 Hello, my name is Krasimir Grigorov and I am a perfusionist at National Heart Hospital in Sofia, Bulgaria. I have been practicing this profession for over 20 years. First of all, I would like to give you some information about my country. Bulgaria is a country in Europe with borders to the north with Romania, to the west with Serbia and Macedonia, to the south with Greece and Turkey and to the east with the Black Sea. We are a small country in Europe. The population is about 7 million and the capital is Sofia with over 1 million citizens. Today in Bulgaria, we have 11 cardiac surgery departments and 7 of them are located in Sofia. One of the reasons for this is that people from small towns prefer the capital for their treatment. 20 years ago, we had only 4 cardiac surgery departments only in Sofia. These are the clinics that we've opened in the last 15 years in Bulgaria. The cardiac surgery department where I work was founded in 1961. The first heart transplant in southeast Europe was performed by Professor Cirkov in 1986. The same year, the first transplant of an adult patient was performed by my superior, Professor Goya Gief. He performed the first top cup in Bulgaria and the first operative myocardial revocalization using the internal thoracic artery as a graft. In Bulgaria, we have only one health insurance fund, which is state government. Going back in time, the first perfusionists were and still are Todor Naikov and Christopankov. They were trained by a German perfusionist from Freiburg in 1984. Today we are 41, but we need more perfusionists. Only 4 of them with less than 2 years of practice. There are many reasons for the lack of perfusionists. The rise in morbidity in Bulgaria, we are in first place in Europe for cardiovascular disease. The discovery of new cardiac surgeries in sufficient pay, the lack of government policy related to our profession, the lack of medical professionals who want to practice this profession, last but not least, the promotion of our profession. That's why in these days, many of the colleagues have bachelor's degree and master's degree in other disciplines. In Bulgaria, we do not have a training program related to perfusion. After graduating from the medical college, anyone who wants to work as perfusionist will be trained by his colleagues at the hospital where he is employed. Almost all perfusionists speak English, but we do not have a perfusion textbook in Bulgarian. Of course, with the internet now, anything is possible. Everyone has access to the information they are interested in. Our desire to be united, to train constantly, to share experience, to have the same standards of work, to have a training program led to the idea and our need to create an association of perfusionists. And in 2017, I and two other perfusionists, Dragoomir Dragnev, who is our member in European board, and Milena Angelova, founded the Bulgaria Association of Perfusionists and with the participation of all colleagues from the country. In 2017, we applied and we are admitted to the European board of perfusionists. With their help, we create a training program. However, this program is not recognized by our Ministry of Health yet. Anyone who wants could go through the program, take an exam and get certified. This program, approved by the European board, enables anyone who wants to train as a perfusionist to have the necessary knowledge and skills. With this certificate, we could work in almost any European country, which is a big step in our society. These are some of our goals, to raise the social importance of the profession, to unite the efforts of all members, to promote events involving home and foreign lectures. This is me back in 2011 in Texas Heart Institute for the exchange of experience. It was an unforgettable experience for me personally and professionally. The idea and desire for our organization to be found was inspired for my visit in Houston. Therefore, the first time I saw what was like to have organization, to have school and standards for work to follow in this profession. I was thrilled when I saw this and I immediately knew I want to have this kind of working environment for me and my colleagues back in Bulgaria. Thank you for your attention.