The Department of "Physiology" at Medical University - Pleven was created in early 1975, Headed by Professor Stefan Popov and employed five Assistant Professors: N. Nedkova, T. Pencheva, N. Simeonov, I.Topuzov, R. Gindeva.
From 1977 the sector of sports medicine was founded by Dr. C. Lambev. From 1980 to 1986 Head of the Department was Associate Professor Dimitar Strashimirov. The research focus in the Department during that period was related to the endocrine mechanisms of regulation of the cardiovascular system. In 1984, Z. Radionova and N. Kolev were selected as Assistant Professors and in the beginning of 1985, L. Halacheva and B. Ruseva also joined the team. From 1988 to 1994 Head of the Physiology Department was Assoc. Prof. Nikola Tankov. From 1996 to 2005, Head of the Department was Assoc. Prof. Tatyana Gavrilenko. In 2007, Valeri Nikolov, MD joined the department as an Associate Professor. In 2009 the Department "Physiology" and sector "Pathological physiology" were merged into a single department, the Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology. The same year, Assoc. Prof. Valeri Nikolov was elected Head of Physiology Division and held office until 2011. Three dissertations were defended by the academic staff of the Physiology division:
1986 Dr. Nedko Simeonov's dissertation "Pressor effect of certain hormones in rats with altered thyroid status";
2006 Dr. Zdravka Radionova's dissertation "Problem-based learning of medical students";
2012 Dr. Boryana Ruseva successfully defended her PhD disertation "Selenium and functional state of the vascular wall in normo- and hypertension - experimental studies". She was elected Associate Professor of physiology in January 2013.
In 2014, as an Assistant Professor in the division Dr. Tsvetelina Petkova – Marinova was selected and in 2016, Dr. Tatyana Simeonova joined the team as well. The academic staff of the sector now includes one Professor and five Assistant Professors. It is a Division of the Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology. From November 2015, Assoc. prof. B. Ruseva has been the head of Physiology division.
Research in the division focuses on:
- Role of some trace elements (selenium and zinc) for the functional state of the cardiovascular and endocrine system
- The role of hepsidin and some trace elements (selenium and copper) in the regulation of iron metabolism
- Effects of vitamin D
- Sensory-motor adaptation and functional organization of shortly developed isometric effort handgrip
- Influence of age on visual adaptation to the manual-visual distortions
- Innovative approaches in medical education
