Innovations and good practices in the health sector - part 1

Dr. Ivan Madjarov

Chairman of the Board of BMA

Dr. Ivan Madjarov was elected chairman of the professional organization of the 68th regular reporting and election fair of the BMA in June 2018.
Prior to heading the Bulgarian Medical Association, he was the manager of the Pulmed Hospital in Plovdiv and was the chairman of the board of the Bulgarian Hospital Association.
From 2013 to 2014 he was the director of RHIF Plovdiv.
From 2008 to 2013 he was the manager of Parvomay Hospital EOOD. From 1994 to 2008 he was an intern in the ENT department at the Plovdiv Hospital in Plovdiv.
Dr. Ivan Madjarov graduated from the Medical University - Plovdiv. He has a degree in "Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases" and a Master's degree in Health Management.

Iliyana Paunova

Executive Director of the Bulgarian Organization for Verification of Medicines (BOVL)

Iliana Paunova is the Executive Director of the Bulgarian Organization for Verification of Medicines (BOVL). The association was established in April 2016 by the five organizations representing stakeholders in the implementation of Directive 2011/62 / EU in Bulgaria.
Prior to that, as Director of GlaxoSmithKline for Bulgaria and the Adriatic, she worked for the development of the pharmaceutical industry and the introduction of innovative projects and investments in our country and the region. She has been Chair and Vice President of the Association of Research Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (ARPharM) several times.
In 2020, Iliana Paunova was invited by the European Organization for the Verification of Medicinal Products (EMVO) to participate in the working group for the implementation of the Directive against falsified medicines for medicines and vaccines for COVID-19 in the Member States of the European Economic Area.
She graduated in Informatics at the University of National and World Economy and specialized in Finance, Marketing and Management at INSEAD, Henley Business School, MIT Sloan School of Management and others.

adv. Maria Sharkova

Managing partner in Sharkova & Partners Law Firm

Lawyer Maria Sharkova is a managing partner in Sharkova & Partners Law Firm. The company's team has many years of experience in consulting medical institutions, non-governmental organizations and patients and successfully leads cases in the field of healthcare. Lawyer Sharkova specializes in the United States and has worked as an intern in the Legal Program of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. In the field of medical law, there are many short-term trainings in the Netherlands, Spain and other European countries, and recently acquired the right to train for the Council of Europe platform HELP.

Dr. Krassimira Chemishanska

Executive Director of Amgen Bulgaria EOOD

Dr. Krassimira Chemishanska is a business leader in the pharmaceutical industry with more than 20 years of experience in the Bulgarian market. He graduated medicine at the Medical University in Sofia and worked for two years as a research associate in the field of clinical immunology. Following the challenges of her professional career, she received a marketing degree, an MBA in General Management from City University Seattle, and a master's degree in management from the International Business School.
From 1994 to 2009, she held various management positions in multinational innovative pharmaceutical companies, as a longtime Marketing Director and Member of the Board of Directors of AstraZeneca.
In 2009 he took on the role of Executive Director of Amgen Bulgaria, opening a branch of the largest biotechnology company in the world in our country and realizing the organization and development of the business on local soil to this day.
Since 2011 she has been a member of the Board of Directors of AmCham, and in 2015 she was elected President of the Chamber - a position she held until the beginning of 2019.
Since 2013, Dr. Chemishanska has been a member of the board of ARPharM and the Junior Achievement Foundation, and since 2019 he has headed the Association of Research Pharmaceutical Manufacturers in Bulgaria in his capacity as Chairman of the Board. She is a longtime member of the BBLF and a lecturer in the Master Classes of the Pharmaceutical Industry Forum.
Dr. Chemishanska is also an honorary member of the Council of the European Business Community and winner of the Golden Seal Award for Innovative Management and Social Responsibility. In 2013 he received the prestigious "Certificate of Appreciation" from the US Department of Commerce for his contribution to the development of bilateral trade and investment in healthcare between the United States and Bulgaria.

Deyan Denev

Executive Director, Association of Research Pharmaceutical Companies (ARPharM)

Dr. Ivan Kolchakov

Member of the management of Sofiamed University Hospital, anesthesiologist at Sofiamed University Hospital

Nikolay Krechetov

Managing Director for Central and Eastern Europe, CIS, InterSystems

Nikolay Krechetov directs InterSystems operations in the region of Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS. Since joining InterSystems in 1997, he has been building company’s presence in Russia and CIS. Nikolay’s been responsible for several major InterSystems clients and projects in the region. Since 2015 Nikolay is managing InterSystems sales, marketing and engineering teams in Moscow, Prague and Budapest. He came to InterSystems after working for several InterSystems customers, where he was systems software developer and project manager. He is a honored graduate of Moscow Engineering Physics Institute.

Svilena P. Dimitrova

Chairman of the Bulgarian Hospital Association

Attorney Svilena P. Dimitrova has been the President of the Bulgarian Hospital Association since 2019.
She has been building her professional expertise for more than twenty years, of which in the last ten, she also specializes in medical law. Master of Laws from Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", with a specialization in Aix-Marseille III, France, as well as Commercial Mediation at Harvard University, USA.
She specializes in corporate law and negotiation, and is a certified mediator, arbitrator and lecturer. She founded the law firm "Dimitrova and Partners" in 2006, and today, in addition to managing the law firm, she is actively involved in public activities. In the period 2015-2019, Attorney Svilena Dimitrova was Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Hospital Association, and in 2018-2019 she was Chairman of the Center for Agreements and Mediation at the Sofia District Court and Sofia City Court. She is a member of the European legal network United Legal Network and the European network of mediation judges GEMME.

Alexander Simidchiev, MD

Deputy Chairman of the Healthcare Committee of the 47th National Assembly

Dr. Alexander Simidchiev has three medical specialties, but he practices pulmonology most biasedly. He is the head of the Department of Non-Invasive Diagnostics at the Medical Institute of the Ministry of Interior, he is also part of the team of the Pulmonology Department and the Respiratory Function Testing Laboratory at Lozenets University Hospital, a member of the Bulgarian Society of Pulmonary Diseases and the European Respiratory Society. He is a former pulmonologist in chief of GlaxoSmithKline, Canada. He has specialized at the Ruhrland Clinic in Essen, Germany and Hôpital de la Charité, Paris, France.

Virginia Nedeva

Business and Market Development Manager, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Virginia Nedeva is Business Development Manager for new markets at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium. She is actively involved in numerous projects harnessing the power of super computers in the world of business and science, also leading the Intelligent Edge business unit of HPE for Bulgaria. Virginia has more than 15 years of local and regional experience in the IT world and has broad expertise in developing and implementing complex technology projects.
 

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dimitar Bulanov, MD, PhD

Dean of the Medical Faculty, MU - Sofia

Higher education in medicine - 1991, Medical University, Sofia.
1992 - 1995 - Emergency Neurosurgery at the Department of Emergency Surgery, Neurosurgery and Orthopedics, Military Medical Academy-Sofia.
Since 1996 - lecturer and surgeon at the Department of General and Operative Surgery of the Medical Faculty, Medical University, Sofia,  University Hospital "Alexandrovska" - 1st Surgery Base 
In 2001 - He acquired the specialty "Surgery".
Since 2012 - Associate Professor in Surgery.
Administrative and elective positions:
From 2002 to 2012 - Journal of Surgery Scientific Secretary 
Since 2012 - Member of  Journal of Surgery editorial board 
Since 2014 - Bulgarian Surgical Society Management Board member
2014 - 2018 - Bulgarian Surgical Society Deputy Chairman 
Since 2016 - Union of Bulgarian Medical Specialists. Management Board member 
Since 2019 - Member of the Expert Council for the medical specialty "Surgery" to the Minister of Health 
2013 - 2020 - University Hospital "Alexandrovska" Deputy Director for Medical Activities of the
2016 -2020 - Medical Faculty Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs and member of the Faculty Council 
07.2020 -10.2020 - University Hospital "Alexandrovska" CEO
From 29.09.2020 he was elected Dean of the Medical Faculty, MU - Sofia.

Prof. Asena Serbezova, Ph.D.

Chairperson of the Board of the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union

Prof. Asena Stoimenova, Ph.D., DPh Sofia and Master's degree in Health Policy and Pharmacoeconomics from Barcelona School of Management, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain. From November 2008 to July 2018 she held the positions of Senior Assistant, Chief Assistant and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy, MU Sofia. In July 2018, after a competition, Prof. Serbezova was appointed at the Faculty of Public Health, MU Sofia.
Author and co-author of more than 150 publications in the field of drug policy, quality management in healthcare, еtc.
Chairperson of the Quality Commission of the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union (2007-2010) and Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union for the period 2010-2013. Since 2019 she was elected Chairperson of BPU. Member of the National Council on Prices and Reimbursement of Medicinal Products (2013-2104). During the period July 2014 August 2018 she was the Executive Director of the Executive Agency for Medicines under the Minister of Health. Member of the Management Board of the European Medicines Agency from 2014 to 2018.
Member of the Scientific Committee for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products for Human Use (CEMPHU) of the European Medicines Agency. Member of the Health Technology Assessment Commission (02.2016-08.2018). For the period 07.2018-08.2019 Prof. Serbezova is an advisor to the Minister of Health in the field of drug policy.
Leading researcher of research projects from GRANT-2014 and GRANT-2012 at the Medical University of Sofia, funded by the Council of Medical Science and participant in research teams in the development and implementation of seven projects from GRANT-2016, GRANT-2015, GRANT-2014, GRANT -2012 and GRANT-2011.Winner of the Award of the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union "Master of Pharmacy of the Year" in 2011 and the Award of the Bulgarian Football Union for contribution to the development of pharmacy in Bulgaria - 2008.

Andrey Markov

Co-founder and manager of Acibadem City Clinic University Hospital

Andrey Markov is a manager and administrator in healthcare with more than 30 years of experience. Mr. Markov's last position is Executive Director of United Medical, the first private integrated medical service provider in Bulgaria. Prior to that, he was Financial and Administrative Director of St. Ekaterina for 13 years and the National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases for 6 years. Andrey Markov has a Master's degree in Business Administration and Management from the University of National and World Economy and a Bachelor's degree in Medicine. He has specialized in the Institute of International Health at Michigan State University and has numerous specializations in Health Management and Administration.

Dr. Nikolai Branzalov

Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Doctors' Union

Dr. Nikolay Branzalov is the Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Doctors' Union responsible for the Outpatient Medical Care. He graduated medicine at the Medical University - Sofia, has specialties in Internal Medicine and General Medicine. He is currently graduating in Healthcare management. He is also a Chairman of the control commission of the General Practitioners' Association. He has been a General Practitioner in Sofia since 1990, and has been a naval doctor on a passenger ship for eight years. He speaks English and Russian.

Prof. Dr. Petko Salchev

Manager of the National Health Insurance Fund

He graduated in Medicine in 1987 and Economics in 2003. From 1989 to 2011 he worked at the Department of Social Medicine and Health Management at MU - Sofia, having passed through all scientific and teaching degrees - assistant, chief assistant, associate professor. In the period 2008-2011 he was the Head of the Department. In 2001 he defended his dissertation on "The role of the general practitioner in Bulgaria". In 2003 he was elected associate professor, and in 2012 professor of social medicine. In 1996-1997 he was the Director of RHI - Sofia city. 2001-2003 - Director of Queen Joanna University Hospital. 2003 -2005 - Deputy Minister of Health. In November 2011 he was appointed to the Macroeconomics Section of the Institute for Economic Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Since 2011 he has been the Director of the Classification Systems Directorate at the NCPHA, which in 2015 was renamed the Classification Systems, Standards and Innovations Directorate. On March 13, 2020, with the votes of the MPs from the 44th National Assembly, he was elected governor of the National Health Insurance Fund.

Radoslav Bossev

Commercial Director, Stemo Ltd.

He manages sales and technical teams that participate in the largest IT projects in Bulgaria. Stemo Ltd. is a leader in the IT market in Bulgaria and has 30 years of experience in building national IT projects related to software development, construction and maintenance of hardware and software infrastructure, localization and implementation of established global management systems, as well as in the maintenance and their development, for which it has a structure with national coverage. From 1997 until today the company is engaged in various projects related to E-Government. He has executed numerous projects in the Ministry of Health and the National Health Insurance Fund. He graduated in 1996 from the Technical University of Karlsruhe, Germany.

Corresponding Member Prof. Nikolay Gabrovski

Chairman of the Bulgarian Society of Neurosurgery

Dr. Gabrovski graduated in medicine at the Medical Academy - Sofia in 1996. Initially he worked as a doctor in the Neuroreanimation of UMHAT "Queen Joanna".
He has been in the Clinic of Neurosurgery at Pirogov Hospital since 1997. In 2005, Dr. Gabrovski defended his dissertation on "Significance of the posterior connecting artery for neurosurgical practice." Since 2006 he has been the head of the neurooncology department. Since 2008 he has been an "Associate Professor" in neurosurgery. In 2010 he was elected Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Society of Neurosurgery. In 2011 he was elected Head of the Clinic of Neurosurgery of Pirogov University Hospital.
Since the beginning of 2011 he has been elected National Consultant in Neurosurgery at the Ministry of Health. In January 2012, Prof. N. Gabrovski was invited as an observer to the board of the European Brain Council, a coordinating non-governmental organization dedicated to the fight against diseases of the nervous system. The European Brains Council works closely with the committees of the European Union, the European Parliament, the World Health Organization and other bodies responsible for brain diseases.
In 2014 he was elected "Professor of Neurosurgery" at the Clinic of Neurosurgery of Pirogov University Hospital.
Prof. Nikolay Gabrovski is a member of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Medical Union in 2015, and since June 9, 2018 he has been elected Deputy Chairman of the professional organization.
Since 2017 he has been Deputy Director for Medical Activities of the University Hospital "N.I. Pirogov ". In 2018, Prof. Nikolay Gabrovskie was elected Chairman of the Bulgarian Society of Neurosurgery.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Angel Kunchev

Chief State Health Inspector

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Angel Kunchev is the Chief State Health Inspector. Since 2008 he has been the director of the Infectious Diseases Surveillance Department at the Ministry of Health. Prior to that, he worked in the "Anti-epidemic control" departments of the Ministry of Health and HEI-Haskovo. He graduated medicine at the Medical University - Plovdiv.

Dr. Yavor Drenski

Manager of Uni Hospital and Executive Director of Assarel Panagyurishte Zdrave

Kountcho Trifonov, MD, MBA

Founder and Manager at HealthPR

Kountcho Trifonov, MD, MBA is healthcare and pharmaceutical sector professional with 6 years of experience as GM of biopharmaceutical company (Organon Bulgaria – 1997-2003) and more than 14 years of experience as GM of healthcare and pharmaceutical sector servicing company (IMS Bulgaria – 2003-2017), along with 6 years of experience as academic teaching physician as Assistant Professor in Internal Medicine (1991-1997). The strong assets of Dr. K. Trifonov include but are not limited to complex consulting projects management, extensive data projects, client servicing outsourcing processes, sales force effectiveness consulting and efficacy improvements. Recent involvement of Dr. K. Trifonov includes digital healthcare and in detail in digital communication tools with HCP for pharmaceutical industry.

Dipl. Eng. Mihail Kalachev

Manager of SKYWARE Group

He graduated in Robotics, at the Faculty of Automation, TU-Sofia in 1997. He has been working as a service engineer of laboratory equipment of Ciba Corning and Shimadzu at Perfect Medica Ltd. In 1999 he created the first in Bulgaria Laboratory Information System (LIS iLab) through his company SKYWARE Group Ltd. LIS iLab for the first time in Bulgaria used material barcoding and LIS-device connection. In 2001 he implemented the first online lab results. In 2004 he was the main developer of the first electronic reporting system of the National Health Insurance Fund at Manro Ltd. He works actively in LIS and HIS integration projects, successfully integrating six different HIS into LIS iLab. In March 2006, the Arenal electronic referral system was developed and put into operation, through which a two-way connection between doctors and laboratories is carried out at national level.
 

Deyan Prokopov

Manager at Gamma Consult

Deyan Prokopov has over 20 years of experience in company management and implementation of business development projects. His competencies as a manager are in creating and imposing new products and services for the Bulgarian market in the field of information technologies. He has over 15 years of experience in the development and implementation of information systems and technologies in the field of healthcare. He leads the analysis and design and development of software systems and databases in the field of healthcare. Since 1995 participation in various projects and joint work with Bulgarian and foreign experts of the NHIF, MH, NCHI, CFUTZ, WB, USAID, KPMG, Bulgarian Health Project, 3M, Health Level 7Australia. In the period 1995-2011 development and implementation of information solutions with different scope in over 250 medical institutions for hospital care in the country. Among our most important partners: Military Medical Academy, University Hospital "St. Marina "Varna, University Hospital Pleven, University Hospital Alexandrovska, Tokuda Hospital Sofia, Stara Zagora Hospital, University Hospital Queen Joanna, etc.

Prof. Dr. Ivona Daskalova, MD, PhD, DSc

Chairman of the Board of the Bulgarian Diabetes Association

Prof. Dr. Ivona Daskalova, MD, PhD, DSc is Chairman of the Board of the Bulgarian Diabetes Association, Academician of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Arts (BANI) and Bulgaria's representative in the International Working Group on Diabetes at the International Diabetes Federation. She graduated from the Medical University - Sofia and has specialties in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Clinical Pharmacology and Therapy, Medical Informatics and Healthcare Management. She has specialized in Germany, Denmark, USA. Prof. Daskalova is a member of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, the American Diabetes Association, the World Association for Cell Transplantation.