Faculty of Medicine of the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” has been founded in 1917 through a Decision made by the Parliament amending the Education Law, and approved by Decree No. 21 of Tzar Ferdinand (Published in State Gazette No. 266 of November 29th 1917). The newly established Faculty receives for its needs buildings of First High School for Boys, situated on Dunav Street 2, as well as Aleksandrovska Hospital, and Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital “Princess Maria Louise”.

Deans of the Faculty of Medicine since its foundation are listed below:

1. Professor Stefan Petkov (1917-1919)
2. Professor Ivan Kiprov, MD (1919-1920)
3. Professor Toshko Petrov, MD (1920-1921, 1924-1925)
4. Professor Vladimir Alexiev, MD (1921-1922)
5. Professor Vassil Mollov, MD (1922-1923, 1936-1937)
6. Professor Konstantin Pashev, MD (1923-1924)
7. Professor Atanas Teodorov, MD (1925-1926)
8. Professor Bogomil Beron, MD (1926-1927)
9. Professor Stefan Vatev, MD (1927-1928)
10. Professor Andrea Sahatchiev, MD (1928-1929, 1935-1936, 1938-1939)
11. Professor Stoyan Kirkovich, MD (1929-1930)
12. Professor Alexander Stanishev, MD (1930-1931, 1937-1938)
13. Professor Dimiter Stamatov, MD (1931-1932)
14. Professor Dimiter Orahovatz, MD (1932-1934, 1939-1941, 1943-1945)
15. Professor Stoyan Belinov, MD (1934-1935)
16. Professor Metodii Popov (1941-1942)
17. ProfessorAnastas Klissurov, MD (1942-1943)
18. Professor Ivan Ivanov, MD (1945-1946)
19. Professor Lyuben Popov, MD (1946-1947)
20. Professor Marko Markov, MD (1947-1950)
21. Professor Lubomir Spassov, MD (2007-2013, 2013 on)

Five of the Rectors of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” are professors from the Faculty of Medicine – Professor Metodii Popov (1920-1921), Professor Vassil Mollov, MD (1923-1924) and (1934-1935), Professor Vladimir Alexiev, MD (1926-1927), Professor Stoyan Kirkovich, MD (1930-1931), and Professor Alexander Stanishev, MD (1938-1939).

Founders and first professors in the Faculty of Medicine not only had graduated from, but also made their Doctorates, and some of them were lecturers in the most prestigious European universities before. Vladimir Alexiev was a lecturer in Internal Diseases in Geneve, Switzerland, Ivan Kiprov taught Otorhinolaryngology in Wienn, Austria, Nikola Krustnikov - Neurology and Psychiatry in Peterburg, Russia, Michail Minev - Anatomy in Nancy, France, Metodii Popov - Zoology and Comparative Anatomy in Munich, Germany, Alexander Stanishev - Surgery in Munich, Germany, Dimiter Kadanov - Anatomy in Wurzburg, Germany, before joining the academic staff of the Faculty of Medicine just to mention some of these distinguished scholars. The first newly elected regular professors in the Faculty of Medicine were in the field of Internal Diseases – Professor Vassil Mollov, MD (May 20th 1918) and in Surgery – Professor Paraskev Stoyanov, MD (June 10th 1918), and later on in Ophtalmology – Professor Konstantin Pashev, MD, in Forensic Medicine - Professor Atanas Teodorov, MD, in Otorhinolaringology – Professor Ivan Kiprov, MD, and in Hygiene and Social Medicine – Professor Toshko Petrov, MD. The first education day of the new Faculty is April 10th 1918, and is marked by lectures in Medical Physics and in Medical Zoology.

At that time the Faculty of Medicine was the only one in Bulgaria, and soon became a cradle of sound professional schools in all medical disciplines. The role of Faculty in establishment and further successful development of important Bulgarian medical institutions such as the Medical University – Sofia (1950), the Faculty of Medicine in the Plovdiv University “Paisii Hilendarski” (1945), and the Institute for Specialization and Qualification of Physicians (1950) is unquestionable. High authority and widely respected professionalism of lecturers and scientists such as Assen Zlatarov, Assen Hadjiolov, Metodii Popov, Dimiter Orahovatz, Vladimir Markov, Stefan Vatev, Vassil Mollov, Stoyan Kirkovich, Vladimir Alexiev, Paraskev Stoyanov, Alexander Stanishev, Stoyan Belinov, Konstantin Pashev, Bogomil Beron, Luben Popov, Nikola Krustnikov, Toshko Petrov, Dimiter Kadanov, Konstantin Chilov, Boycho Boychev, Marin Petrov, Ivan Penchev, Peter Pophristov, Nikola Shipkovenski, Alexy Puhlev, Tasho Tashev, and many more build a solid respect of the Faculty of Medicine and make the Faculty both a wanted partner in international collaborations and well ranked European high medical school.

Decision of the Presidium of People’s Assembly from 1950 removes the Faculty of Medicine from the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and founds Medical Academy Valko Chervenkov (Decree No. 246 of January 28th 1950), which after several transformations nowadays is the Medical University – Sofia (Decision of Bulgarian Parliament of May 12th 1995).

After a proposal of the Academic Council of the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” (Protocol No. 13 of June 25th 2003) Ministers’ Council of Bulgaria made a decision (Decree No. 316 of December 19th 2003) to reestablish and reintegrate in the Sofia University its Faculty of Medicine.