CHAIRS

Prof. Irina Panovska-Stavridis, MD, PhD

Professor Irina Panovska-Stavridis is a professor at the Medical Faculty, University "St. Cyril and Methodius" in Skopje. She graduated from the Medical Faculty in Skopje in 1995 and, since 1996, has been working at the University Clinic of Hematology in Skopje. She is a specialist in internal medicine and a subspecialist in hematology.

She has received training in North Macedonia, the UK, the USA, Greece, and Hungary. Prof. Panovska-Stavridis has participated in numerous research studies and clinical trials as a principal investigator or study coordinator and has authored and co-authored many professional papers, reviews, and book chapters.

She is a member of several esteemed international societies for hematology and stem cell transplantation and has been appointed as an ambassador for Macedonia by the Society of Hemato-Oncology (SOHO). Since 2020, she has served as the President of the Macedonian Hematology Association.

Dimitar Efremov, MD, PhD

Professor Dimitar Efremov is a Regular Member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Head of the Molecular Hematology Group of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in Trieste, Italy, Professor at the ICGEB PhD program in Molecular Biomedicine, and Visiting Professor of Internal Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje, North Macedonia.

Prof. Efremov earned his MD degree from the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje, where he also completed his specialization in internal medicine and training in hematology. He obtained his PhD degree from the Faculty of Medicine at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and underwent postdoctoral training at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, GA, USA. He was an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine/Hematology at the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje until 2003, when he relocated to Italy and established the Molecular Hematology Group of ICGEB.

Prof. Efremov is recognized as one of the leading researchers and experts on chronic lymphocytic leukemia worldwide. His studies have significantly contributed to understanding the role of the B cell receptor pathway in the pathogenesis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and the identification of this pathway as a crucial therapeutic target in this disease. He has also contributed to other areas of hematology research, including B-cell lymphomas, hemoglobinopathies, autoimmune blood diseases, and bone marrow transplantation, and has published over 140 papers in leading international scientific journals.

His research has been supported by grants from various prestigious international and national funding bodies, including the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of the USA (LLS), the European Union, and the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC). He regularly presents his research activity at meetings and invited seminars worldwide and has been or is a current member of the editorial boards of several international hematology/oncology journals, including Haematologica, Cancers, Frontiers in Oncology, and the Mediterranean Journal of Hematology and Infectious Diseases.