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A Stakeholder Forum on Transplants as a Bridge between Science and Life was held at MU-Varna within the framework of the European Commission's TRANSTEM project on 8th July 2025. Transplanted patients, patient organisations, representatives of the Executive Agency Medical Supervision, scientists and researchers from MU-Varna and physicians from UMHAT “St. Marina" – Varna participated in the discussion.
The meeting, attended by more than 60 people, was opened and moderated by Prof. Todorka Kostadinova – Director of Accreditation, Quality and Project Activities Directorate and Work Package 5 (WP 5) leader, who presented the key highlights of the Forum. The Director of the Research Institute at MU-Varna Prof. Dr. Anton Tonchev outlined the framework of the TRANSTEM project and introduced the participants to the activities carried out and the results achieved, putting the stress on their application in medical practice. Among the achievements reported by Prof. Tonchev were training and mobility of scientists, equipment of a high-tech Laboratory for Molecular Analyses, cell selection and breeding and gene expression research, establishment of an international network of researchers working in the field of stem cells and discovery of new biomarkers in the field of Oncology and Cardiology, which are about to be patented.
The Head of the Clinic of Clinical Haematology with Transplant Department at UMHAT “St. Marina" – Varna and researcher in the TRANSTEM project Prof. Dr. Ilina Micheva explained in which diseases stem cells could be transplanted, the stages of the transplant process and the recovery period, the diseases in which transplants were applicable and in which patients autologous or allogeneic transplants could not be an option.
The representatives of the Executive Agency Medical Supervision Dr. Yordan Peev, Dr. Evelina Tsvetkova and Ms Radostina Getova accentuated on the legal regulation of transplants in Europe and Bulgaria and the organisational aspect of transplant activities in our country.
Prof. Dr. Viliyan Platikanov, long-time Head of the Clinic of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, recently replaced by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Petya Ivanova, and a pioneer in the implementation of donor situations at UMHAT “St. Marina" – Varna, spoke about the multiple facets of organ transplants and the implementation of a donor situation, emphasising on the medical aspects of the issue.
Patients who have successfully passed their long path of treatment through stem cell transplants and are living fully again revealed details of the time from the diagnosis to the present day. They explained where they had obtained information on the treatment options and put the accent on the socio-economic and psychological aspects of their disease. The patients expressed their huge gratitude to the entire team of the Clinic of Clinical Haematology with Transplant Department at UMHAT “St. Marina" – Varna, where the stem cell transplants had been performed.
The representatives of various patient organisations, in addition to revealing their path to patients from different hospitals in the country, raised interesting questions to the scientists who have been working on the TRANSTEM project, to the doctors for whom transplants are a daily routine and to the representatives of the Executive Agency Medical Supervision, who have provided assistance in the organisational processes related to the implementation of donor situations in organs and cells.
At the end of the meeting, Velina Markovska – a psychologist and head of the Communication and Television Department at MU-Varna, highlighted some of the most important recommendations for coping with the fear and stress on the part of patients and their families, which are frequent companions in the long process after diagnosis and could harm mental health throughout the medical treatment.
The Forum was brought to an end by Prof. Dr. Igor Resnick – Project Manager of the TRANSTEM project and Prof. Dr. Anton Tonchev, who summarised the role of research activities at universities that bridge the gap between the science and the treatment of patients with serious diseases and expressed hope and expectations for new discoveries at MU–Varna. Prof. Kostadinova closed the Stakeholder Forum by extending gratitude to all participants for their active participation, which had led to constructive solutions and outlined new ideas that would favour stem cell transplant processes in Bulgaria.
Velina Markovska
