Biographical information: He graduated Medical University - Pleven in 1982 and started his career in the surgical department of the hospital in Tryavna.

Acad. Dr. Grigor Gortchev is a doctor with three specialties - obstetrics and gynecology, oncology, and surgery. He is the Director of the Research Institute and Honorary Rector of the Medical University - Pleven. With outstanding achievements in the field of medicine and extensive scientific activity, he is the only doctor in the field of obstetrics and gynecology who became a corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the highest state award - the Order of Stara Planina first degree.

During his many years of experience Acad. Dr. Gortchev underwent numerous specializations - laparoscopic surgery in France and Italy, radical robot-assisted hysterectomy at the University of North Carolina - USA and is a certified international expert - instructor of residents in laparoscopic surgery.

He is President of the Bulgarian Association of Gynecological Endoscopy, the Bulgarian Association of Minimally Invasive Gynecological Surgery, and the Balkan Doctors Union. He is also a member of the Board of Directors and co-founder of the Association of Robotic Surgery for South-East Europe.

He is the first certified console surgeon and a pioneer in the development of robot-assisted surgery in gynecology. In 2010, he performed the first robotic-assisted surgery on a woman with cervical cancer in Eastern Europe, preserving her reproductive functions. After this intervention, the patient successfully conceived through in-vitro fertilization, becoming the first case of a successful pregnancy until 2012.

Awards and Achievements:

• "Honorary Citizen of Tryavna";
• "Honorary Citizen of Pleven";
• "Badge of Honor 1st degree from the Bulgarian Medical Association for contribution to the development of medicine";
• "Medic of the Year - 2004" of Forum Medicus newspaper;
• "Person of the Year - 2005" recognition by the American Biographical Institute of the USA and the International Studies Commission;
• "Doctor of the Year" by the Bulgarian Medical Association in 2006 and 2011.

Scientific publications:

• Monographs - 5;
• Dissertations - 2;
• Scientific publications - 428;
• Papers in the country and abroad - 182;
• Scientific films - 3.