Prof. Dr. Gazmend Shaqiri was born in Shkodër in 1936. He completed primary school and high school in Pristina, the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade, the specialization of General Surgery at the Military Academy of Medicine in Belgrade in 1969, and the specialization of cardiovascular surgery at UKECH in Prague and Texas Heart Institute, Houston USA.
He is the founder of Vascular Surgery in Kosova. Before the opening of the Faculty of Medicine in Prishtina, he was engaged in the education of secondary medical personnel. With the opening of the Faculty of Medicine in Pristina, he was elected a lecturer in 1969, then Vice-Dean and Dean of this faculty. After defending his doctorate in the field of vascular surgery, he received the title of Docent, later Associate Professor and Professor for the subject of General Surgery. He headed the Clinic of Surgery and Orthopedics at the Faculty of Medicine in Prishtina, from 1987 until September 1990, when, as a result of the Serbian repression, he was fired from his job. His dismissal from work interrupted the realization of the project for the establishment of cardiac surgery in Pristina. After that, he continues to work in Cardiothoracic Surgery in Klagenfurt, Austria. Prof. Gazmend Shaqiri has had the honor of educating and advancing a whole constellation of Kosovar doctors and surgeons.
He has published over 210 scientific papers. He has participated in numerous scientific gatherings in the country and abroad. During his life, he published many monographs and professional books. In 1989 he published the book “Arterial Diseases”, in 1994 the book “Heart and Aortic Surgery”, in 1996 “Medicinal Handbooks in Daily Practice” and in 1999 the book “Emergency Surgery – Injuries”. In 2001, he published two books “Emergency Surgery, General Part” and the book “Surgery, Acute Diseases, Special Part”. Immediately after retirement, respectively in 2005, he published the book “Surgical Interventions” while a year later, in 2006, with the book “Surgeon’s Diary” he summarized his professional and academic activity. Although at an advanced age, Prof. Gazmend Shaqiri, in 2016 published the book “Anemia of the body parts – Diseases of the peripheral arteries”, while in March 2018, when he was fighting against the serious disease that had advanced, he published the book “Surgery of visceral blood vessels”, Publication of the University of Pristina.
Prof. Gazmend Shaqiri passed away on June 15, 2018, at the age of 83.