Professor Radka Argirova graduated in medicine in 1969 in Medical University, Sofia. In the period between 1970 and 1973, she continued her education in the Virology Institute “Ivanovski”, Moscow, and became a specialist in medical virology. In 1994, Professor Argirova became a doctor of medicine, defending her doctoral dissertation with a topic in HIV at the National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia. In 1997, she became a professor in virology.
Professor Argirova specialized in the Institute of tumour biology, Freiburg, Germany as a holder of a scholarship of the „Alexander von Humboldt“ Foundation in the period between 1980 and 1981. Her next specialization was in 1989, as a scholarship holder of the “Fogarty” Foundation of the Northwestern University in Chicago, USA.
Her professional activity and her long years of experience have been dedicated completely to virology, with an accent on retroviruses and mostly on HIV, on the national and on the international level. In the period between 1970 and 1973, she was a regular doctoral student at the Virology Institute “Ivanovski” – Moscow. In the period between 1974 and 1982, she was a research associate in the laboratory of “Immunology and virology”- the National Centre of Oncology, Medical University, Sofia. Her professional activity continued as a research associate in the Laboratory of the Molecular Biology of Bird Retrovirues, IOSP, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia (1982 – 1987). In the period between 1987 and 1998, after beginning research with HIV in Bulgaria, Professor Argirova became the organizer and leader of the first Central Laboratory on HIV – for diagnostics of the infection, as a part of the National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, Bulgaria. In the period between 1991 and 1993, she was the chairperson of the Programme Council on HIV, Medical Academy, Sofia, Bulgaria. Professor Argirova was a: representative of Bulgaria in the Administrative Board of the Global Programme on HIV of WHO and a member of the headquarters of the global programme on HIV at the United Nations – Geneva (1995 -1997); representative of the Global Programme on HIV/AIDS at WHO at the meeting on planning the activities on HIV of the Army of Rescue – Manila, the Philippines, financed by UNDP – New York (1994). In 1996, she was and Expert on the Assessment of the National Programme on HIV/AIDS of Congo – financed by the Frankophonic Agency, Montreal, Canada. From 1995 until 1997, Professor Argirova was a Deputy Minister of Health Care and a Chief State Sanitary Inspector of the Republic of Bulgaria at the Ministry of Health. In the period between 1997 and 2013, Professor Argirova worked in the National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, where she was consecutively a manager of the National HIV Reference Laboratory (1997 – 1998); manager of the Laboratory on retroviruses (1998-2011) and manager of the Laboratory of hepatic and oncogenic viruses (2011-2013). Since September 2013, Professor Argirova was part of the team of “Acibadem City Clinic MBAL Tokuda” as a physician – virologist in the Clinical Laboratory, section “Immunology and molecular diagnostics”.
Professor Argirova was the chairperson of the Bulgarian Medical Virology Association, a deputy chairperson of the Humoldt Association in Bulgaria, a chairperson of the National Expert Board on virology of the Union of Bulgarian Doctors. She was a member of prestigious professional and scientific associations; the Bulgarian Association of Biochemistry and Biophysics, the International Society on HIV, the European Clinical Society on AIDS. Member of the editorial boards of the magazines “Biotechnology and Biotechnological Equipment”, “Medicine and Pharmacy”, as well as a chief editor of the magazine “Child and Infectious Diseases”.
Professor Argirova was the leader and participant in international scientific contracts with Italy, Kazakhstan, and the European project on the 7th Framework Programme.
The common number of publications of professor Argirova is 120, as well as 18 books and monography chapters, while the number of citations of her scientific works for 2016 is around 360. She participated in over 50 congresses and symposia.
Professor Argirova is a lecturer in the specialized courses in Vaccines, HIV and AIDS, the Screening and therapy of viral infections and the Replication of viruses at the Biological Faculty of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and the Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Dental Medicine, and the Pharmaceutical Faculty of Medical University, Sofia. She teaches master’s degree students (14 persons defended by 2016) and doctoral degree students with the code virology (6 students defended the dissertation; from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, The National Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases and the Biological Faculty of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. She led the preparation of four specializing doctors, aspiring to receive a specialty in “Virology”
