The Department of Internal and Occupational Diseases was established in 1977 on the basis of the Clinical Department of the Kharkiv Research Institute of Occupational Health and Occupational Diseases.

From 1977 to 2009 prof. I.F. Kostyuk headed the department. Since 2009 the head of the department is Honored Educator of Ukraine, Doctor of Medical Science, and Professor Kapustnyk Valeriy Andriyovych – a graduate of the Kharkiv Medical Institute, who successfully passed the way from the assistant, candidate of medical Science to Professor, Doctor of Medical Science, First Vice-Rector and Rector of Kharkiv National Medical University. Doctor of medical science Boris Oleksiyovych Shelest is currently the acting head of the department.

At the time of its foundation, the department had 5 teachers, and today – 24.

The course of internal medicine has been taught to students of the medical faculty since 1977, the dental faculty since 1981, the sanitary-hygienic (medical-preventive) faculty since 1984. Occupational diseases are studied by medical students in the specialties “Medicine”, “Pediatrics”, “Medical-preventive”.

In 1991, the department was granted the status of a flagship for teaching occupational diseases in medical universities of Ukraine. Employees of the department (under the authority of Prof. V.A. Kapustnyk) are the authors of curricula and programs of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine on occupational diseases for students, interns and masters (1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2007, 2012). These works reflect the modern idea of occupational pathology as a science and clinical discipline, its role and place in preventive medicine.

From the first years of the department’s existence the main efforts of the team were aimed at optimizing the educational and methodical work. Methodical materials, textbooks, manuals, workshops on internal medicine and occupational diseases have been created. Basic textbooks with the stamp of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Science have been published: “Occupational diseases” (1998, 2003, 2011, 2015, 2017); “Occupational diseases” (2012) for foreign students teaching in Russian; “Occupational diseases” (2005, 2016) for foreign students with English language teaching; “Internal diseases” for students of the Dental Faculty (2002, 2015), textbooks, guidelines, etc.

Modern information technologies are actively introduced into all types of work of the department: electronic documentation and accounting, statistical analysis, technical teaching aids, website, etc.

Research work of the department since its inception and to this day is devoted to cardiology and pulmonology, including industrial.