski.

Together with his colleague he was the main organizer of the graduation evening in Ohrid. Because of the wars raging in Bosnia and Herzegovina they did not go somewhere in Europe for the graduation trip.

After graduating he enrolled for his masters studies at the Nephrology Clinic and worked on his thesis “Lethality Rate in Patients with Acute Kidney Failure”.

-When the call was published at the Defectology Institute I realized that no one is working on autism and I think that only one article was written on this topic and I assumed back then that autism would become very important and I did not go wrong on this. I realized that it is very original and will be applicable. I was supported by Prof. PhD Ljupco Ajdinski and Prof. Mirko Spiroski to establish the Macedonian Scientific Autism Association-the professor says.

When asked whether studying is different today, he is assertive that he feels uneasy that the criteria have been lowered a great deal.

-I have been a medical doctor for 25 years. There is a huge difference from back then. Moreover, the Faculty of Medicine creates less qualified and quality staff. Back in the days we knew who had the ability, for example, to enroll masters but the market economy, disloyal competition, the many private universities have ruined these criteria. I fight it, but I guess I am alone in it. I am not very liked by my students and they often take the tests in my class with jury commission-says Prof. PhD Trajkovski.