Dr. Marta Kovač

Dr. Marta Kovač is a senior consultant pulmonologist at the University Hospital Centre Zagreb (KBC Zagreb) — Croatia's largest and most comprehensive academic hospital, located in Zagreb's Rebro medical complex and the country's primary national referral centre for complex respiratory disease. With 19 years of clinical experience, she is among Croatia's most distinguished respiratory medicine specialists.

KBC Zagreb houses one of Central and Eastern Europe's most active lung cancer diagnostic and staging services, given the hospital's size and its role as a national oncology referral centre. Dr. Kovač is a key member of the hospital's thoracic oncology multidisciplinary team, contributing pulmonological expertise to lung cancer staging, bronchoscopic tissue acquisition, and palliative respiratory management. She is also a recognized authority on COPD and ILD.

She completed her PhD at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine with research on inflammatory biomarkers in COPD exacerbations and undertook advanced bronchoscopy and EBUS training at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin in Germany. She holds the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Diploma in Respiratory Medicine.

Dr. Kovač completed her medical degree at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine — Croatia's premier medical faculty. She undertook pulmonology residency at KBC Zagreb and obtained specialist certification from the Croatian Medical Chamber. Her PhD from the University of Zagreb (2012) focused on inflammatory biomarkers in COPD exacerbations. She completed advanced bronchoscopy and EBUS training at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany (2013). She holds the ERS Diploma in Respiratory Medicine and is an active member of the Croatian Pulmonological Society and the European Respiratory Society.

Dr. Kovač's clinical expertise spans obstructive, fibrotic, and malignant respiratory disease. In COPD, she applies GOLD guidelines for pharmacological management, oversees home oxygen therapy and non-invasive ventilation (NIV) programmes, and supervises pulmonary rehabilitation. For asthma, she assesses severe asthma phenotypes including eosinophilic asthma eligible for biologic therapy (mepolizumab, dupilumab).

In lung cancer, she performs EBUS-TBNA (endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration) for mediastinal staging, bronchoscopy with BAL and transbronchial biopsy for central tumours, and pleural procedures for malignant pleural effusion. She participates in the thoracic MDT, contributing to multimodal treatment planning alongside oncologists and thoracic surgeons. In ILD, she manages IPF, sarcoidosis, and CTD-associated ILD through multidisciplinary case review.

Dr. Kovač consults in Croatian, English, and German. KBC Zagreb serves patients from across Croatia and has experience with patients from neighbouring Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and other former Yugoslav republics. Germany, Austria, and Switzerland-based Croatian diaspora patients also travel to Zagreb for specialist consultations. Video consultations in Croatian, English, and German are available for remote second opinions on complex respiratory cases. Croatia offers excellent respiratory specialist services at costs significantly below Western European private rates.

Dr. Kovač received the Croatian Pulmonological Society Award for Scientific Contribution in 2019. She has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles in the European Respiratory Journal and other journals. She participates in ERS International Congress and serves on the Croatian respiratory guidelines committee. She is an associate professor at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine and supervises pulmonology PhD students.