Dr. Milen Vrabevski was officially invited to deliver a lecture at the opening of the pilot edition of “European Fellowship in Research Ethics Programme” which was held in Brussels, Belgium on 4th May 2018.
The Programme is designed to train members and administrators of ethics committees from countries coming from outside Europe as well as those within Europe. The programme has been designed by the Good Clinical Practice Alliance – Europe (GCPA) and the Strategic Initiative for Developing Capacity in Ethical Review (SIDCER) in discussion with interested institutions in Europe, Asia, and Africa.
The primary objective of the Programme is to provide a comprehensive and in-depth examination of European research ethics, ethical review practices, and regulatory science at the European Union level and at the Member State level. The programme allows for the fellows to share their experiences with the institutions they visit as well as among themselves.
Dr. Vrabevski was invited to share his knowledge and experience with the fellows as an internationally recognized expert who established and developed the Research Ethics and the Good Clinical Practices in Bulgaria and in other countries in the region. Dr. Milen Vrabevski is a Primary Ethics contact from Europe to Edward E. Bartlett, PhD International Human Subjects Liaison, Office for Human Research Protections and a main consultant from Europe for the International Compilation of Human Research Standards.
He dedicated his presentation to Dr. Angela J. Bowen who passed away in 2017. She was a longtime Olympia physician, medical research pioneer, community philanthropist and a good friend of his.
The topic of Dr. Vrabevski’s presentation was “Cultural Heritage and Cultural Shifts: How Clinical Trials Contributed to Bulgaria’s Journey from the Soviet Union to the European Union”. He shared with the fellows what it meant for Bulgaria to come out of the Soviet Union, join the European Union, and then to accelerate in the area of clinical research. He paid attention to politics, culture, the role of the CRO, the preservation of culture while integrating into a new culture, and he look all this through the perspective of Ethics.
After the Workshop Dr. Vrabevski hold a Gala Dinner for the participants in the Programme. It was a priceless networking opportunity for all fellows. The dinner was again dedicated to Dr. Angela J. Bowen.