Assoc. Prof. Elka Atanasova completed secondary education at High School in Humanities in Varna. In 1998, she graduated with a Master's degree in Healthcare management at the Medical University of Varna. In 2014, Elka Atanasova defended her doctoral thesis „Formal and informal patient payments for public health care service in Bulgaria " in Maastricht University (Netherlands).
In 2003, Elka Atanasova obtained a specialty in Health Economics from the Medical University of Varna. She has completed training courses and specializations in the fields of health policy and public communications, hospital management, healthcare financing, health technology assessment, etc. in Bulgaria, England, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Assoc. Prof. Elka Atanasova began her academic career in 1999, when after winning a competition, she became a full-time Assistant Professor at the Department of Healthcare Management. Between 1999 and 2018, she held the positions of Assistant, Senior, and Chief Assistant Professor, and in 2018, she became a full-time Associate Professor at the Department of Health Economics and Management. In 2024, she was appointed Head of the Teaching Sector of Health economic and financial analyses. Since the beginning of her career she has been an administrative assistant of the Department of Health Economics and Management. Since 2018, Elka Atanasova is the Head of a postgraduate course in healthcare management.
Assoc. Prof. Elka Atanasova holds lectures in the bachelor and master programs in Healthcare Management, Pharmaceutical Management, Protection and control of public health, Speech therapy, Optometrist, Rehabilitation, Wellness and Spa, Information technology in health and health care. She is involved in the training of PhD students in Organization and Management in Healthcare, as well as graduate students in Health Economics. Assoc. Prof. Elka Atanasova is a member of the State Examination Board in Health Economics. She is a lecturer in professional training and postgraduate courses in Healthcare Management, Dental Assistant, etc.
Since 2002, she participated in national and international projects (e.g. Аssessment of patient payment policies and projection of their efficiency, equity and quality effects in Central and Eastern European countries; Study on Corruption in the Healthcare Sector; Assessment of the health system in Bulgaria: efficiency, equity, sustainability, etc.) funded by the European Commission, World Health Organization, World Bank, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Open Society Foundation, Bulgaria, etc.
Assoc. Prof. Elka Atanasova is the author of over 70 scientific publications with more than 600 citations. She has participated in over 30 scientific conferences, congresses, and symposia in Bulgaria and abroad. Her main research interests are in the field of health financing, patient payments for health services, health system analysis and performance assessment, health service utilization, economic evaluation, etc.
Member of the Health Technology Assessment Working Group at the National Center of Public Health and Analyses, Ministry of Health - 2016-2018.
She holds several academic and scientific awards, including:
Bulgarian Union of Scientists' Scientific Achievement Award in the field of social sciences (2019)
Academic Award 'Blue Ribbon', Medical University – Varna (2014)
Varna Municipality's Scientific Achievement Award in the field of social sciences (2013)
Bulgarian Scientific Society for Public Health
Union of Scientists – Varna
