About us

The history of the Department of Public Health and Healthcare Management begins with the creation of the first department of social hygiene in Ukraine at the Kharkov Medical Institute. The founder of the department was the People’s Commissar of Health of the USSR Musiy Grigorievich Gurevich, who headed the department from October 27, 1923 until the spring of 1925. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the first in Ukraine department of social hygiene of the Kharkov Medical Institute of the People’s Commissariat of Health of the Ukrainian SSR, he noted the outstanding role of N.G. Gurevich as the organizer of the department, which “laid the foundation for the further development of social hygiene as a science and subject of teaching in Ukraine”.
Sergei Arkadevich Tomilin (1877-1952), who headed the department in 1925-1932, made a great contribution to the development of social hygiene problems. He is the author of over 100 scientific papers, including 17 monographs.
S.A. Tomilin created a school of social medics in Kharkov. Under his leadership, they grew up in famous scientists, became professors (I.A. Arnoldi, S.A. Gurevich, A.N. Merkov, F.I. Groysser, P.T. Petrov, I.I. Ovsienko, K.F. Duplenko and others).
In 1933, the department of social hygiene of the KhMI was headed by Zinovy Anatolyevich Gurevich (1898-1985). He gave 50 years of his life to the department, of which 41 years he headed it.
S.A. Gurevich is the author of 100 publications, including 14 monographs and brochures.
Throughout his career, he paid great attention to the training of scientific and pedagogical personnel. Employees, postgraduates, and practical health workers were involved in the work on dissertations. Under the leadership of S.A. Gurevich, 5 doctoral dissertations and 28 candidate dissertations were prepared and defended.
The department constantly paid attention to improving the educational process. In the 1930s, the scientists of the department prepared the first Ukrainian textbooks on social hygiene. Published “Essays on the theory of social hygiene” S.S. Kagan (1932), “Social hygiene” (lectures 1-8) S.A. Tomilin and A.M. Merkov (1933), “General theory of sanitary statistics” A.M. Merkov (11935), “Workshop on sanitary statistics” L.A. Abramovich, N.I. Kaminsky, P.T. Petrov (1940).
From August 3, 1974 to 2002, the Department was headed by Professor Nina Aleksandrovna Galichev (1931–2017). Cardiovascular issues remained the main direction of the department’s scientific activity. This topic was devoted to the doctoral dissertation of N.A. Galichev “Myocardial infarction and its prevention as a social and hygienic problem”. The work was a multifaceted study with the study of the prevalence of myocardial infarction in Kharkov over 25 years of risk factors; traced the fate of patients with myocardial infarction, studied the provision of medical care to these patients in a big city, and the like.
Since February 2002, the department has been headed by Professor Viktor Andreevich Ognev, who continues to lead it today.
Since 1997 up to the present time Ognev V.A. heads the National Coordination Center of the international program “ISAAC” for the study of bronchial asthma in children. According to this program, the doctoral dissertation “Medical and social problems of allergic diseases in children” was carried out. Methods for identifying symptoms of bronchial asthma and studying the quality of life of children with this pathology have been developed and patented. V.A.Ognev scientifically substantiated anamnestic epidemiological methods for studying morbidity, predicting the risk of pathology in children, developed the first domestic methods for assessing the quality of life of the population, and proposed systems for monitoring and managing diseases.
V.A. Ognev is a full member and vice-president of the Ukrainian Academy of the History of Medicine; a member of the Dissertation Council D 64.600.06, Kharkiv National Medical University; a member of the scientific and methodological commission on health and social security (subcommittee: 229 – Public health) of the higher education sector of the Scientific and Methodological Council of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (2019 and until now) a member of the working group on the development of goals and content of the STEP 2 integrated test exam for specialty 229 “Public health” of the state organization “Center for Testing the Professional Competence of Specialists with Higher Education “Medicine” and “Pharmacy” at the Ministry of Health of Ukraine (from 2020 to the present),as a freelance expert of the National Health Service of Ukraine in 2020 in the direction of Inpatient care for adults and children without surgical operations (from 2020 to the present) by the chairman of the expert council of the regional competition of scientific works presented for the title of “Best young scientist of the Kharkiv region” in the nomination “Life science, new technologies for the prevention and treatment of the most common diseases” (from 2017 and still), Chairman of the Council of the Methodological Office of the Educational and Scientific Institute for the Quality of Education of KhNMU (from 2013 to the present); Chairman of the Methodological Commission on the Problems of Professional Training of the Medical and Preventive Profile (from 2010 to the present).

Now the Department of Public Health has 21 rooms, of which 9 rooms are educational, which are equipped with educational interactive complexes, allowing the teaching staff to conduct classes at a modern level.
An educational and scientific library has been created at the department, which is necessary for mastering the specialty and training specialists at the university. Now in the cathedral library there are several thousand copies of publications. The pride of the library is the department of rare books, the collection of which contains unique publications: books of the early 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, editions with donative inscriptions, autographs of textbook authors, medical scientists.
The department successfully operates a class of programmable forms of teaching and control of students’ knowledge, which is used to control the knowledge of 3rd, 4th and 6th year students studying at the department.
The conference department is one of the best meeting rooms at the Kharkiv National Medical University. It was opened in October 2013 to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the department.
The department has two educational museums “Museum of Computer Science” (2008) and “Museum of Typewriters” (2013).
A memorial sign dedicated to the People’s Commissar of Health of Ukraine, the first head of the department of social medicine, organization and economics of health care Moisey Grigorievich Gurevich was installed at the department in 2005. Now he performs an important function in teaching and educational work among staff and students.
The reserve for strengthening the scientific and pedagogical potential of the department is the scientific circle, where domestic and foreign students master the basics of scientific activity, study in depth various aspects of public health.
Currently, the department employs 31 teachers, among them: 3 professors, 13 associate professors, 4 graduate students who carry out dissertations for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and 11 assistants.
The staff of the department is constantly improving their level of knowledge through trainings, webinars, courses and internship cycles. Applicants for higher education, circle members are constantly involved in scientific work at the department.
The educational process at the department is provided thanks to highly qualified specialists who develop textbooks, are the authors of monographs, articles, including those published in foreign publications.

The department trains applicants for education in educational and professional programs
1. Doctors of Philosophy: “Medicine”, “Pediatrics”, “Dentistry”.
2. Another master’s level: “Medicine”, “Pediatrics”, “Dentistry”, “Public health”, “Management in the field of health care”, “Higher education pedagogy”, “Laboratory diagnostics”, “Nursing”, “Physical therapy” …
3. The first bachelor’s level: “Nursing”, “Laboratory diagnostics”, “Social work”, “Physical therapy, ergometry”.
And the educational components (disciplines) are studied in accordance with the curriculum for training specialists in 54 interrelated, but independent disciplines, of which:
According to the educational qualification level “Master” (“Medicine”, “Pediatrics”, “Dentistry”, “Nursing”, “Technologies of medical diagnostics and treatment”, “Physical therapy, occupational therapy” (21 disciplines):
– “History of Medicine”
– “Social medicine, public health”
– “Social medicine, public health and scientific research methods in medicine”,
– “Social medicine, public health and evidence-based medicine”
– “Social medicine and medical statistics”
– “Social Medicine”
– “Fundamentals of Public Health”
– “Biostatistics and Clinical Epidemiology”
– “General epidemiology with the basics of evidence-based medicine”
– “Medical statistics”
– “Methodology of Evidence-Based Medicine”
– “Evidence-based medicine with the foundations of modern epidemiology”
– “Evidence-based medicine and nursing standards”
– “Management and Marketing in Dentistry”
– “Personnel management in nursing”
– “Marketing of medical services”
– “Project and Resource Management”
– “Fundamentals of Management”
– “Health Economics”
– “Methodology of scientific work”
– “Methodology of scientific activity”

When preparing masters in the specialty “Public health” – 15 disciplines:
– “Fundamentals of Public Health”
– “Communication in the field of public health”
– “Advocacy and social mobilization for health”
– “Formation of a healthy lifestyle of the population”
– “Socially significant non-communicable diseases”
– “Health Organization of Ukraine”
– “International organizations in ensuring health protection”,
– “Quality management in health care”
– “Quality of life management”
– “Biostatistics”
– “Basics of Evidence-Based Medicine”
– “Health Policy”
– “Management of public health protection”
– “Organization of medical and social scientific research”
– “Economics and Financing of Health Care”

When preparing masters in the specialty “Public Administration and Administration” – from 22 disciplines:
– “Public Administration”
– “Head of Administrative Service”
– “Management of organizations”
– “Research Methodology”
– “Theory of organization”
– “Technique of administrative activity”
– “Management of human resources and human resources”
– “Organization of medical support for the population”
– “Management of innovative projects”
– “Public administration in the field of health care”
– “Public administration in the field of social and humanitarian development”
– “Economics and Financing of Health Care”
– “Communication activities in the public sphere”
– “Work Scope Management”
– “Social Management”
– “Management of public health protection”
– “Management Consulting”
– “Public procurement”
– “Management of state institutions and organizations”
– “Organization of entrepreneurial activity”
– “Socio-psychological aspects of health care management”
– “Management of changes in healthcare”

When preparing masters in the specialty “Educational, pedagogical sciences” (2 disciplines):
– “Fundamentals of management, marketing in education”
– “Research Methodology”

According to the educational qualification level “bachelor” (“Nursing”, “Technologies of medical diagnostics and treatment”, “Social work”) – 13 disciplines:
– “History of Medicine”
– “History of Medicine and Nursing”
– “Public health and community nursing”
– “Social Medicine”
– “Social and demographic statistics”
– “Medical insurance”
– “Methodology of research work”
– “Fundamentals of Scientific Research”
– “Medical and social basics of health”
– “Maintenance of professional documentation”
– “System of organization of social services”
– “Health Economics, Marketing of Medical Services”
– “Management of social work”

As well as 2 disciplines for the preparation of a Ph.D.
– “Biostatistics”
– “Modern scientific research in prevention, social medicine and occupational pathology.”

When preparing applicants for education at the department, modern teaching methods are widely used. According to the sources of transmission and the nature of the perception of information, the department uses verbal, visual and practical teaching methods. And for the main didactic tasks that need to be solved at a specific stage of training, the department uses methods of mastering knowledge, the formation of skills and abilities, the application of the acquired knowledge, skills and abilities. In addition, the department uses the following methods, forms and teaching aids: discussion group, debate, business game, simulation games, case method, modeling of production processes and situations, creative tasks, the “Brainstorming” method, videoconference.
Since February 2013, all practical exercises have been conducted using multimedia interactive projectors (eight sets) and 1 (one) interactive mobile video multimedia training panel.
At the department elective courses (list): “Quality of life management”, “Biostatistics and clinical epidemiology”, “Evidence-based medicine”, “Evidence-based medicine methodology”, “Formation of a healthy lifestyle”, “Socially significant non-communicable diseases”, “General epidemiology with the basics of evidence-based medicine”, “Health insurance”, “Health policy”, “Economic foundations of social work”, “Health economics”, “Marketing of medical services”, “Management and marketing in dentistry”, “Management in laboratory medicine”, “Social and psychological aspects of management in the field of health care”, “Management of social and environmental safety”, “Fundamentals of management”, “Fundamentals of management, marketing in education”, “Fundamentals of management, marketing and administration in physical rehabilitation”, “Management changes in the healthcare sector”.
Postgraduate training of specialists is carried out at the thematic improvement courses, namely: “Public health: modern problems and prospects”, “Evidence-based medicine with the basics of modern epidemiology and biological statistics.”

The main areas of scientific activity of the department are: public health, medical and social aspects of public health, biological statistics, evidence-based medicine, history of medicine, public management of the development of the health sector.
The staff of the department are members of numerous Ukrainian and international scientific organizations and associations, and are also members of the editorial boards of professional publications.
Now (2021–2023) employees of the department carry out applied research: “Medical and social aspects of the quality of life of young people with overweight and obesity.”
The specialists of the department successfully supervise the training of graduate students and doctoral students both in KNMU and outside it. Now the department is carrying out 5 dissertations for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Medical and social substantiation of the model of life quality management in patients with myocardial infarction (Podpryadova A.A.), Medical and social aspects of professional burnout of medical workers (Ivashchenko G.A.) social rationale for optimizing the model of early detection and primary prevention of cerebral strokes among the adult population (Mishchenko M.M.), Medical and social rationale for early detection and prevention of the pathological course of pregnancy in obstetric practice (Orel O.V.), Medical and social rationale for the optimized model organization and implementation of vaccine prevention among the child population (Yaremenko A.V.).
The key to increasing the practical significance of scientific developments is the fruitful cooperation of the department with practical health care institutions and other institutions of different regions of Ukraine, which is confirmed by agreements on scientific and practical cooperation. The department also collaborates with the University of Social Sciences (Lodz, Poland).

Main scientific achievements:
The staff of the department successfully completed applied research work “Scientific substantiation of a medical and social clinical concept for the protection of public health of the population of an industrial metropolis from environmental pathology of chemical genesis” (2017-2019); “The state of autonomous regulation in students in the process of adaptation to social, temporal and natural factors” (2018-2020).
On the basis of the department, scientific and practical conferences are constantly held, namely: Public health, current problems and prospects for the development of the healthcare system (31.10-01.11.2013), Application of accessibility standards and universal design in Ukraine (15.08.2013, 26.11 .2013, 17.12. 2013, 09-10.09.2015), Training on the spread of HIV (08.12.2015), Topical issues of social medicine, organization and economics of health care in Ukraine (16.03.2016) Historical and medico-social aspects of health care in Ukraine (23.11.2016), Historical legacy and modern aspects of ensuring public health in Ukraine (10/25/2017), Approaches to the provision of smoking cessation services at the public health level (04/15/2019), The wealth of modern epidemiology and biostatistics as a key to improving public health in Ukraine (04/18/2019), Public health in Ukraine: problems and ways to solve them (24.10.2018; 24.10.2019; 05.11.2020).

Achievements of the department for 2015-2020 are:
-5 employees of the department successfully defended dissertations for the degree of Doctor of Science (Kovtun M.I.), Candidate of Medical Sciences (Zinchuk A.M., Gaponova E.O., Pomogaybo K.G.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Tregub P. A.)
-5 medical technologies included in the List of Medical Technologies;
-3 patents for a useful model;
-11 copyright certificates for the work;
-acts on the implementation of the results of scientific developments of the staff of the department;
-4 newsletters;
-2 guidelines for the implementation of research results;
-6 monographs;
-233 articles, incl. Forty-fourth editions included in the scientific metric bases Scopus and / or Web of Science;
-more than 900 abstracts of reports at scientific and practical conferences, incl. more than 100 – foreign;
-more than 530 certificates of participation in scientific and practical events in Ukraine and abroad;
-7 students of the circle became prize-winners of the II stage of the All-Ukrainian Olympiads in the academic disciplines “Social medicine and health care organization”, “Preventive medicine”, “History of medicine”.

The teachers of the department are involved in international projects:
– ISAAC (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood)
– And International Scientific and Theoretical Conference “Sectoral research XXI: characteristics and features”;
– a project of the American Councils for International Education, implemented with the assistance of the US Embassy in Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, Academic IQ
– USAID Health Reform Support Project and others.
The University has agreements on international cooperation in the field of public health with:
– European socio-technical university in Radom;
– Medical university of Bialystok.
The teachers of the department undergo international internships:
– International postgraduate practical internship “New and innovative teaching methods”, University of Economics in Krakow;
– Educational online webinar “COVID-19: diagnosis and complications” and others.
The possibilities of academic mobility are spelled out in the regulations of the University and implemented at the department.

Topical improvement cycles (TI)
At the Department of Public Health and Healthcare Management, two cycles of thematic improvement are held annually to deepen knowledge for doctors of practical health care, scientists and managers in the field of health care:
a) “Evidence-based medicine with the basics of modern epidemiology and biological statistics” lasting 0.5 months (78 academic hours – 50 points of BPD)
b) “Public health: modern problems and prospects” lasting 0.5 months (78 academic hours – 50 points of BPD).
Upon completion of training in the cycles of thematic improvement, a differential assessment is held. Students receive a certificate of the established form.