The history of Kharkiv pediatrics is inseparable from the history of the development of higher medical education, which is associated with the opening of the Imperial University in Kharkov in 1804.

The teaching of pediatrics was started by Professor Ivan Petrovich Kamensky, who was the first reader a theoretical course of children’s diseases at the Department of Midwifery. In 1862, the revival of pediatric thinking began again and Professor I.P. Lazarevich was appointed at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Kharkiv University. He had a great influence on the development of both general and scientific pediatrics at the Kharkiv Higher Medical School.

Further implementation of the ideas of Professor I.P. Lazarevich was facilitated by the activities of his student Mikhail Deevich Ponomarev. After graduating from the Medical Faculty of Kharkiv University in 1868, he was invited by I.P. Lazarevich to the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Pediatrics. In 1875, according to the decision of the University Council, Professor I.P. Lazarevich transfers the teaching of children’s diseases to associate professor M.D. Ponomarev. Thus, 1875 was the moment when the teaching of pediatrics at Kharkiv University passed into the hands of a person with special pediatric training.

The department was opened by the University Council on January 10, 1892. The base of the department was an outpatient clinic, where a theoretical course of lectures was given. M.D. Ponamaryov published a monograph “Diseases of newborns”. Further development of pediatrics in Kharkiv included the organization of the process of teaching students the diagnosis and treatment of diseases in children and the creation of material and technical base for teaching.

In 1902, Ivan Vissarionovich Troitsky, a graduate of the University of Kiev, was elected head of the Department of Pediatrics, who headed the department for the next 17 years. His activities have contributed to improving the quality of teaching pediatrics, the development of scientific research, as well as drawing public attention to the needs of children.

After the departure of Prof. Troitsky from Kharkiv in 1919 the department was headed by Professor Yacob Sergeevich Arkavin. Prof. Ya.S. Arkavin significantly improved the educational and methodological work. The main requirement in the educational work was to teach students the methods of examining the child by working independently at the patient’s bedside.

In 1929, after the death of Professor Ya.S. Arkavin, Professor Mykola Mykhailovych Frishman was elected head of the department. M.M. Frishman expanded the base of the children’s clinic by completing the 3rd floor, verandas, opened a biochemical laboratory; expanded research on rheumatism, tuberculosis in children.

In 1938, the only Department of Pediatrics was divided into the Department of Pediatrics of the Faculty of Pediatrics (Head of Prof. M.M. Frischman) and the Department of Pediatrics of Medical and Sanitary and Hygienic Faculties (Head of Prof. V.O. Belousov).

During the Great Patriotic War, in 1941, the department was evacuated to Chkalov (Orenburg) on the basis of the Children’s Hospital named by Kobzev № 16. At this time the department was reunited and headed by Professor M.M. Frishman. On April 14, 1944, Professor M.M. Frishman died after a serious illness at the age of 55 in Chkalov.

In 1944, after the re-evacuation in Kharkiv, the Department of Pediatrics of the Faculty of Pediatrics was headed by Professor V.O. Belousov. In the same year, the work of the Department of Pediatrics of the Medical Faculty was resumed, headed by Professor G.I. Tetz.

Thus, since 1944, the teaching of pediatrics at the Kharkiv Medical Institute was conducted at two departments of pediatric and medical faculties. The course of children’s diseases at the Sanitary and Hygienic Faculty, which was held at the Department of Pediatrics of the Pediatric Faculty, was also resumed.

In the postwar years there was a transition to a three-tier system of training of pediatricians: propaedeutics, faculty and hospital pediatrics, as well as 6-year training at the Medical Institute. In 1946, the Department of Hospital Pediatrics was separated from the Department of Pediatrics of the Faculty of Pediatrics, which is located on the basis of the Research Institute of Maternal and Child Health, and since 1956 – on the basis of the 24th Children’s City Hospital. Its staff included the head of the department, Professor S.Ya. Schafferstein and two employees of the OHMATDIT clinic with hourly pay. In 1951, the Department of Hospital Pediatrics was organized as an independent, and in 1953 was transferred under the leadership of Professor V.O. Belousov. In 1952, the Department of Propaedeutics of Pediatrics was organized at the Department of Hospital Pediatrics of the Faculty of Pediatrics, based on the 24th City Children’s Hospital, and since 1953 – the 7th Children’s City Hospital. At that time, the department was headed by Honored Scientist Professor Samuel Yakovlevich Schaferstein.

Since September 1958, after the release of S.Ya. Schaferstein retired, the head of the department became Dr. Med. Ph.D., Professor Ganna Fyodorovna Dobrogaeva. At the same time, this department taught children’s diseases to students of the Faculty of Sanitation and Hygiene, which in 1960 was transferred to the Department of Pediatrics of the Faculty of Medicine. At that time, the Faculty of Pediatrics was transferred to the Department of Propaedeutics, the training base of which was the City Children’s Hospital № 35 (5 Muranova Street) opened in Kharkiv. In 1960, teaching pediatrics at KhMI took place at the Faculty of Pediatrics, the Department of Propaedeutics and Faculty of Pediatrics (Head of the Department Professor G.F. Dobrogaeva), Hospital Pediatrics (Head of the Department Professor V.O. Belousov), Children’s Diseases and Therapies (Head of the Department, Professor G.I. Tetz).

A significant contribution to the improvement of educational and methodical work, development of science, training, organization and enrichment of medical-diagnostic and advisory work together with the bodies of practical health care was made during the leadership of the Department of Hospital Pediatrics Prof. V.S. Prikhodko. In the 70-80’s the staff of the department was engaged in the development of topical issues of pediatric cardiology, focusing on primary hypertension

In 2002, Professor V.S. Prikhodko became a professor at the Department of Hospital Pediatrics, transferring the head of the department to his student and follower of Professor G.S. Senatorova.

In 2009, the Faculty of Postgraduate Education was opened at KhNMU. The Department of Pediatrics № 1 of KhNMU introduces a primary specialization in neonatology, in connection with which the department was renamed the Department of Pediatrics № 1 and Neonatology. Cycles of thematic improvement for pediatricians on topical issues of pediatric cardiorheumatology and pediatric endocrinology have also been introduced, interns continue to study in the specialties “Pediatrics”, “Neonatology”.

The department fruitfully cooperates with such major research centers as “Institute of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology” (Kyiv), “Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery” (Kyiv), NC “Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery. A.M. Bakuleva “(Moscow), Center for Cardiac Arrhythmias (St. Petersburg), Arrhythmia Center (Kaunas, Lithuania), Research Institute of Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery.

Since 2015, the department is headed by Dr. Med. science., prof. M.O. Gonchar – a student of prof. V.S. Prikhodko, prof. G.S. Senatorova, a follower of the traditions of the Kharkiv Pediatric School.