About us

The department of Faculty Therapy of Kharkiv National Medical University was founded in 1877. Professor Lashkevych Valerian Grigorovych became its head. His scientific activity included two major directions: the damage of the internal organs in patients with syphilis and various disorders of the nervous system. He wrote 26 scientific works.

From 1888 to 1903 the department was headed by Professor Obolensky Ivan Mykolayovych. The diseases of digestive tract, metabolic and infectious diseases were investigated under his leadership.

Professor Openhovsky Fedir Mechislavovych was head of the department of Faculty Therapy during 1903–1914. He delivered a lectures and made a practical courses of percussion and auscultation. From 1914 to 1918 the department was being headed by Zhebrovsky E.A. and Kakovsky A.F.

Professor Shatilov Petro Ivanovych was head of the department from 1918 to 1921. During this period the main current topics of scientific research was: tuberculosis, pneumonia, anatomical and functional features of the cardiovascular system, the study of cardiac and vascular noises, the physical registration of the pulse wave and its changes in various diseases of the heart and vessels.

From 1924 to 1940 the department was being headed by I.I. Feinschmidt. In 1925 at the department of Faculty Therapy a student scientific group was founded.

Professor Chernikov Evgen Abramovich was the head of the department in 1941–1946. Issues of heart disease, rheumatism, metabolic disorders and physiotherapy treatments (balneotherapy) was in the field of his scientific interests.
From 1946 to 1966 the department was being headed by Professor Steinberg Solomon Yakovych. His scientific group investigated the clinical significance of asymmetry of blood pressure, theory and early diagnostic of atherosclerosis, hypertension and coronary insufficiency

From 1966 to 1982 the department was being headed by Professor Pocheptsov Valentyn Georgijovych, Honored Worker of the Higher School of Ukraine. During that time, new effective treatment methods in cardiology, gastroenterology and allergology were developed. Professor Pocheptsov V.G. was a supervisor of 2 doctoral theses and 26 candidate dissertations.

From 1982 to 2009 Honored Scientist of Ukraine, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Khvorostinka Volodymyr Mykolayovych was the head of the department. The main lines of scientific problems were: the study of chronic liver diseases, chronic cholecystitis, chronic bowel diseases, improvement of their early diagnosis and pathogenetic treatment. The etiological and pathogenetic factors and features of chronic diseases of the digestive tract in relation to the immune parameters and the system of adaptive hormones were studied.

Professor Zhuravlyova Larysa Volodymyrivna is head of the department from 2009 year.

Since 2018 department was renamed to department of Internal Medicine № 3 and Endocrinology.

Educational and pedagogical work is performed at 4 departments of Kharkiv Regional Hospital for students of the 4th year of medical school, medical interns, and bachelor students. Also, refreshment courses for doctors are taught.

Education is based on a European credit transfer system for organizing the educational process. The department stuff created 120 guidelines, 300 case-based questions for computer training in internal medicine. In addition, a number of training programs were revised and expanded.

Since 2009 the Department of Internal Medicine has been training bachelor students of the 3rd year in “Laboratory diagnosis”. Since 2008 the department has provided skill improvement for internists, general practitioners and rheumatologists in the topic “Current issues of rheumatology.” In 2013 the pre-qualifying cycle in “Rheumatology” was placed at the department, aiming to provide the certification of rheumatologists.

The major area of department’s scientific activity over the recent 10 years included studying of pathogenetic mechanisms of diseases of internal organs aiming to optimize the treatment of patients. The main current topics of scientific research are the following: “Pathogenetic mechanisms of inflammatory bowel disease”, “Hepatorenal dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus”, “Clinical and pathogenetic substantiation of treatment methods of chronic cholecystitis”, “The role of hepatorenal dysfunction in formation of atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and methods of its correction”, “The peculiarities of hemodynamics and remodulation of myocardium in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and methods of correction”, “Pathogenetic aspects of atherogenesis in patients with diabetes mellitus and methods of correction”.

Over the recent years the department of internal medicine has had the following scientific achievements: the successful defenses of 2 doctoral and 30 candidate theses, 47 patents of Ukraine for invention and utility model were obtained, 450 acts of implementation of scientific innovation into medical practice were received. There is a constant process of preparation of philosophy doctors and doctors of medical science going on at the department of internal medicine.

Clinical work is performed at Kharkiv Regional Hospital, when department staff provides high quality medical care to patients. Besides, each teacher is the curator of certain rural area. All lecturers have several duties on remote emergency care per month. Department has prepared and conducted meetings of visiting medical councils in different locations of Kharkiv region. Associate professors regularly deliver reports at “The Specialist Days”.

Department staff provides effective work of Regional Hospital medical staff and enhances their professional skills through united clinical and scientific conferences, seminars and consultations. Department staff supplies the information on modern advances in medical science and public health practice; provides organizational and methodological assistance in planning and implementing the new methods of diseases diagnosis and treatment into practice; analyses their effectiveness. Guidelines and standards of treatment (clinical protocols) are created according to the research data in order to improve provision of medical care to the population.

Members of the department take an active part in international cooperation with Tashkent Institute for Advanced Training of Physicians (Uzbekistan) and Bukhara Medical Institute (Uzbekistan). Over the past 3 years, 33 scientific papers have been published in international collections, including seven articles in SCOPUS and Web of Scince.

Teaching staff of the department are members of the following international organizations and academies: European pancreatic club, International association of pancreatology, Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI), The European Federation of Internal Medicine (EFIM), European association for the study of the liver, European Society of Cardiology (ESC), Academy of Comprehensive Integrative Medicine, European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

During the last three years, the staff of the department has participated in 42 foreign forums, as well as received 13 international awards. 5 representatives of the department underwent internships abroad. In addition, the teaching staff of the department takes an active part in international scientific and educational programs, joint research.

Since 2008, the advanced training courses in the specialty “Rheumatology” for family doctors, therapists, rheumatologists, cardiologists, traumatologists has been conducting at the department. The following areas of study are “Management of patients with rheumatology”, “Current issues of rheumatology in the practice of an internist”. Since 2020, the department has introduced distance course of thematic improvement “Selective issues of clinical rheumatology (arthrology)” on the Moodle platform of KhNMU.