DOI: 10.17720/2409-5834.v4.4.2017.07g

Olga S. Nagornykh
Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy MOH Russia
Minin sq., 10/1 Nizhny Novgorod 603005, Russia

The article deals with the main stages of the activity of Professor V.G. Vogralik, one of which is associated with the introduction of methods of reflexology into medical practice. His scientific and pedagogical activity began at Tomsk State University. Then V.G. Vogralik was the chairman of the Department of propaedeutic therapy at Stavropol Medical Institute. His activity in Gorky Medical Institute (GMI) became a special milestone in his life and work. There is a reconstruction in this article of the main period of professional activity of V.G. Vogralik, which is associated with his work as the chairman of the Department of Hospital Therapy at GMI. The research was carried out on the basis of archival materials (most of them are data from the Central Archive of the Nizhny Novgorod region). The choice of the period (1947–1960) can be explained by the fact that it includes events that affected the future activities of the scientist. The author of this article highlights several such moments. Firstly, it is the realization of the basic scientific approaches in different fields of medicine (e.g., neurology, therapy, cardiology) at the Department of Hospital Therapy at GMI. Secondly, the business trip to China as a part of the delegation of Soviet doctors (1954–1956; the main purposes of the trip were medical examination of the highest Chinese command and military personnel and holding a complex of scientific and medical activities), where V.G. Vogralik obtained information about the main provisions of traditional oriental medicine and the treatment method of Zhen-Jiu. Third, his teaching work. Due to the active work of V.G. Vogralik, the Gorky school of acupuncture began to form at GMI, tremendous work was done to study and approbate the mechanisms of action of Zhen-Jiu therapy, to translate special literature and comprehend and adapt the theoretical postulates of Chinese medicine. Using the example of the biography of V.G. Vogralik, the author considers an interesting moment in the history of Russian health care, connected with the development of Soviet-Chinese relations in the 1950s in the field of medicine.

Keywords: history of medicine, history of health care, V.G. Vogralik, Soviet-Chinese cooperation, the national school of acupuncture, a scientific school