Corr. Memb. Ilza Pajeva was awarded with the “Marin Drinov” honorary medal of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The award was presented by the President of the Academy Prof. Julian Revalski, Member of BAS, during a ceremony held on 14 December 2023. The medal is awarded for her high scientific achievements, multifaceted public, organizational, expert and pedagogical activities which are an indispensable contribution to the elevation of the authority of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Bulgarian science at home and abroad and on the occasion of her 70th anniversary.
Ilza Pajeva is Professor at the Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences where she is Honorary Head of the Section “QSAR and Molecular Modelling”. Corresponding Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences since 2015, currently Secretary of the Assembly of Academicians and Corresponding Members of BAS. She was a Fellow of the German Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and President of the Humboldt Union in Bulgaria. Her main research interests are in the field of molecular modelling of biologically active compounds, drug design and computational toxicology. Pioneer for the country and founder of the first group at BAS engaged in such research. Author and co-author of over 150 scientific publications, cited over 2450 times. She has been a leader, participant and consultant in over 20 national and international projects. She has taught courses on in silico drug design at the Master’s programs of Sofia University and at the Training Center of BAS, lectured at the Diderot Universities in Paris – France and Bonn – Germany, has been a supervisor and consultant of 7 PhD students. She has received a number of awards, including the best scientist in biological sciences at the Union of Bulgarian Scientists. She is a recipient of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany ” Cross of Merit on Ribbon”.
Corr. Memb. Pajeva believes that the achievements of science follow human imagination and man with his mind and imagination will always be ahead of the curve. He claims that doing science is important but it is also important to make your results available to everyone because that is how knowledge builds and develops, leading to progress.
