About us

The Department of Ophthalmology was founded in 1870 at the Medical Faculty of Kharkiv University. The founder of the department was a prominent ophthalmologist and an excellent teacher – Leonard Leopoldovich Hirshman, who led it until his resignation (in protest against student repression) in the revolutionary 1905 Hirshman L.L. organized in 1872 the first independent eye clinic in Kharkiv and Ukraine.
In the following years, the Department of Ophthalmology of Kharkiv University was headed by students of Professor L.L. Hirschman. Professor Barabashov Pavlo Mykolayovych headed the department from 1905 to 1924.
From 1924 to 1926 there were two departments of ophthalmology (faculty and hospital), headed by Professor Braunstein Evsiy Petrovich.
During this period, scientific work was conducted by senior assistants – Zamkovsky Y.G., Kisilova E.F., Vinogradov D.R., and later professors Dashevsky A.I., Medvedev N.I.
After the death of Braunstein E.P., in 1926 the head of the department of the faculty clinic was entrusted to associate professor Petr Petrovich Prokopenko, who headed it until 1929. And the management of the department of the hospital clinic was transferred to senior assistant Zamkovsky Ya. G.
In 1928, both departments were merged into one, and Professor Alexander Yakovlevich Samoilov was elected head of the department, who headed it from 1929 to 1939. The main areas in which the department worked – tuberculosis of the eye, its diagnosis, etiology and therapy. Tuberculosis-allergic eye diseases and their connection with the general condition of the body have been widely studied.
From 1939 to 1967 the department was headed by Professor Mykola Yevsiyovych Braunstein. In 1940, an office for the treatment of strabismus was organized on the basis of the clinic. From 1941 to 1945 the staff of the department studied the pathology of the wound process in the eyes after gunshot wounds. In the postwar period, the clinic had 75 full-time beds.
From 1968 to 1988 the department was headed by Professor Mykhailo Oleksandrovych Penkov.
From 1988 to 1997, the Department of Ophthalmology of the Kharkiv Medical Institute was headed by Professor Stanislav Fedorovich Zubarev.
From 1999 to present Head of the Department of Ophthalmology of KhNMU is a Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the Engineering Academy of Ukraine Bezditko Pavlo Andriyovych.

The department trains students in educational and professional programs:

Program of the educational component “OPHTHALMOLOGY”, field of knowledge 22 “Health”, specialty  222 “Medicine”, the second (master’s) level, EPP “Medicine”, course IV;

Program of the educational component “OPHTHALMOLOGY”, field of knowledge 22 “Health”, specialty 221 “Dentistry”, second (master’s) level, EPP “Dentistry”.

Program of the educational component “Fundamentals of NEUROPHTHALMOLOGY”, field of knowledge 22 “Health care”, specialty 222 “Medicine”, second (master’s) level, EPP “Medicine”.

Program of the educational component “NURSING IN OPHTHALMOLOGY”, field of knowledge 22 “Health care”, specialty 223 “Nursing”, first (bachelor’s) level, EPP “Nursing”.

Program of the educational component “NURSING IN OPHTHALMOLOGY”, field of knowledge 22 “Health care”, specialty 223 “Nursing”, second (master’s) level, EPP “Nursing”.

Program of the educational component  “Fundamentals of Optometry” OK program, field of knowledge 22 “Health care”, specialty  223 “Nursing”, first (bachelor’s) level, EPP “Nursing”.

Program EC “PECULIARITIES OF OPHTHALMOLOGY PATHOLOGY IN CHILDREN”, field of knowledge 22 “Health care”, specialty 228 “Pediatrics”, second (master’s) level, EPP “Pediatrics”.

Program EC “Fundamentals of NEUROPHTHALMOLOGY”, field of knowledge 22 “Health care”, specialty  228 “Pediatrics”, second (master’s) level, EPP “Pediatrics”.

“ORTHOPEDIC DENTISTRY” Program EC, field of knowledge 22 “Health care”, specialty 221 “Dentistry”, second (master’s) level, EPP “Dentistry”.

The department has developed selective disciplines, for the EPP “Medicine” (master’s level):

“First and urgent ophthalmological aid, in the conditions of hostilities”;
“Fundamentals of optometry”;
“Fundamentals of neuroophthalmology”;
“Peculiarities of ophthalmological diagnosis, in the practice of a family doctor.”

At the Department of Ophthalmology, selective disciplines for the EPP “Pediatrics” were developed:

“Fundamentals of optometry”;
“Fundamentals of neuroophthalmology”;
“First and urgent ophthalmological aid, in the conditions of hostilities”;
“Features of ophthalmic pathology in childhood”

For education seekers, selective disciplines have been created for the “Nursing” EPP:

“Nursing”;
“Fundamentals of optometry”.

Over the past 5 years, the Department of Ophthalmology has issued and updated 45 Ukrainian-language and 37 English-language methodological recommendations and instructions for students and teachers.

Published educational literature with the seal of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine:

Ophthalmological care in Ukraine for 2014-2017 / Analytical and statistical manual. – Publisher: “POLIUM”, 2018. – 314 p.

Family medicine. Babinets S.L., Bezditko P.A., Bondar L.A. etc. 2018

Ophthalmological care in Ukraine during the years of independence (analytical and statistical manual): Analytic-stat. reference book – Kropyvnytskyi: “Polium”, 2019. – 328 p.

Ophthalmology: textbook. under the editorship of Vitovska O.P. 2018 year.

Family medicine. Book 3. Special part. Multidisciplinary general hospital practice. National textbook in three books. Book 3, Kyiv, “Medicine 2019”.

Family medicine (3rd book, special part. Multidisciplinary general medical practice, Medicine, 2020.

Dry eye syndrome. “Medicine” 2022.

In the training of students at the department are widely used modern teaching methods:

1. Teaching lecture material.
2. Teaching and discussion of theoretical material in practical classes in person and remotely, according to the thematic plan.
3. Acquaintance with research methods in ophthalmology, including training of research methods on each other.
4. Oral control of theoretical knowledge in person and remotely.
5. Written control of theoretical knowledge and practical skills.
6. Solving situational problems in person and remotely.
7. Acquaintance and work on filling in medical documentation (medical history, letter of medical appointments, ambulatory card, consultative conclusion.
8. Working with tables.
9. Working with schemes.
10. Working with “Power point” presentations.
11. Clinical analysis of patients with ophthalmic pathology in person and remotely.

In 2021, the educational process at the department introduced technologies for modeling clinical situations, which allows students to master practical skills: to determine visual acuity by subjective method, color perception using polychromatic tables Rabkin, field of view control method and arc perimeter, dark adaptation approximate method; to conduct research and evaluate the results (examination and inversion of the eyelids, examination of the cornea by lateral lighting, examine the sensitivity of the cornea, palpation to determine the sensitivity of the ciliary body, palpation to determine intraocular pressure, examination of the lens in transmitted light, determination of Hirschberg’s strabismus) iridocyclitis, acute conjunctivitis, foreign body of the conjunctiva, cornea, acute glaucoma attack, penetrating eye injury, chemical and thermal burns of the eye.

Practical training of students takes place at the following clinical bases: MNE “City Clinical Hospital No. 14 named after Prof. L.L. Hirshman” in Kharkiv, Center for Ophthalmological Diagnostics “Zir” in Kharkiv, LLC “Noviy Zir” in Kharkiv, International Medical Center “Ophthalmological” in Kharkiv.

Elective courses “FEATURES OF OPHTHALMOLOGICAL PATHOLOGY IN CHILDHOOD” are taught at the department. Over the past 5 years, the Department of Ophthalmology has published more than 10 guidelines for students and interns, staff members have co-authored textbooks, manuals and reference books on ophthalmology.

The Department of Ophthalmology has created a course “Features of ophthalmic pathology in childhood”, which lays the theoretical foundations of ophthalmology as a science (terminology, research methods, general clinical symptoms of major eye diseases, principles of diagnosis and treatment, disease prevention) and is designed for 4th year students . Within this course much attention is paid to the features of eye diseases in children, their pathogenesis, tactics of diagnosis and treatment. the most common and socially significant diseases of childhood (retinopathy of prematurity, complicated myopia, congenital cataracts, retinoblastoma, etc.), features of diagnosis and treatment of childhood pathology, taking into account international experience and modern medical advances.

The scientific interests of the department are quite diverse, and include the development of methods for diagnostics, treatment and prevention of diseases of the structures of the anterior and posterior segments of the eyeball, as well as diseases of the ocular adnexa.

The topic of research work of the department at present is “Pathological changes of the anterior and posterior segments of the eye in patients with diabetes”. In previous years, the research work of the Department of Ophthalmology concerned the features of the clinic and treatment of dry eye syndrome in patients with diabetic polyneuropathy.

For the past 5 years, the department’s employees have published 80 articles, 22 of them in specialized journals indexed by Scopus; 25 acts of implementation; received 20 grants from international societies.

The treatment work of the department is carried out at the clinical bases of the MNE “City Clinical Hospital No. 14 named after Prof. L.L. Hirshman” in Kharkiv, Center for Ophthalmological Diagnostics “Zir” in Kharkiv, LLC “Noviy Zir” in Kharkiv. , International Medical Center “Ophthalmology”, Kharkiv.

Employees of the Department of Ophthalmology are valid members of such associations as:

European Glaucoma Society (European Glaucoma Society);

European Society of Retinologists (EURORETINA);

European Society of Young Retinologists (Young Retina Specialists);

European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons);

American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons);

The International Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology IJCAHPO;

European Dry Eye Society (EuDES – European Dry Eye Society)

The teaching staff of the department constantly participates in domestic and foreign scientific symposia and congresses.

Includes the training of interns in the specialty “ophthalmology”, as well as the teaching of the discipline “ophthalmology” in the adjacent cycle to family medicine interns.

With the aim of continuous professional development of ophthalmologists and family medicine doctors, the teachers of the department (face-to-face and remotely) hold lectures, seminars, practical classes on the cycles of thematic improvement of NNIPO KhNMU developed independently by the department.

At the Department of Ophthalmology, thematic training courses for doctors are held: “Pharmacosurgery of AMD”, “Uveitis”, “OCT in the diagnosis of eye diseases”, “Contact vision correction”, “Orthoptopleoptics”.

Over the past 5 years, 212 ophthalmologists have improved their qualifications at thematic improvement courses.