Neli Vilhelmova-Ilieva is an Associate Professor at The Stephan Angeloff Institute of Microbiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She has a master's degree in molecular biology from virology at the Faculty of Biology of Sofia University “St. Kl. Ohridski” in 2004. She obtained PhD in Virology in 2012 at The Stephan Angeloff Institute of Microbiology. Since 2017 she has been a Head of the Laboratory of “DNA viruses and oncolytic viruses” at the Institute. The expertise of Vilhelmova-Ilieva is in the field of molecular biology, virology, immunology, and the study of antiviral activity of natural substances and synthetic products in vitro. She is a winner of an award for the best work of a young Bulgarian microbiologist in 2011 of the Foundation "Acad. Prof. Dr Stefan Angelov" and a member of the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria.