Who is Branimir Nestorović

Branimir Nestorović is a Serbian paediatrician, pulmonologist, allergist, university professor, and politician, one of the most controversial and recognisable public figures in contemporary Serbia. For decades he was a respected specialist in paediatric allergology and pulmonology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Belgrade, and the wider public came to know him during the coronavirus pandemic, when, as a member of the government’s COVID-19 crisis team, he expressed views that provoked strong reactions. A few years later, Branimir Nestorović went from being a respected doctor to becoming a politician — he founded his own political movement, entered the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, and became one of the key figures on Serbia’s extra-parliamentary and, later, parliamentary opposition scene.

His path from a university clinic to a seat in parliament is a rare example of the transformation of a public figure in Serbia, and throughout that transformation Branimir Nestorović has kept the direct, and often provocative, style of communication that marks every one of his public appearances.

Early life and childhood

Branimir Nestorović was born on 16 December 1954 in Belgrade. His father was a merchant and a party official, while he grew up surrounded by strong female figures in the family — his mother and grandmother, who, as he has said, arrived in Obrenovac from Lika with a bundle on her back and, before the Second World War, built the family’s foundation through persistence and hard work. As a child, Nestorović lived in Obrenovac, a town to which he has remained emotionally attached throughout his life.

Nestorović has said on several occasions that he was shaped as a person by difficult life lessons. The first of these, as he described it, was the death of his father, the family’s breadwinner, which left the family facing financial insecurity early in his youth. According to him, that period taught him that the number of people around you often shrinks once your material situation worsens.

As a young man, Nestorović showed an interest in both music and sport, but, by his own account, choosing a career in medicine meant he had to give up those interests during his schooling.

Education

Branimir Nestorović completed primary and secondary school in Obrenovac, where he attended the natural sciences and mathematics track of the local Gymnasium. After finishing secondary school, he enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Belgrade, one of the oldest and most respected medical faculties in the region.

He completed his medical studies in 1979. At the same faculty, he specialised in paediatrics at the University Children’s Hospital, and later subspecialised in pulmonology as well. He defended his doctoral dissertation, titled “Pollen Allergy in Children”, in the field of paediatric allergology, in 1985, earning the degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences.

Branimir Nestorović’s educational path was marked by continuous specialisation in paediatric pulmonology and allergology, with a particular interest in medication-induced allergy, a field he worked in for more than two decades and through which he built a reputation extending beyond Serbia’s borders.

Start of his career

Branimir Nestorović began his professional career in 1979 at the “Tiršova” University Children’s Hospital in Belgrade, where he spent most of his working life. He built his academic career gradually: he was elected assistant at the Faculty of Medicine in 1987, re-elected in 1991, elected to the position of assistant professor (docent) in 1995, and became an associate professor in 2000, with re-election in 2009. He received the title of full professor at the Department of Paediatrics in 2002.

At the University Children’s Hospital, he also held the position of head of the Department of Pulmonology and Allergology. Alongside his work in the state healthcare system, from the founding of the private Bel Medic polyclinic in 1995 he was also engaged in private practice, and he had his own medical office as well.

In 1997, he was one of the founders of the Association of Paediatric Pulmonologists of Serbia, as well as the founder of the YUFEDA fund. During the 1990s, Nestorović was also politically active as a member of the Serbian Renewal Movement and took part in demonstrations against the regime of Slobodan Milošević. After the formation of the SPS–SPO coalition in 1999, he briefly served as assistant to the minister of education. Following the political changes of 5 October 2000, he joined the Democratic Party.

Rise to fame

Although he had enjoyed a strong reputation within professional medical circles for decades, Branimir Nestorović achieved wider fame only in the spring of 2020, at the very start of the coronavirus pandemic. In March 2020, the Government of Serbia formed a crisis team to combat COVID-19, and Nestorović became a member of it as one of the engaged doctors and expert advisers.

At one of the press conferences held during that period, Nestorović stated that COVID-19 was “the funniest virus in the history of mankind”, telling women they could freely go “shopping in Milan,” a city that was, at that moment, one of the epicentres of the epidemic in Europe. The statement drew enormous media and public attention, both in Serbia and across the region, and shaped his public image for years to come.

Nestorović later stated that he had joined the crisis team with good intentions, but decided to withdraw once, in his words, the treatment protocol he advocated for was abandoned. During the pandemic, he also publicly expressed views contrary to prevailing scientific findings about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 vaccines, for which he was repeatedly rebutted by the expert community, while the media followed his appearances with considerable attention, whether critical or sensationalist in tone.

That period transformed Branimir Nestorović from an expert known to a narrow circle of colleagues and patients into one of the most recognisable and controversial public figures in Serbia, a status he later used as a springboard into politics.

Political career

Branimir Nestorović used the popularity he gained during the pandemic to form his own movement, called “Knights of the Order of the Dragon” (Vitezovi reda zmaja), with stated goals of fighting for children’s rights and pushing for institutional legal changes. In the 2022 parliamentary elections, he was the lead candidate on the electoral list of the Reformist Party, named “Professor Dr Branimir Nestorović – The Strength of the Unity of the Serbian People.” Later, having failed to gather enough signatures of citizen support to run independently, he instead endorsed the Patriotic Bloc – For the Restoration of the Kingdom coalition, led by Boško Obradović and the Dveri movement.

His real political breakthrough came in 2023, when Nestorović was one of the founders of the movement “We – The Voice of the People” (Mi – Glas iz naroda). As the lead candidate on that movement’s electoral lists, he took part in both the parliamentary elections and the Belgrade City Assembly elections in December 2023. The movement crossed the electoral threshold at both levels, and Nestorović was elected both as a member of the National Assembly and as a Belgrade City Assembly councillor. Following the preliminary results of the Belgrade election, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić stated that Nestorović’s movement would play a decisive, “kingmaker” role in forming Belgrade’s city government.

He was formally sworn in as a member of parliament on 6 February 2024. At the constitutive session of the new parliamentary term, he caused controversy by comparing members of parliament from the “Serbia Against Violence” coalition to Roma people, for which he later publicly apologised to the Romani community.

Soon after entering parliament, a split occurred within the movement, and on 28 March 2024 a new movement was formed, called “We – Power of the People” (Mi – Snaga naroda, abbreviated MI–SN), which Branimir Nestorović continues to lead as its president. In September 2026, ahead of newly announced elections, a fresh conflict broke out within the movement — part of its leadership publicly opposed the idea of “We – Power of the People” running in a coalition with Aleksandar Vulin’s Movement of Socialists, while several officials publicly claimed that Nestorović had been unreachable to the leadership for several days. According to media reports from that period, Nestorović subsequently appeared at a meeting of part of the membership, at which it was decided that the movement would nonetheless run in the elections together with Vulin’s movement, further deepening the internal rift. As these events stem from the very announcement of the 2026 elections, the situation within the movement was still unfolding at the time this text was written.

Greatest achievements

Branimir Nestorović’s greatest professional achievements are tied above all to his medical career. Over more than four decades of work in paediatric pulmonology and allergology, he built a reputation as one of Serbia’s leading specialists in the field, particularly in the research of medication-induced allergy, a field he worked in for more than twenty years, contributing to the formation of a team that enjoys a reputation in European professional circles dealing with drug allergy as well.

As a full professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Belgrade, he educated generations of doctors and published several textbooks in the field of paediatrics, including a handbook for parents of children with asthma. After 2019, he also devoted himself to writing books for a general audience, addressing topics in alternative and integrative medicine, autosuggestion, and his own life experiences.

In political terms, his greatest achievement was founding his own political movement, which, despite being an entirely new political option, won enough voter support in the 2023 elections to cross the electoral threshold and secure seats both in the National Assembly of Serbia and in the Belgrade City Assembly.

Personal life

Branimir Nestorović has been married for more than three decades. His wife avoids public appearances and media attention, which is why little is known about her, and the couple rarely, if ever, appear together in public. Nestorović has explained on several occasions that his family does not welcome the attention drawn by his public popularity.

With his wife, he has two children — a daughter, Mina, and a son, Uroš. His daughter Mina studied art history at the Faculty of Philosophy and psychology at the Faculty of Media and Communications in Belgrade, but, unlike her father, she has stayed away from public life. Nestorović has said that Mina was born with a heart defect whose severity was not known at the time, during a period of the harshest international sanctions against Serbia, when treatment options were limited. According to him, the situation was, fortunately, resolved successfully. Nestorović has also spoken publicly about his son Uroš having been diagnosed with a form of autism, which, as he stated, required a great deal of persistence and effort from the family.

In interviews, Nestorović has spoken of three life lessons that, in his own words, shaped him most as a person: the loss of his father, the loss of his mother, and facing his children’s health challenges. He has stated that, despite everything, his family has remained his most important support throughout his life.

Interesting facts

Branimir Nestorović is known for making a number of unusual and scientifically unsubstantiated claims, which is why the media often describe him as a conspiracy theorist. He has publicly spoken about the existence of so-called “time portals” and expressed a belief that CERN allegedly controls black holes in the universe. He has also made claims about the existence of a secret cure for cancer and about the use of a so-called “Tesla death ray” in armed conflicts in Iraq and Serbia.

He is also known publicly by the nickname “Doctor Chaos” (Doktor Haos), which he earned through a combination of medical authority and a tendency toward provocative and unexpected statements in public appearances. Although he was part of the official COVID-19 crisis team, he has publicly expressed scepticism toward COVID-19 vaccines, as well as toward the MMR vaccine, positions that have drawn sharp reactions from the medical community.

It is also worth noting that the movement he founded, “Knights of the Order of the Dragon,” according to Nestorović’s own claims at the time, at one point counted several hundred thousand members, even though the movement failed to gather enough signatures of support to run independently in the 2022 elections.

Awards and recognitions

For his contribution and public work, Branimir Nestorović was awarded the Order of the Karađorđe Star, Second Class, on 11 November 2020.

Legacy and influence

Regardless of how his individual views are assessed, Branimir Nestorović will leave a mark in both medicine and politics. Within the medical profession, generations of paediatricians and pulmonologists were trained under his mentorship, and his work in the field of medication-induced allergy contributed to the development of that specialised scientific field in Serbia.

Politically, his entry into the National Assembly of Serbia in 2023 stands as an example of how media recognition gained outside of politics — in his case, during the coronavirus pandemic — can be converted into concrete political capital and a parliamentary mandate. The founding, and subsequent splitting, of the movement he led, as well as his role as a potential “kingmaker” in forming Belgrade’s city government at the end of 2023, remain part of the broader story of the fragmentation of Serbia’s extra-parliamentary and parliamentary political scene in the mid-2020s.

Biography – frequently asked questions

When was Branimir Nestorović born?

Branimir Nestorović was born on 16 December 1954 in Belgrade.

What did Branimir Nestorović do before entering politics?

He was a paediatrician, pulmonologist and allergist, a full professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Belgrade, and long-time head of the Department of Pulmonology and Allergology at the “Tiršova” University Children’s Hospital.

Why did Branimir Nestorović become well known to the public?

He gained wider popularity in 2020 as a member of the government’s COVID-19 crisis team, after stating that the coronavirus was “the funniest virus in the history of mankind.”

Which political party or movement does Branimir Nestorović lead?

Nestorović is one of the founders of the movement “We – The Voice of the People,” and following a split within that movement in 2024, he is now president of the movement “We – Power of the People.”

When did Branimir Nestorović become a member of parliament?

He took the oath as a member of parliament on 6 February 2024, following the parliamentary elections held in December 2023.

Does Branimir Nestorović have a family?

He has been married for more than three decades and has two children, a daughter named Mina and a son named Uroš. His wife does not appear in public.

What books has Branimir Nestorović written?

He is the author of several books, including “Between Two Worlds,” “The Other World,” “Cancer: How to Prevent and Treat Cancer through an Integrative Approach,” “Autosuggestion,” and “A Child with Allergies, Eczema and Asthma,” as well as professional paediatrics textbooks.

Is Branimir Nestorović still active as a doctor?

Today he is known primarily for his political engagement, while his active university and clinical career as a paediatrician, pulmonologist and allergist took place over previous decades.

What awards has Branimir Nestorović received?

In November 2020, he was awarded the Order of the Karađorđe Star, Second Class.

Conclusion

Branimir Nestorović represents a rare example of a respected doctor transforming into one of the most influential and controversial figures in contemporary Serbian politics. His medical career, built over more than four decades of work in paediatric pulmonology and allergology, secured him professional prestige, while the coronavirus pandemic fundamentally changed his public image and opened the path to political engagement. By founding his own movement and entering the National Assembly of Serbia in 2023, Branimir Nestorović became a lasting part of the story of contemporary Serbian politics, a story whose ongoing chapter, including the internal party conflicts of 2026, continues to be written.