Igor Mitrovic, MD

Professor
Department of Physiology
Mitrovic
[email protected]
Phone: +1 415 476-8465
Fax: +1 415 476-2322
513 Parnassus Avenue, MSB, Rm 001
UCSF Box 0150
San Francisco, CA 94143
United States

Links

UCSF Profiles

Affiliations

Education programs

PharmD Degree Program

What I do

I am responsible for physiology education across UCSF’s health professional schools. I teach physiology and pathophysiology and I direct Renal Theme, one of the first-year integrated courses administered through the Department of Clinical Pharmacy.

Biography

Dr. Igor Mitrovic, Professor of Physiology and Clinical Pharmacy, received his M.D. from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia (at the time) in 1991. However, most of his studies were completed at the University of Zagreb (up to 1991). After conducting neurobiology of addiction research at Loyola University Medical School in Chicago and research in neurobiology of pain at UCSF, Dr. Mitrovic joined the Department of Physiology, UCSF, in 2001 as a teaching faculty member. Dr. Mitrovic is responsible for the physiology and pathophysiology curriculum across the professional schools at UCSF (Medicine, Pharmacy, and Dentistry). Dr. Mitrovic has led the design of the competency-based, integrated curriculum at UCSF School of Pharmacy and has served as the Vice Dean of PharmD Education. Moreover, Dr. Mitrovic has participated in and led curricular and faculty development at UCSF, nationally, and internationally, and has served as an external reviewer for the medical school accreditation committee of the Republic of Serbia.

Dr. Mitrovic cares deeply for students from underresourced populations and has mentored numerous high school students, undergraduate students, and UCSF graduate students from the underresourced communities. In addition, he has also mentored numerous postdoctoral fellows, residents, and junior faculty to help them excel as educators and professionals. For his work in education, Dr. Mitrovic has received numerous awards and honors, including Long Awards in the School of Pharmacy, Excellence of Teaching Awards in the School of Dentistry, Kaiser Teaching Awards in the School of Medicine, the Distinction in Teaching Award from the UCSF Academic Senate, and an honorary Doctorate from University of Kragujevac, Republic of Serbia.

Through the teaching and mentoring, Dr. Mitrovic became aware of the critical importance of two factors for academic and professional success: access to the right information and emotional resiliency. While the information can be addressed readily, addressing the resiliency issue is much harder. Thus, he joined forces with several colleagues to develop Emotional Brain Training, a neuroscience-based psychotherapeutic method designed to increase stress resilience and promote well-being.

Research keywords

  • Clonidine
  • Narcotics
  • Analgesics
  • Receptors, Opioid, kappa
  • Globus Pallidus
  • Iontophoresis
  • Substance P
  • Potassium Channels, Inwardly Rectifying
  • Adrenergic alpha-Agonists
  • Potassium Channels
  • Ventral Tegmental Area
  • Enkephalins
  • morphine
  • Enkephalin, Ala(2)-MePhe(4)-Gly(5)-
  • Receptors, Opioid, mu

Publications

Webber KH, Mellin L, Mayes L, Mitrovic I, Saulnier M. Pilot Investigation of 2 Nondiet Approaches to Improve Weight and Health. Altern Ther Health Med. 2018 Jan; 24(1):16-20.
Igor Mitrovic, Lindsey Fish de Peña, Lynda Frassetto, Laurel Mellin. Hypothesis. Rewiring the stress response: A new paradigm for health care. 2011; 9(1).
Heidenreich BA, Mitrovic I, Battaglia G, Napier TC. Limbic pallidal adaptations following long-term cessation of dopaminergic transmission: lack of upregulation of dopamine receptor function. Exp Neurol. 2004 Apr; 186(2):145-57.
Mitrovic I, Margeta-Mitrovic M, Bader S, Stoffel M, Jan LY, Basbaum AI. Contribution of GIRK2-mediated postsynaptic signaling to opiate and alpha 2-adrenergic analgesia and analgesic sex differences. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Jan 07; 100(1):271-6.
Mitrovic I, Napier TC. Mu and kappa opioid agonists modulate ventral tegmental area input to the ventral pallidum. Eur J Neurosci. 2002 Jan; 15(2):257-68.
Muma NA, Lee JM, Gorman L, Heidenreich BA, Mitrovic I, Napier TC. 6-hydroxydopamine-induced lesions of dopaminergic neurons alter the function of postsynaptic cholinergic neurons without changing cytoskeletal proteins. Exp Neurol. 2001 Mar; 168(1):135-43.
Napier TC, Mitrovic I. Opioid modulation of ventral pallidal inputs. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1999 Jun 29; 877:176-201.
Margeta-Mitrovic M, Mitrovic I, Riley RC, Jan LY, Basbaum AI. Immunohistochemical localization of GABA(B) receptors in the rat central nervous system. J Comp Neurol. 1999 Mar 15; 405(3):299-321.
Abbadie C, Skinner K, Mitrovic I, Basbaum AI. Neurons in the dorsal column white matter of the spinal cord: complex neuropil in an unexpected location. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1999 Jan 05; 96(1):260-5.
Mitrovic I, Napier TC. Substance P attenuates and DAMGO potentiates amygdala glutamatergic neurotransmission within the ventral pallidum. Brain Res. 1998 May 11; 792(2):193-206.
Mitrovic I, Napier TC. Interactions between the mu opioid agonist DAMGO and substance P in regulation of the ventral pallidum. Synapse. 1996 Jul; 23(3):142-51.
Napier TC, Mitrovic I, Churchill L, Klitenick MA, Lu XY, Kalivas PW. Substance P in the ventral pallidum: projection from the ventral striatum, and electrophysiological and behavioral consequences of pallidal substance P. Neuroscience. 1995 Nov; 69(1):59-70.
Mitrovic I, Napier TC. Electrophysiological demonstration of mu, delta and kappa opioid receptors in the ventral pallidum. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1995 Mar; 272(3):1260-70.