Ruja Zlatanova Pancheva - Dimitrova

Professor Ruja Zlatanova Pancheva - Dimitrova is a faculty member at the Medical University - Varna, affiliated with the Faculty of Public Health under the Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology. She serves as the Deputy Director of Scientific and Project Activities and supervises doctoral students in her field.

Education

• MD in Medicine, Medical University - Varna (1997)
• Specialty in Pediatrics (2003)
• PhD in Pediatrics with the dissertation 'Probiotics in the prevention of dyspepsia in hospitalized children aged 0-7 years' (2008)
• Specialty in Nutrition and Dietetics (2017)

Research Interests
Her research spans children's nutrition (both healthy and therapeutic), probiotics in pediatrics, allergy prevention, vaccination hesitancy, pediatric gastroenterology, telemedicine during the COVID epidemic, and early childhood intervention. She contributes to public health initiatives, including maternal and child health programs.

Projects & Collaborations
She leads projects funded by the Science Fund - MU-Varna, Scientific Research Fund - MES, and the Municipality of Varna, focusing on probiotics, diabetes mellitus nutrition, and the creation of a Nutrigenomics Laboratory. She collaborates with EAPRASnet on vaccine trust and telemedicine studies and acts as a principal investigator for Bulgaria in allergy prevention research.

Awards & Grants

• Varna award for project 'Dietary nutrition for children with special nutritional needs' (2019)
• ESPGHAN scholarship for pediatric nutrition training (2013)

Advising & Teaching
She supervises two defended doctoral students and four current doctoral candidates. She lectures in bachelor's and master's programs at MU-Varna in Bulgarian and English, and previously in Cyprus. She initiated postgraduate trainings in areas such as 'Nutrition in the first 100 days' and 'Early childhood intervention.'

Leadership & Memberships
She is Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and a member of the Board of Directors of the Karin Dom Foundation (2009-2022). She belongs to numerous international organizations, including the European Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) and the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine.