The studing of nervous and mental diseases at the Medical Faculty of Kharkov University began in 1805 at the Department of Private Pathology and Therapy and continued until 1884.

One of the first outstanding scientists in the field of nervous and mental diseases was Professor P.A. Butkovsky.

The Department of Nervous and Mental Diseases at the Medical Faculty of Kharkov University was founded in 1884. This department is one of the oldest in the world (after Moscow and Paris). Its first head was Professor P.I. Kovalevsky. The department was also headed by I.Ya. Platonov, A.M. Grinstein, D.M. Zalkan, E.K. Evzerova.

From 1944 to 1971, the head of the department was the outstanding neurologist Gerogiy Danilovich Leshchenko, who was one of the first to describe the clinic of lesions of the limbic-reticular complex. The team under his leadership studied infectious diseases of the nervous system, nonspecific brain systems, vascular diseases of the nervous system, somatoneurology.

From 1971 to 2002, the Department of Nervous Diseases of the Medical University was headed by the Honored Scientist of Ukraine, laureate of the State Prize, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Yevgeniy Grigorievich Dubenko. Under his leadership, the staff of the department became a pioneer in the study of early vascular pathology of the brain.

G. Dubenko is the author and co-author of more than 300 scientific works, including 5 monographs, a textbook and teaching aids for doctors and students, under his leadership 6 doctoral and 40 master’s theses were prepared.

Since 1991, according to the order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Department of Nervous Diseases of the Kharkov State Medical University has become the main one, that is, the main one among all the neurological departments of medical universities in Ukraine.

Individuals worked at the department, increased the authority of the Ukrainian neurological school, received wide recognition both in Ukraine and in many countries of the world. This is Professor P.V. Voloshin, V.A. Yavorskaya, N.P. Voloshin, O. Morozova.

From 2002 to 2021, the department was headed by Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine, Honored Professor of KhNMU, Academician of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Irina Anatolyevna Grigorova. I.A. Grigorova has developed fundamentally new pathogenetically grounded approaches to diagnostics, prevention and treatment of patients with ischemic stroke. Her scientific achievements concern the study of various aspects of neurology – stroke, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, as well as chronic cerebrovascular disorders, toxic-dysmetabolic encephalopathy, neuroendocrinology, multiple sclerosis.

Since 2021, the department is headed by Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Tovazhnyanskaya Olena Leonidovna.

At the present stage, the teaching staff of the department conducts a large amount of medical and advisory work, introduces new methods of diagnosis and treatment developed at the department into healthcare practice.

The teachers of the department provide consultation of patients from all regions of the Kharkiv region and various regions of Ukraine, as well as provide advice to patients through the provision of emergency care. The staff of the department, together with the doctors of the clinics, conduct clinical analyzes of patients and abstract seminars in the neurological department, regularly consult patients at the outpatient clinic of the Regional Clinical Hospital and on the basis of the neurological department of the Scientific and Practical Medical Center of KhNMU.

Thus, the creative team of the department is the basis of a large medical and diagnostic center in the Kharkiv region, it is distinguished by modern diagnostic equipment and the use of the latest research in neurological science in medical work. The glorious traditions of the oldest neurological school continue today.

The staff of the department has many plans for the further development of Ukrainian neurological science.