Authors
QOL-E was created in 2001 by Esther N. Oliva, MD, and Borislav D. Dimitrov, MD MSc SMHM DM/PhD, for the evaluation of Health-related Quality of Life in patients with Myelodysplastic syndromes.
Esther Natalie Oliva
MD
QOL-EEsther Natalie Oliva earned degrees in Medicine and Surgery in 1990 and a degree in General Haematology in 1994 from the University of Messina, Italy,
From 1991 to 1997, she earned a Mario Negri Institute research grant to conduct research at the Nephrology Unit of the Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Bianchi Melacrino Morelli, Reggio Calabria, Italy.
Since 1998 she has been a practicing haematologist at the Haematology Unit of the same hospital in Reggio Calabria, in charge of the Myelodysplastic Syndromes, Aplastic Anemia, Anemia and Benign Haematology sections. Since 2018 she has a national scientific qualification for Associate Professor of Blood Diseases, Oncology and Rheumatology. She is junior editor of the American Journal of Blood Research, associate editor of Hemasphere and of the Hematological Malignancies specialty section of Frontiers in Oncology, guest editor of Journal of Clinical Medicine specialty section “Myelodysplastic Syndrome: Recent Advances and Future Directions”; and of Cancers, specialty section “Chemotherapy for Hematologic Malignancies.
Dr. Oliva has developed a specific instrument for the evaluation of quality of life in myelodysplastic syndromes (QOL-E) and an instrument for the measurement of patient- reported outcomes in patients with haematological malignancies (HM-PRO).
She has also developed and coordinated clinical trials in pharmacological research and in quality of life. She is a founder member and since 2019 Vice President of Associazione QOL- ONE, a non-profit association for scientific research.
Since 2017 she is an examiner for the EHA European Passport of Hematology. She is the Co- Chair of the EHA Scientific Working Group Quality of Life and Symptoms and is a member of the EHA Specialized Working Group Committee.
She is regional representative (Calabria – Basilicata) of the Italian Society of Experimental Hematology (SIES) and she is an active member of the American Society of Hematology and the Italian Society of Hematology.
Borislav D Dimitrov
MD MSc SMHM DM/PhD
QOL-EProf. Borislav D Dimitrov, MD MSc SMHM DM/PhD Borislav graduated as a physician [MD] from the Trakia University (Stara Zagora, Bulgaria) in 1991 and was an assistant professor in social medicine and health management (Faculty of Medicine, Stara Zagora). In 1994 he was awarded a degree in environmental sciences from Victoria University of Manchester in UK [MSc]. He was further affiliated as a doctoral fellow, assistant professor and specialist-consultant with the Faculty of Medicine, Medical College and Department of Marketing & Health Management at the University Hospital “St. George” (Medical University, Plovdiv, Bulgaria). During which period, he completed his medical speciality of social medicine and health management [SMHM] and later was awarded a higher degree in social medicine and organization of health care services and pharmacy [DM/PhD]. In 2000 he joined the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research (Italy) as a senior scientist in biostatistics and clinical epidemiology. He worked as a senior health outcomes manager at the IMS Health (UK) before joining the HRB Centre for Primary Care in 2008. Borislav had extensive research experience in health, biomedical and environmental sciences, mainly in public health, epidemiology, clinical trials research and quality of life (oncology, nephrology, diabetology, neurology). His expertise was in research methodology, data analyses, modelling and forecasting. He gained in-depth knowledge and broad skills in clinical epidemiology, study design, biostatistics and content management (e.g., time-series analyses, decision-tree analysis, artificial neural networks, PROs and scores/scales development, clinical decision-making and information management consulting).
Senior Research Fellow / Programme Manager & Coordinator of the HRB Centre for Primary Care Research from 2008 to 2012, in May 2012, he was appointed Senior Lecturer in Medical Statistics at the University of Southampton and promoted to Associate Professor in 2014.
He was awarded Cambridge IBC 2000 Outstanding Scientists of the 20th Century (1998), American Association for the Advancement of Science (2001), Science and Engineering (1998-1999), Gold Medal (Council of Science & Graduate Education of Republic of Bulgaria, 1989), Second Prize (MSSSIP, Leningrad, USSR, 1989) and First Prize (MSSSIP, Bulgaria, 1988-1990).
Since the year 2000, he worked, together with Dr. Esther N Oliva on the development and validation of the QOL-E until he passed away in Southampton, in January 2017 after a short illness.