Innovations and good practices in the health sector

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.

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.

Dimitar Marinov

Secretary General of the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union

He graduated in pharmacy at the Medical University of Sofia in 2004.
He has a specialty in Organization and Economics of Distribution and Pharmacy Practice and a doctorate in Social Medicine and Health Management.
Since 2009 he has been a member of the Management Board of the Sofia Regional Pharmaceutical College, and in 2013-2019 he was Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of RFC Sofia.
Since February 2020 he has been the General Secretary of the Board of the Bulgarian Football Union.

Deyan Denev

Director Association of Research-based Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Bulgaria (ARPharM Bulgaria)

Deyan Denev is heading the Association of Research-based Pharmaceutical Manufacturers in Bulgaria since October 2003. He has a legal education from Sofia University and is an expert in pharmaceutical legislation and pharmaceutical policy. As Director of the association he is leading the advocacy activities of R&D pharmaceutical industry in Bulgaria on key issues regarding pharmaceutical policy, regulatory environment, intellectual property, pharmaceutical market development.
He was a member of the Supervisory Board of the National Health Insurance Fund on behalf of the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria from January 2014 to January 2015.
Between 2008 and 2013 he was a representative of the pharmaceutical industry in the Transparency Commission, which is an appeal body for all piecing and reimbursement decisions in Bulgaria. He is a co-chair of the Central and Eastern European Task Force of EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations).
Mr. Denev is a member of the Managing Board of the Bulgarian Medicines Verification Organization. In 2019 and 2021 he chairs the organization.

Dr. Stanimir Hasardjiev

Chairman of the Management Board of the National Patient Organization

Adv. Hristina Nikolova

Chairman of the Board of the Association of Patients with Kidney Diseases

Dr. Krassimira Chemishanska

Executive Director of Amgen Bulgaria

Dr. Krasimira Chemishanska is a business leader in the pharmaceutical industry with more than 20 years of experience in the Bulgarian market and part of the AstraZeneca management team.
She graduated medicine at the Medical University in Sofia and worked as a research associate in the field of clinical immunology for two years. Following the challenges of her professional career, she received a degree in marketing, 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 she was a long-time Marketing Director and Member of the Board of Directors of AstraZeneca.
In 2009 she entered the role of Executive Director of Amgen Bulgaria, opening a branch of one of the largest biotechnology companies in the world in our country and developing the organization and 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 from 2019 to the beginning of 2021 she headed the Association of Research Pharmaceutical Manufacturers in Bulgaria as Chairman of the Board. Dr. Chemishanska is currently Vice President of ARPharM. She is also 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 she received the prestigious "Certificate of Appreciation" from the US Department of Commerce for her contribution to the development of bilateral trade and investment in healthcare between the United States and Bulgaria.
 

Dr. Kiril Nikolchev

General Manager for Bulgaria, AbbVie

Dr. Kiril Nikolchev has been General Manager for Bulgaria of the biopharmaceutical company AbbVie since 2013. Prior to that, he worked at Abbott Laboratories, where he went through all hierarchical levels - from product to general manager. Prior to joining Abbott, he worked at DePuy, Johnson & Johnson and Solvay Pharma. In 1999 he graduated in medicine at the Medical University in Varna, and in 2012 he obtained a master's degree in business administration from the City University of Seattle.

Acad. Vanyo Mitev, Ph.D.

Chairman of the General Assembly of the Medical University - Sofia, Head of the Biochemistry Section at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Medical Faculty of the Medical University - Sofia

Prof. Dr. Tsvetalina Tankova, MD

Head of the Clinic of Diabetology, USBALE "Acad. Ivan Penchev

Prof. Elina Trendafilova

Head of Intensive Care Unit (Emergency Cardiology) at the Clinic of Cardiology of MHAT "National Cardiology Hospital" EAD, Sofia

Vladimir Tomov

Chairman of the National Alliance of People with Rare Diseases (NAHRB)

Luka Chichov

General Manager, IQVIA Bulgaria

Luka Chichov has been the General Manager of IQVIA Bulgaria since September 2019. Luka has more than 12 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, holding various roles in several European countries. From 2009 to 2013 he was part of the global consulting team of IQVIA (IMS Consulting Group) - based in Frankfurt and Munich, Germany, where he works on strategic projects for various pharmaceutical clients in Europe and the United States. He then continued his career in the pharmaceutical industry, holding various positions in Marketing, Sales, Commercial Excellence, his last role before joining IQVIA again being regional director for the German market of the Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi-Sankyo.
Luca holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from ESADE Business School in Barcelona, ​​Spain and a Bachelor's degree in International Economics and Management from Bocconi University, Milan, Italy.

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.

Dr. Slaveyko Dzhambazov

Founder and Managing Director, HTA Ltd.

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.

Svetla Kalapova

Chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Medical Laboratories

Arkadi Sharkov

Macroeconomist, Expert Club for Economics and Politics (ECEP)

Evgenia Alexandrova

Chairman of the Association of Cancer Patients (APOZ)

Adv. Svilena Dimitrova

Chairman of the Bulgarian Hospital Association

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.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Asya Konsulova

medical oncologist in KOC - Burgas

Dr. Ivan Kolchakov

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

Dr. Atanas Atanasov

Executive Director of UMHAT "Alexandrovska"

Dr. Anton Koichev

Chairman of the Commission for Health and Social Policy of the Sofia Municipal Council