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 YorkZürichBostonZagreb · December 2026, next edition
Zagreb · December 2026Building Bridges Zagreb · during Plexus Week · Free to attendLearn more
Next edition · registration open
Building Bridges comes home to Zagreb.
December 2026, during Plexus Week in Zagreb · exact date and venue to be announced
After five editions abroad, most recently Boston on 21 September 2026, Building Bridges comes home. During Plexus Week, Croatian physicians, scientists and other biomedical professionals working abroad meet colleagues from Croatia’s hospitals, medical schools and research institutions: to get to know one another, build new connections, exchange ideas and explore collaboration in research, clinical work, education and beyond.
Attendance is free. Register through the Plexus pre-registration form and tick Building Bridges. The exact date, venue and program will be announced here.
When December 2026, during Plexus Week
Where Zagreb, venue to be announced
Entry free
Register Plexus form, tick Building Bridges
Part of Plexus Week, alongside the Plexus Conference (4–5 December) and the Plexus Gala (5 December).
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 Zürich 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 five cities where Croatian science already has friends, most recently Boston in September 2026. This December it comes home to Zagreb, during Plexus Week. 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
Zürich
A hub for precision medicine and biotech, and the Swiss physicians, scientists and healthcare leaders Croatian labs want at the table.
Edition 05
Boston
21 September 2026, in the Waterhouse Room of Gordon Hall at Harvard Medical School, held with the Harvard Medical Postdoc Association.
Next edition
Zagreb, this December.
The sixth edition brings Building Bridges home. During Plexus Week, the Croatian biomedical community from abroad meets colleagues from Croatia’s own hospitals, universities and research institutes, in the week the Plexus Conference and Gala bring the wider network to Zagreb.
December 2026 · during Plexus Week · date and venue to be announced · free to attend
Around 40 to 50 people join each city, which adds up to more than 150 participants across the five editions so far: Croatians from home and abroad, alongside international partners, all there to build collaborations that work both ways.
150+
Participants across five cities
40–50
People per city edition
5
Host cities to date
2
Continents bridged
Figures reflect participation to date, with Boston in September 2026 as the fifth city. Zagreb follows in December.
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.
