DOI: 10.17720/2409-5834.v7.2.2021.07g
Kostiantyn K. Vasyliev1,
Olena G. Vasylieva2
1Odessa National Medical University
2 Valikhovsky Lane, Odessa 65082, Ukraine
2Sumy State University
2 Rymskogo-Korsakova St., Sumy 40007, Ukraine
This paper examines key points in the life story and work of V. N. Klimenko. It establishes that his mentor at the clinic of internal medicine was Yu. T. Chudnovsky ‒ a member of the S. P. Botkin school of internal medicine. It describes how V. N. Klimenko established himself as a bacteriologist while working under V. V. Podvysotsky. The scientific legacy of V. N. Klimenko consists of two basic layers ‒ bacteriology and infectiology. As a doctor and scientist, V. N. Klimenko established himself in Russia but trained abroad (Zurich, Paris, Bern). Upon his return, he worked at one of the country’s most respected medical research institutions ‒ the Institute of Experimental Medicine ‒ from 1905. From 1908, he also taught at the Imperial Military Medical Academy as a bacteriology privatdozent. From 1919 to 1921, he headed two departments ‒ medical bacteriology and infectious diseases ‒ at Samara University. Following the ascendance of the Bolsheviks, Professor V. N. Klimenko, a seasoned academic, moved to Latvia, where a new centre of higher education ‒ the University of Latvia ‒ had been established in Riga. At the university’s medical faculty, he set up and headed one of the departments of internal medicine, as well as the Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. V. N. Klimenko founded one of Latvia’s medical schools. The paper concludes that V. N. Klimenko contributed significantly to the development of Russian and Latvian medicine.
Keywords: scientific biography, N. V. Klimenko, clinic of internal diseases, infectious diseases, medical school, bacteriology
