A traveling, embassy-level forum that connects Croatian and international medicine and science, so that talent, research, and care flow in both directions, for mutual benefit.
WashingtonLondonNew YorkZurichBoston · September 2026, next edition
Boston · September 2026Building Bridges at Harvard Medical SchoolView program
Next edition · pre-registration open
Building Bridges comes to Boston.
September 2026 · Harvard Medical School
The fifth city, and the first to reach the heart of American academic medicine. The full program is being finalized and will be announced soon. Pre-register now to hold your place and be first to receive it.
Building Bridges is a series of collaboration and networking events that connect Croatian and international medicine. Each one treats science, medicine and biomedicine the way diplomats treat relations between nations: as something to be cultivated, deliberately and over time. We bring Croatians from home and abroad into the same room as their international peers, so that a first conversation has every chance to become a lasting one.
It connects Croatians living abroad in two directions at once: back home with Croatia, and outward with the local community where they live. In Zurich that means Swiss physicians, scientists and healthcare leaders, and in London their UK counterparts. The result is bilateral by design, where both sides gain rather than one side asking for help.
We do not chase paperwork. The point is simply to connect the right people, and to keep the conversation going long after the room empties.
Joint studies between Croatian institutions and collaborators abroad, from first idea to co-authored publication.
Clinical trials
Bringing Croatian sites into international trial networks, widening access to new treatments at home.
Staff exchanges
Clinicians and researchers spending time in each other's institutions, carrying skills and ties back and forth.
PhD programs, or anything else
Shared and dual doctoral tracks, or any other joint project two teams want to take on. There is no limitation.
01How it works
From a first handshake to a lasting collaboration.
Each edition follows the same arc: convene the right people, give them reasons to talk, and stay with the relationships long after the room empties.
01
Convene
We gather Croatian leaders from home and abroad alongside senior international colleagues in one host city, at embassy and institutional level.
02
Connect
Roundtables, talks, and warm introductions turn a guest list into working pairs, matched by field, ambition, and what each side can offer.
03
Commit
Conversations become concrete: a trial site, an exchange, a co-supervised PhD, a shared project two teams decide to take on together.
04
Continue
Med&X keeps the thread alive between editions, so each city builds on the last instead of starting over.
Continue the conversation
Our Building Bridges guests are invited to continue the conversation at the annual Plexus Gala.
Everyone we meet across these cities, at home and abroad, is personally invited to the Plexus Gala in Zagreb on 5 December, where the whole network gathers for one evening alongside keynote speakers who are leaders in biomedicine.
Building Bridges is deliberately nomadic. So far we have gathered in four cities where Croatian science already has friends, and this September it reaches a fifth: Boston. Each one goes to where the people are.
Edition 01
Washington
The diplomatic anchor, where biomedical collaboration meets policy and the institutions that shape it.
Edition 02
London
A European research capital and a natural gateway between Croatian and UK academic medicine.
Edition 03
New York
Clinical and academic powerhouses, and a large, engaged Croatian community ready to connect.
Edition 04
Zurich
A hub for precision medicine and biotech, and the Swiss physicians, scientists and healthcare leaders Croatian labs want at the table.
Next edition
Boston, this September.
The fifth city, and the first to reach the heart of American academic medicine. Croatian biomedical leaders meet Boston's institutions and the Croatian community in New England, at Harvard Medical School.
September 2026 · Harvard Medical School, Boston
02By the numbers
A network, measured.
Around 40 to 50 people join each city, which adds up to more than 150 participants across the four editions so far: Croatians from home and abroad, alongside international partners, all there to build collaborations that work both ways.
150+
Participants across four cities
40–50
People per city edition
4
Host cities to date
2
Continents bridged
Figures reflect participation to date. Boston, this September, will be the fifth city.
Partner with us
Help fund the next bridge.
We are not looking for hosts. We fund the projects: the research collaborations, exchanges and doctoral tracks that each edition sets in motion. Backing Building Bridges puts your organization behind that work, and in the room where Croatian and international biomedical leaders meet.
Whether you are a Croatian researcher at home, part of the community abroad, or an international colleague curious about Croatia, there is a place for you. Tell us what you want to build, and we will find the people to build it with.
