News

JESENICE, 16 May 2025 – At its regular meeting on 14 May 2025, the Senate of the Angela Boškin Faculty of Health Sciences (ABFHC) approved a new four-year term as Dean for Assistant Professor Dr. Sanela Pivač, who has led ABFHC since 2021. In her program, she emphasized further strengthening and developing study programs in health care, advancing research and development activities, and promoting internationalization and cooperation. Last year, ABFHC accredited and launched a new Master’s degree program in Management of Healthcare Organisations. This year, it introduced a higher education program Occupational Therapy, which will admit its first students in the upcoming academic year.

Since its establishment, ABFHC has been bringing best practices from the international arena into the Slovenian environment. “We continuously develop and update our study processes in line with international standards and guidelines, systematically engaging internationally renowned experts in our teaching and research activities,” said Assistant Professor Dr. Sanela Pivač, ABFHC Dean. “We will continue this approach, including working towards transitioning the Nursing program to a four-year degree, as is standard in the most developed European countries, and introducing new study programs that equip students with the skills to address rapid scientific and technological advances, the needs of an ageing population, and the more efficient operation of the healthcare system.”

Assistant Professor Dr. Sanela Pivač began her career at the Jesenice General Hospital as a registered nurse and continued her career as a university lecturer at the ABFHC. She completed her postgraduate specialist studies (General Management) and a Master's study program in nursing care and holds a PhD from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana.

As an Assistant Professor at the ABFHC, she participates in the delivery of subjects that make up the study programs of first cycle Nursing Care (HE) and Physiotherapy (HE) study programs. She also works on the Mentorship in clinical settings specialization and on the second cycle Nursing Care study programs. She serves as a thesis advisor for first-cycle Nursing Care (HE) and Physiotherapy (HE) study programs and second-cycle study programs and acts as a co-advisor in the doctoral study program. 

She actively participates in national and international research and development projects and associations. In 2021, she also received the Gold Medal of the Nurses and Midwives Association of Slovenia awarded for significant achievements in the field of nursing and midwifery.