Academic Biography
Education
Graduated from the S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy in 1968.
Completed the doctor training program for the Missile and Army Forces (1974), as well as clinical training at the Academy (1977-1978).

Degrees and Titles
Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Full Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Academic Activity
After graduating from the S.M. Kirov Academy served as a commander of a combat medic platoon in the medical battalion. From 1975, at the Department of Hospital Surgery at the Academy, served as senior clinic physician (1975-1977), clinical physician (1977-1978), instructor and head of the department of cardiovascular surgery (1978-1985), and senior instructor (1985-1991). After 1991 served as head of the P.A. Kupriyanov departments and clinics of cardiovascular surgery. In April 1992, was named Head of the Academy and Chairman of the Academic Council. In 1993, was the chief cardiac surgeon in the Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad region and in 1994, was head of the cardiac surgery center established by the oblasts.
Y.L. Shevchenko possesses extensive experience in surgical treatment of patients with infectious endocarditis (more than seven thousand clinical observations, including more than 3.5 thousand operations). In the last few years, he has obtained encouraging results by using silver-impregnated heart valve prostheses to prevent intracardiac infection. His high level of professionalism and deep theoretical knowledge allow Yury Shevchenko to think outside the box in the most difficult surgical situations. For example, he was the first in the world to successfully perform open heart surgery without the use of artificial blood circulation during his treatment of a fragmentation gunshot wound to the heart in a military hospital. He has also performed three heart transplants. His quest to reduce the necessity of aggressive surgical intervention in severely ill patients led him to develop and introduce into wider surgical practice a “sparing” approach to open heart surgery with artificial blood circulation.
In the research carried out under Yury Shevchenko’s leadership, particular attention was paid to issues of military medicine. His research dealt not only with clinical problems (such as the immediate provision of specialized medical treatment to injured and sick military personnel) but also with the organization of treatment for those wounded at various stages and conditions of modern warfare.
In 1992, Yury Shevchenko was a representative of the Russian Federation at the International Committee on Military Medicine. He initiated an international movement called “In Defense of Military Doctors”, as well as the development of international military medical cooperation in the country and the successful implementation of major international programs (such as the Center for Telemedical Technology, exchange programs for students and young specialists, and joint scientific publications). He was an editor of the major scientific work Healthcare of Russia. 20th Century (2001), which was the first to analyze the development of healthcare in Russia throughout the 20th century, including the most pressing medical issues as they related to the political and socioeconomic processes of the last decades of the previous century.
In his pedagogical activities as the head of the Military Medical Academy, Y.L. Shevchenko devoted special attention to cultivating high moral standards in future military doctors and to restoring the values of humanism and sacrifice that Russian doctors are renowned for. He initiated a project to erect the world’s first memorial to “the medics of the world who have fallen in combat” and, with the help of the mayor and the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, the square on which the monument is situated was renamed Combat Medic Square.
As the head of the School of Scientific Pedagogy (of cardiovascular surgery) of the Presidential Fund for the Support of Leading Scientific Schools of Russia and as faculty advisor, Y.L. Shevchenko helped prepare over 80 dissertations for defense, for both Candidate of Sciences and Doctor of Sciences. For several years, he has been Chairman of the Specialist Dissertation Council for Surgery at the Military Medical Academy.
On the 5th of July, 1999, Y.L. Shevchenko was named by the President of the Russian Federation as the Minister of Health of Russia. Until December of 2000, he was also the head of the Military Medical Academy and lead the cardiovascular surgery departments and clinics.
Shevchenko has developed a conception of healthcare in Russia as a life support system, a component of national security, and a top priority for the government. As a member of the Russian government, Yury Shevchenko focused on the development the healthcare system in the federal districts, often making trips throughout the country to personally perform cardiovascular surgeries and working to equip all of the districts with the latest technology. In recent years, he has initiated studies on the economic aspects of healthcare and medical law. In 1999, he worked with the Security Council of the Russian Federation to consider the issue of “legal measures to address problems of national security with regards to the healthcare of citizens of the Russian Federation”. Shevchenko actively participated in the development of a range of federal target programs intended to improve health and disease prevention in Russia, with a special focus on type 2 diabetes, tuberculosis, HIV, and the creation of an effective vaccination system.
In October 2000, Shevchenko became the Head of the Department of Surgery at I.M. Sechenov Medical Academy.
In 2002, organized the N.I. Pirogov National Medical-Surgical Center (NMSC), and was elected president by the center’s scientific council. As minister of health of the Russian Federation, Shevchenko fulfilled his duties as president on a volunteer basis. As of March 2004, his primary occupation has been president and chairman of the center’s scientific council.
In January 2004, became the chief surgeon of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation.
In March 2005, the research institute for thoracic surgery at I.M. Sechenov Medical Academy became the St. George National Center for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery under the National Medical Surgical Center. Currently, Shevchenko is both director of the National Center for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and chairman of the Department of Thoracic Surgery for the Institute of Medical Development at the NMSC.
Throughout his time as minister of health, he worked with the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2004, founded the Church of Saint Nicholas on the NMSC campus in Vostochnoye Izmaylovo District.

Honorary Titles, Awards, Prizes
Distinguished Doctor of the Russian Federation, Distinguished Scientist of the Russian Federation, Russian Federation State Prize Laureate, Colonel-General of the Medical Service, Doctor of Theology, Mitered Protopriest. Also:
● Permanent representative of Russia on the International Committee on Military Medicine.
● Since 2000, Russia’s permanent representative at the World Health Organization.
● Member of the RAMS Bureau of Clinical Medicine.
● Academician and Vice President of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, chairman of the department of fundamental medicine at the RANS.
● Academician at the S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy.
● Distinguished Doctor of Chuvashia.
● Winner of the Michael DeBakey International Award for Surgeons (1996).
● Winner of the Rudolf Virchow International Award (1999).
● Winner of the N.A. Semashko RAMS Award (2002).
● Chairman of the Boris Petrovsky International Award prize committee — gold medal for “Outstanding Surgeon”.
● Member of the coordinating committee of the science council of the Russian Academy of Science for physiological science.
● Board member of the Russian Association of Cardiovascular Surgeons.
● Member of the European Association of Cardiovascular Surgeons.
● Member of the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons.
● Professor at the University of Federal Health Services in the USA (1996).
● Distinguished professor at the RAMS Russian Science Center for Surgery (1997).
● Distinguished doctor at the Military Medical Academy (1999).
● Distinguished doctor at the RAMS Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Medicine (2000).
● Distinguished doctor at the Siberian State Medical University (2001).
● Distinguished professor at the F.F.Erisman Federal Research Center for Hygiene (2002).
● Distinguished professor at Saint Petersburg State University (2004).
● Distinguished doctor at the I.P. Pavlov Saint Petersburg State Medical University (2004).
● Distinguished professor at M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (2008).
● Honorary Citizen of the Sakha-Yakutia Republic.
● Permanent representative for Russia at the International Committee on Military Medicine.
● Permanent representative for Russia at the World Health Organization (since 2000).
● Russian Orthodox Church’s Order of Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow, 2nd Class (1998).
● International Order of St. Constantine the Great (1998).
● American Department of Defense Award (1998).
● International Academy of Sciences Peter the Great Gold Medal for Nature and Society (1995).

Academic Interests
Cardiovascular surgery. Yury Shevchenko has made a significant contribution to surgical treatment of congenital heart disease. Founder of septic heart surgery. He actively led research into issues involving the treatment of patients with ischemic heart disease. He was one of the first to employ control coronary angiography in the early postoperative period. This invasive testing was proven to be both safe and of significant diagnostic value under his leadership.
Shevchenko is rightly considered one of the founders of Russian cardioneurology. He was the first heart surgeon to focus his attention on the necessity of complex neurological safeguards during open heart surgeries.
A large portion of Yury Shevchenko’s research was devoted to issues of vascular surgery, including operations for generalized forms of atherosclerotic artery disease. He also organized a phlebology research program.

Professional Organizations
Editor-in-Chief of the following journals: N.I. Pirogov NMSC Bulletin; Clinical Medicine and Pathology; Bulletin of the Multinational Center for Quality of Life Research.
A member of the board of editors of the following journals: I.I. Grekov Surgery Bulletin; Bulletin of the Saint Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences; the Military Medical Journal; Medical Academic Journal; International Reviews of Military Medical Services; Problems of Rehabilitation; Circulatory and Cardiological Pathologies; History of Medicine. Was the founder and first chief editor of the Russian Military Medical Academy Bulletin.
Was elected vice-president of the RANS and vice president of the Petrovsky Academy of Arts and Sciences. Was a member of the board of directors of the Russian Association of Cardiovascular Surgeons, the Pirogovsky Society, the F.G. Lang Society of Cardiologists, and the International Committee on Military Medicine.
Yury Shevchenko is an active member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (2000) and an academic of the RAS.

Scientific Publications
Yury Shevchenko has published more than 400 academic works, including 17 monographs.

History of medicine works from the last 5 years:
1. Voprosy zhizni i vospominaniya N.I. Pirogova (k 125-letiyu vykhoda v svet pervogo otdel’nogo izdaniya «Dnevnika starogo vracha…») [Questions on the Life and Memory of N.I. Pirogov (for the 125th Anniversary of the First Edition of Diary of an Old Doctor…)]. Yu.L. Shevchenko, M.N. Kozovenko. Vestn. NMKhTs im. N.I. Pirogova. 2010. T. 5. № 3. P. 3–9. [in Russian]
2. Shkola N.I. Pirogova: professor V.F. Voyno-Yasenetskiy (The N.I. Pirogov School: Professor V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky). Yu.L. Shevchenko, M.N. Kozovenko. Khirurgiya (nauchno-prakticheskiy zhurnal imeni N.I. Pirogova). M., 2011. № 9. P. 86-91. [in Russian]
3. N.I. Pirogov i S.P. Botkin: istoricheskie paralleli (N.I. Pirogov and S.P. Botkin: Historical Parallels). Yu.L. Shevchenko, V.P. Tyurin. Vestn. NMKhTs im. N.I. Pirogova. 2012. T. 7. № 4. P. 3–10. [in Russian]
4. Maloizvestnaya perepiska sem’i N.I. i A.A. Pirogovykh s Teodorom Bil’rotom (The Little-known Family Correspondence of N.I and A.A. Pirogov with Theodor Billroth). Yu.L. Shevchenko, M.N. Kozovenko, S.I. Trikhina. Vestn. khirurgii im. I.I. Grekova. 2013. T. 172. № 6. P. 93-99. [in Russian]
5. Zavershenie zagranichnogo pokhoda russkoy armii (kampaniya 1914 goda) i razvitie otechestvennoy voennoy meditsiny (k 200-letiyu kapitulyatsii Parizha) [The Conclusion of the Russian Army’s Foreign Campaign (1914 Campaign) and the Development of Russian Military Medicine (for the 200 Year Anniversary of the Capitulation of Paris)]. Yu.L. Shevchenko, S.A. Matveev, V.G. Gudymovich. Vestn. NMKhTs im. N.I. Pirogova. 2014. T. 9. № 1. P. 3–8. [in Russian]
6. Vydayushchiysya reformator meditsinskogo obrazovaniya v Rossii (k 200-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya P.A. Dubovitskogo) [A Distinguished Reformer of Medical Education in Russia (for the 200 Year Anniversary of the Birth of P.A. Dubovitsky)]. Yu.L. Shevchenko, S.A. Epifanov, S.A. Matveev. Vestn. NMKhTs im. N.I. Pirogova. 2015. T. 10. № 1. P. 3–5. [in Russian]