Prof. Todorka Kostadinova completed her high school education at Geo Milev Language School with German, English and Russian language teaching in Dobrich. She has acquired two Master's Degrees from the University of Economics–Varna (in Economics and Pedagogy) and a doctoral degree in Economics from the University of National and World Economy (UNWE)–Sofia (2001). Dissertation topic: Portfolio Management Potentials of Medical Establishments, with scientific supervisors Prof. Evgeniya Delcheva, PhD and Prof. Dr. Dimitar Kamburov, PhD
The development of her academic career continued with successive elections as Associate Professor at the Department of Health Economics and Management at MU-Varna (2003), and Professor (2012) in the scientific specialty: Organisation and Management Outside the Sphere of Material Production. She has two specialties in the field of health: Health Economics (2005) and Medical Informatics and Health Management (2006).
She has delivered lectures as a guest lecturer in the Master's Programme of Health Management at the University of Bern, Switzerland (2005-2006), and Medical University–Vienna (2009-2011). From 2008 to 2011 she was a member of the international research team at Berkeley University, following a specialisation in Health Leadership at the same University (Global Health Leadership Forum at Berkeley, www.ghlf.org).
She has specialised in the following areas: Hospital Management at the University Hospitals of Zurich and Bern (Switzerland); Restructuring and Organisation of University Education in Health Management at Maastricht University (the Netherlands) and Manchester University (the UK); Health Policy, Financing and Management in Healthcare at George Washington University and Georgetown University, the USA (2003-2004). After the specialisation she was elected a member of the academic staff of the Department of Global Health at George Washington University (2004-2009).
Between 2009-2013 Prof. Kostadinova combined her academic activities with management positions at various levels such as Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Health (2009), Deputy Minister of Health (2009-2010), member of the Control Board (2009) and the Supervisory Board (2010) of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), Sofia, Coordinator for Bulgaria of the international network for health in South-East Europe (2009-2010), member of the National Commissions and Committees on European Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria, on ethnic issues — at the Ministry of the Interior, Chairperson of the National Food Safety Council of the Ministry of Health (2009-2010), Deputy Minister in charge of international cooperation, public health, including work with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS , Malaria and Tuberculosis, European programmes and projects, eHealth.
In March 2011 she was elected Dean of the Faculty of Public Health at MU–Varna and remained in this position for a year, and from March 2012 to March 2020 she was Vice Rector for International Cooperation, Accreditation and Quality in the team of the Rector Prof. Dr. Krasimir Ivanov, DSc during his terms of office. Since 10 March 2020 Prof. Kostadinova has been Director of International Cooperation, Accreditation and Quality Directorate.
