As a little girl she would take care of her dolls in her infirmary, up in a tree – there she would give them injections using pine needles and magical mixtures, made out of flowers and mud. As she was growing up, she transferred her kindness and compassion to humans, but always with a focus on children. Today, Dr. Daniela Atanassova Lineva is a pediatrician, loved by the Bulgarian community in New York, but also by many people in New York’s multinational Queens where she has a highly successful practice.

Not long ago, Dr. Daniela Atanassova Lineva received a prestigious distinction – she was selected as Top Pediatrician of the Year for 2022 by the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP).

“For me, these past 20 years have flown by in a flash, but I am glad I am living in a country when one can be appreciated, and for me that is prestige,” she said in an interview with Radio Bulgaria.

Her career started at the Varna Medical University, where she was admitted with excellent marks, she then worked at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, and at an emergency pediatric ward, and is now lecturing and has a private practice at Rego Park in New York.

Though she is a pediatrician, Dr. Daniela Atanassova Lineva gives as much attention to the parents as she does to the children, because unhealthy habits can be infectious and lead to chronic ailments.

“Children depend on their parents, they have no other choice,” the pediatrician explains. “After I did a course at Harvard on obesity and related disorders, I started tutoring whole families how to live a healthy life. But to take care of the children, it is the parents first that need to learn and be guided.”

Beauty is health, and health is happiness. Guided by this principle, Dr. Daniela Atanassova Lineva went on to build her expertise in the sphere of aesthetic and anti-age medicine. Here is her advice on how we can feel beautiful, have self-confidence and work better:

“Everyone talks of “balance”, as trivial as it may sound,” she says. “It is important to go to bed on time, to get a normal night’s sleep, to try to meditate and to keep calm. At the moment many of my teenage patients suffer from depression, from panic attacks, some try to take their lives. What I try to tell them is to take at least one hour a day for sports, to avoid processed food, to sleep no less than 7-8 hours a day, to spend time close to nature. That is the meaning of my life – I want to impart all the knowledge I have gleaned to the coming generation.”

A polyglot, a traveler and a volunteer – her love of children has taken her to different spots around the world. After the tragic loss of her 20-year old daughter Stefani, in recent years she has been dedicating more and more of her efforts to her foundation - Stefaniforever20.

“I have always wanted to give – with teaching, with patients – to give something back,” Dr. Daniela Atanassova Lineva says. “In Honduras and Ghana our mission is dedicated to the tennis foundation named after my daughter who died five years ago. Our aim is to continue what Stefani loved – she was a national tennis champion in America and a student of medicine. When we go to these countries we give children outfits, tennis racquets, bags and we give lessons, because tennis is very popular, especially with girls.”

Dr. Daniela Atanassova Lineva says ambition has always been her best friend, but after the tragedy that has befallen her family she realizes we practically have no control over anything. That is how she learnt not to waste a second of her time, and when she wants to do something, to take a risk without thinking of the consequences. She says the next stage of her life will probably be dedicated to her students and to travel. “But what matters most is to live without fear,” she believes.

Photos: courtesy of Dr. Daniela Atanassova Lineva