Desanka Mijalković Stambolić graduated from the faculty of Medicine of the University of Belgrade and as a military scholarship holder she worked at the Military Medical Academy (VMA) in Belgrade. She was demobilized in 1969 in the rank of major and as the university assistant professor on the Department for Internal Medicine. She was head of the Clinical Center Zvezdara, where in 1972 she initiated foundation of Clinical Department for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Diseases.
After obtaining PhD in medicine she became a professor on the Department for Endocrinology of the Faculty of Dentistry and a professor on the post graduate studies on the Department of Endocrinology on the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade and in Priština.
She published 253 papers and was author and editor of university teaching books. She was the president of the Section of Endocrinology of the Serbian Medical Society, a deputy in the Belgrade City Assembly, president of the counseling board of the magazine Endocrinologica Yugoslavica, member of the Section for History of Medical Science of the Serbian Medical Society and member of many medical associations.
Her professional development took place in London, Stockholm and Helsinki. She was awarded Order for Military Merits with Silver Sward in 1965 and Order with Golden Ring of Labor in 1985. Her decorations were presented on the exhibition “Decorations form the legacies of the Historical Archives of Belgrade” in 2015.