Prof. Dr. Marco Donia, MD, PhD

Professor of Immuno-Oncology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Senior Consultant, Department of Oncology, Copenhagen University Hospital (Herlev and Gentofte), Denmark

Biography
Dr. Marco Donia is a distinguished clinician-scientist with a dual profile that bridges clinical practice and translational immuno-oncology. He currently serves as Professor of Immuno-Oncology at the University of Copenhagen and Senior Consultant at the Department of Oncology, Copenhagen University Hospital (Herlev and Gentofte), where his clinical focus is on the medical treatment of melanoma and the development of experimental immunotherapies.

He leads the Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte (TIL) Group at the National Center for Cancer Immune Therapy (CCIT-DK), directing a multidisciplinary team of scientists working at the intersection of clinical oncology, translational immunology, and computational biology. His group’s research emphasizes innovative approaches to understanding tumor–T cell interactions.

Since 2018, Dr. Donia has chaired the Skin Cancer Committee of the Danish Medicines Council, the Health Technology Assessment agency of Denmark, responsible for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of new cancer therapies.

Within the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), he has been an active contributor — currently serving on the ESMO Communication Committee (since 2023), previously on the Press and Media Affairs Committee, and as an Editorial Board Member of the ESMO Daily Reporter since 2020. He has been a Faculty Member of the ESMO Investigational Immunotherapy Group since 2018 and is a graduate of the ESMO Leaders Generation Programme (2018). Dr. Donia has also served on several ESMO Scientific Committees and has been an invited speaker at numerous international conferences.

He is Associate Editor of the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer and British Journal of Cancer (BJC) Reports.

Dr. Donia has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals, including Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Science, and Annals of Oncology. His research has led to significant advances in TIL therapy, the understanding of mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance, and the use of real-world evidence to improve cancer treatment — with a special focus on melanoma.

He is the recipient of major research grants and prestigious awards, including the Borregaard Clinical Ascending Investigator Award (Novo Nordisk Foundation, 2023) and support from the Lundbeck Foundation.

Prof. Dr. Georgi Momekov, PhD, DSc

Corresponding Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy (2025–2029), Medical University of Sofia

As of 1 May 2025, Prof. Dr. Georgi Momekov, PhD, DSc, has assumed the position of Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy for the 2025–2029 term. He was elected by the General Assembly of the Faculty of Pharmacy on 2 April 2025.

Prof. Dr. Georgi Tsvetanov Momekov, PhD, DSc, was born on 22 June 1976 in Sofia. He graduated in Pharmacy from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Medical University of Sofia (MU-Sofia) in 1998. In 1999, he joined the Department of Pharmacology, Pharmacotherapy and Toxicology at MU-Sofia, where he has built his entire academic career, successively holding the positions of Assistant/Senior Assistant (1999–2007), Chief Assistant (2007–2011), Associate Professor (2011–2014), and Professor (since 2014). Prof. Momekov holds the academic degrees PhD (2007) and DSc (2019, MU-Sofia) in Pharmacology, including pharmacokinetics and chemotherapy. In 2024 he was elected Corresponding Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Since 2021, he has served as Head of the Department of Pharmacology, Pharmacotherapy and Toxicology at the Faculty of Pharmacy. He is Chair of the State Examination Board for the specialty “Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy” and a member of the board for “Clinical Pharmacy.” He has served on the Transparency Commission of the Ministry of Health and on the Executive Council of the Research Fund of the Ministry of Education and Science. He is a member of the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Pharmacy and of the Academic Council of MU-Sofia. Prof. Momekov is also actively involved in postgraduate training in Clinical Pharmacy, Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, Gastroenterology, Infectious Diseases, and Clinical Oncology.

He serves as Chair of the Board of the Bulgarian Scientific Society of Pharmacy. He is a member of the Bulgarian Society of Pharmacology, Clinical Pharmacology and Therapy; the Bulgarian Society of Toxicology; EUROTOX; IUTOX; the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union; as well as multiple editorial boards and expert councils. He has served as a member and chair of scientific and organizational committees of numerous national and international congresses and scientific events.

Prof. Momekov holds specialties in Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy and has completed numerous trainings and specializations in Bulgaria and abroad.

His scientific interests and experimental work are focused primarily on experimental antitumor chemotherapy, oncopharmacology, and the design of antineoplastic drugs, as well as drug interactions and their impact on therapeutic efficacy. Prof. Momekov is the author or co-author of over 300 full-text publications, book chapters, and textbooks, as well as one patent and one utility model. He is co-editor of two textbooks and five collective monographs. His total impact factor exceeds 300, with an individual impact factor of 70. His work has been cited 2,785 times (h-index 34; SCOPUS). He has supervised ten successfully defended PhD theses and dozens of diploma students and trainees.

He has twice been awarded the “Signum Laudis pro Scientiae Meritis” prize of the Medical Science Council at MU-Sofia for successful implementation of research projects, and in 2025 he received the “Golden Panacea” award. Prof. Momekov is Coordinator of the National Expert Council on Clinical Pharmacy, Drug Analysis, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Phytopharmaceutical Products, and a member of the National Immunization Advisory Council at the Ministry of Health.