Krista Kostial was born on 19 December 1923 in Osijek, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to Ivan and Dubravka Kostial.[1] She entered the Medical Faculty University of Zagreb in 1943, graduating with a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1949.[2] Between 1949 and 1951, she studied occupational medicine at the Andrija Štampar Institute of Public Health.[3]