Liliya Vakrilova

Every single study is a small step forward, but when you take all the studies on a particular problem together, they make a significant advance in medicine.

Liliya Georgieva Vakrilova, MD, PhD, is Chief of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Neonatology Clinic, Specialized Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology “Maichin dom” Sofia, Bulgaria. She is also an Associate Professor in Neonatology at the Medical University of Sofia.

Vakrilova has been dedicated to her profession for more than 40 years, but it was not always that way. In high school, she still thought she would be a lawyer or a journalist, or explore the stars and space. But in her senior year, she decided to become a physician as she wanted to see the results of her work, her profession. And we are grateful she did.

Our finalist has dedicated her career to helping extremely and very preterm infants and making changes to improve their care and outcomes. She has seen major milestones and new treatments that increase survival with fewer complications. One of those breakthroughs includes her research proposal focused on the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) outbreak in 14 term infants and 7 patients with extremely low birth weight and/or gestational age in the NICU. 

We investigate the origins of this outbreak, discuss the measures taken, and make guidelines to prevent further outbreaks. We also explain the benefits of administering the monoclonal antibody palivizumab to at-risk preterm infants for immunoprophylaxis during the RSV season before sending them home. We believe that by sharing our experience, other neonatal units can avoid similar situations.

Balancing high-pressure work with the little newborn patients in the neonatal intensive care unit, including night duties, with medical research can be demanding and requires long overtime hours. But the drive to see applicable results and help her patients keeps motivating Liliya Georgieva Vakrilova, MD, PhD, to never give up.