Medical University of Sofia awards the title “Doctor Honoris Causa” to one of the most active benefactors in the field of medicine in our country. This is Prof. Dr. Valentin Djonov, MD, Director of the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Bern, Switzerland.
Prof. Djonov is an anatomist of international renown, among the first few best specialists in Europe (although there is currently no ranking for this, he was last in the Top 10 in 2010). He is the author of over 200 publications with scientific and popular science content in authoritative specialized publications.
Prof. Djonov’s contribution to finding opportunities for specialization of Bulgarian doctors at the University Hospital Inzelspital in Bern, where he works, is invaluable. In recent years, this is an average of 4 of our medics per year. In the field of cooperation in the medical field, he has organized the multiple involvement of Bulgarian scientists in joint research projects with scientists from Switzerland.
Bulgaria and the Medical University of Sofia appreciate not only his contribution in the field of scientific cooperation and mobility, but also the rich and diverse charitable activities he develops.
With the assistance of the Foundation of the Sovereign Order of Malta in Switzerland, Prof. Djonov managed to organize valuable support for Bulgarian medical institutions, part of which are clinical bases of MU-Sofia. The assistance is in the form of medical apparatus and equipment, hospital beds and their associated equipment. In the last ten years alone, more than 100 trucks with donations of various kinds have arrived in Bulgaria, and for the last 4 years, 2 trucks with donations have regularly arrived every month for different cities in Bulgaria.
The latest donation, organized for the Medical University of Sofia by Prof. Djonov, is a modern electron microscope with complete equipment, which will provide the opportunity to conduct electron microscopic observations for the needs of the university.
Prof. Dr. Valentin Djonov is the winner of many prestigious awards and distinctions, including in 2020 he was awarded the “Golden Laurel Branch” by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria for special merits in the field of charity and contribution to bilateral cooperation between Confederation of Switzerland and the Republic of Bulgaria in Health and Medicine.
In 2021, the Vidin Municipal Council awarded him the title of “Honorary Citizen” of Vidin, for his help to his hometown, including the complete re-equipment of the obsolete telephone exchange in the local hospital.
The ceremony of awarding the title of Prof. Djonov will take place on March 8 (Tuesday) 2022 at 11:00 am in the Hall “Prof. Dr. Alexander Chirkov ”of the University Hospital“ St. Catherine.
Short biography:
Prof. Dr. Valentin Georgiev Djonov was born in Vidin in 1962, but his family has roots in the village of Gomotartsi. He graduated from Vidin High School in 1980. He graduated from the Medical University – Sofia in 1987. and started working at the Vidin Hospital, after which he was transferred to the Department of Neurosurgery in Sofia and as an assistant at the Medical University of Sofia. In 1990 he went on to specialize in Switzerland, where he was invited to work in various hospitals, and was offered a scientific career. He has been a successive lecturer, associate professor, professor and head of the department, and since 2018. and director of the Institute of Anatomy in Bern.
