Ivan Popov graduated from high school in Varna, and in 2002 he obtained a master's degree in "Social Management". In 2019, he defended a PhD thesis "Management of drug addiction prevention programs based on the cultural characteristics of the community".
He began his professional career at the Day Center for Rehabilitation and Integration of Persons with Addiction to Psychoactive Substances in the city of Varna. In the period 2004-2017, he worked at the Municipality of Varna as a senior expert "Preventive Programs", and from 2017 to 2020 as an expert at the Research Institute, MU-Varna. Since 2020, full-time assistant professor at the Department of Social Medicine and Health Care Organization, Faculty of Public Health. Since 2023, he is a chief assistant professor at the Department of Social Medicine and Health Care Organization.
Ivan Popov teaches students in the specialties "Medicine", "Dental Medicine", "Health Management" and "Logopedy" in the disciplines "Social Medicine and Medical Ethics", "Social Medicine and Biostatistics", "Organization of Health and Social Care". He participates in numerous international research projects, has professional interests in the areas of: prevention of drug abuse, socio-cultural context and use of psychoactive substances, mental health promotion, qualitative (social-anthropological) methods in studying the use of psychoactive substances, mental health and culture.
Ivan Popov obtained qualifications in the field of addiction prevention, ethnographic methods in drug use research, counseling and psychological support for young people using psychoactive substances, management of community-based prevention programs, etc.
Ivan Popov has publications related to prevention of drug addiction, culture and drugs, mental health promotion, qualitative research methods, gambling disorders.
