Academician Evgeny Chazov is one of the most prominent cardiologists of our time. He made a significant contribution to the study of heart disease, made several discoveries, and demonstrated remarkable administrative talent as Minister of Health. He released several fundamental medical works and wrote books of memoirs about his work in the fourth Kremlin administration, where he treated the entire political and secular establishment.
Parents and childhood
Academician Chazov Evgeny Ivanovich was born on June 10, 1928 in the city of Gorky (now - Nizhny Novgorod). On the paternal and maternal lines, the Chazov clan belongs to peasants and workers. Mother was born in a large family, where she was the twelfth child. During the Civil War, all her brothers went to partisan red units, and she, a Komsomol member, was arrested by Kolchakites. The offensive of the Red Army for the prisoners meant only execution, but she managed to hide in the forests where local foresters went out.
After recovering, she joined the partisan detachment, where she met her husband. In 1928, a son Eugene was born in the family. After the establishment of Soviet power, she graduated from medical school at almost 30 years old. During the Great Patriotic War, she became a military doctor. During this period, son Eugene was sent to evacuate to the Urals, where he lived with relatives. In 1944, the whole family moved to Kiev. Mother gets the job of an assistant at the Kiev Medical Institute.
Youth and the beginning of activity
Academician Evgeny Chazov in Kiev graduated from a medical institute with honors and was recommended for graduate school, but his non-Ukrainian surname prevented further education. For further activity, Moscow was chosen, where he managed to enter the residency of the Department of Hospital Therapy of the 1st Medical Institute, which was headed by Academician A. L. Myasnikov.
Three years later, the future academician Chazov defended his thesis. The work was appreciated and the young specialist received an offer to work in the Kremlin hospital. In the same period, his teacher A.L. Myasnikov was engaged in the reorganization of the Institute of Therapy, where in 1958 he invited his talented student as a senior researcher, and later as a deputy. A year later, Yevgeny Ivanovich, within the walls of the institute, organized an intensive care unit for monitoring and treating patients with heart attacks, and he also founded the pre-hospital medical care service, and the formation of a rehabilitation system began.
During this period, academician Chazov conducts active research, some of his materials are widely known in world medicine. So, his work on thrombolytic therapy, during which new drugs appeared, was highly appreciated. Since 1960, he introduced them into the treatment and prevention of myocardial infarction. In 1963, Evgeny Chazov defended his doctoral dissertation, three years later he received the title of professor.
In the service of the Academy of Sciences
After the death of academician Myasnikov, Chazov was appointed acting director of the Institute of Therapy, he was only 36 years old. The Academy of Medical Sciences believed that it was impermissible to appoint such a young man to the top managerial position of an academic institute. Nevertheless, the appointment happened, and in 1967 the medical institution was reorganized into the Institute of Cardiology named after Myasnikov.
In 1967, academician Chazov initiated the creation of the All-Union Cardiology Center, which operates today. At the medical center, advanced treatment methods are concentrated, the latest technical developments in the field of cardiac surgery are applied. The center began to function in 1982 and Evgeny Ivanovich is its permanent director.
In 1968, Academician Evgeny Chazov was appointed Deputy Minister of Health of the Soviet Union, while he did not leave the post of head of the department at the Institute of Cardiology.
Fourth branch
From 1967 and for 20 years, Academician Chazov worked as the head of the IV Main Directorate under the Ministry of Health of the USSR, popularly nicknamed the "Kremlin Hospital". According to Yevgeny Ivanovich, he received this appointment from L. I. Brezhnev. Perhaps this was one of the turning points in the life of a cardiologist, and there were some oddities. Registration for a new position took place in a hurry, almost in one day. They did not have time to write out a pass to the sensitive facility, which was the Kremlin. Arriving on the first day at work, Evgeni Pavlovich was faced with the fact that he was not allowed to pass for a long time, until they received permission from the head of security.
At the request of Academician Chazov, the hospital began to treat not only the political elite, but also eminent citizens of the country - writers, musicians, heroes of labor and other citizens. He wanted to create a department, whose work will be based on the health care system, and the experience gained will be distributed throughout the country.
The activities of the 4th Directorate encompassed the care not only of the highest leaders of the USSR authorities, but also the leadership of friendly countries - Algeria, Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Cuba, East Germany and others.
Successes and Achievements of the Kremlin Period
One of the creators of the cardiovascular disease prevention system was Academician Chazov. His biography is filled with many achievements, starting from the first years of work as a cardiologist. During his work in the 4th department, he managed to create a research laboratory, which served as an educational and scientific center. On the basis of this institution, scientific and research work was carried out, effective methods were introduced into the daily activities of clinical and diagnostic departments, and postgraduate training programs were implemented.
Under the leadership and with the suggestion of Yevgeny Ivanovich, over the years of his work as head of the department, a network of clinic-polyclinic complexes has developed in the country, where the principle of preventive measures was taken as the basis for protecting health. The medical and preventive facilities of the country were replenished with new institutions in different parts of the country. Rest houses “Sea surf” and “Ai-Danil” were built in Crimea, a whole network of institutions “Moscow”, “Zagorskie Dali”, “Moscow Region” and many others appeared in the Moscow Region.
In his interviews, Academician Chazov claims that the main thing in treatment is the prevention of any diseases. He implements this postulate at the all-Union level, for the first time creating the Rehabilitation Center at the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow. Methods that have been successfully tested within the walls of the Kremlin, were introduced in outpatient facilities and became part of the daily practice in outpatient clinics and hospitals.
Minister of Health
In 1987, Academician E.I. Chazov was appointed Minister of Health of the USSR and held this position until 1990. He invited people to work who know the practical side of the medical structure and understand what problems in the healthcare sector require an immediate solution. So began the system update and implementation of innovations.
As Minister, Academician Chazov has managed to do quite a lot on the path of updating the health protection system. He began the introduction of insurance medicine, innovative forms of economic activity and management of the healthcare system, launched the decentralization process, having removed some of the functions from the ministry in favor of the regional authorities.
Guided by new trends and global experience, priorities for the activities of medical institutions were identified. The main efforts were directed at the prevention and treatment of AIDS, child mortality, tuberculosis, oncological and cardiovascular diseases. In solving these problems, the main role was given to prevention, public education, strengthening the material-technical and methodological base of medical institutions.
In setting tasks, solving problems and introducing renovations, Evgeny Ivanovich acted as a specialist who knows the system, and above all, as a doctor. Academician Chazov, whose biography knows several rapid jerks, recalling his work as minister, says that much has been done for the first time in the history of domestic medicine.
For example, a network of diagnostic centers was organized and launched, and this system is successfully operating today. A system for assisting cardiological patients was also created, a base for combating child mortality appeared, and more than 400 laboratories for the diagnosis of AIDS were organized. Academician Chazov is a doctor who stopped using psychiatric institutions for political purposes; he made a proposal on organizing hospices and much more.
Social work
Academician Chazov is a doctor with broad interests and great energy. Since 1990, he again took the post of director of the All-Union Cardiocenter. In addition, Evgeny Ivanovich was one of the co-chairs of the Doctors for the Prevention of Nuclear War social movement.
The first congress was held in 1981, and doctors from 11 countries took part in it. The main task of the organizers was to convey to the public the terrible consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. For the first time, extensive materials, medical research were brought together and the first conclusions were drawn. Congress materials were used by organizations around the world.
Academician Chazov specializes in cardiology, and this area of medicine has always remained a priority for him. In 1982, he organized and was president of the 9th World Congress of Cardiology. In 1985, he initiated the first International Conference of Preventive Cardiology, which has become traditional and is held once every four years. Over the past thirty years, he has been coordinating the cooperation of Russian and American cardiologists. Over 88 years of his life, the doctor and academician Chazov did a lot of useful things.
The biography of Yevgeny Ivanovich is the path of a talented person who has found his vocation and has invested enormous work in the development of domestic and world medicine.
Science and Journalism
The author of scientific fundamental works, textbooks and journalistic literature is academician Chazov. The years of life that began in the pre-war period continue to this day. He is still actively interested in world events, medical achievements. But in 2016 he was given a disappointing diagnosis - discirculatory encephalopathy, the treatment is carried out in one of the Moscow psychiatric clinics.
The main works:
- The four-volume "Diseases of the heart and blood vessels."
- "Heart and XX century."
- "Health and power."
- "Rock".
- "Rational pharmacotherapy of cardiovascular diseases."
- “How the Leaders Left: Notes by the Kremlin’s Chief Physician.”
- "To live life is not a field to go over."
- “Round dance of deaths. Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko ... "
Scientific works, titles and awards
The activities and life position of Academician Chazov were marked by many awards, among them there are orders and medals of the USSR, Russia and many foreign countries. At various times he was awarded the following prizes:
- Hero of Socialist Labor.
- Three orders for services to the Fatherland (1,2,3 degrees).
- Four orders of Lenin.
- Numerous medals (Big Gold Medal named after MV Lomonosov, Gold Medal named after IP Pavlov and others).
- Moldavian Order of Labor Glory.
- Order of the French Republic "Order of the Academic Palms" and many others.
Honored Scientist of the RSFSR is Academician Chazov. Photos of his performances adorn the walls of his office and the Institute of Cardiology. The main scientific works of Evgeny Ivanovich are devoted to the problems of thrombosis, myocardial infarction, prevention of cardiovascular diseases, myocardial metabolism and other problems of cardiology.
Under his scientific supervision more than 50 candidate and more than 30 doctoral dissertations were defended, he is the author of 15 monographs, and he has more than 450 scientific works. Academician E.I. Chazov was one of the founders of the Faculty of Fundamental Medicine at Moscow State University.
Personal life and hobbies
The basis of the life of academician Chazov was work, and the sphere of interests included painting and artists creating talented canvases. He was personally acquainted with some of them. Yevgeny Ivanovich also says in an interview that he loves the Russian nature and sometimes goes hunting, but most often in order to be alone, relax and enjoy the surrounding expanses, forests and the Volga on which he was born. Whenever possible, he went to the mountains and conquered Elbrus three times.
Academician Chazov devoted almost all his time to work. Family and personal life were important to him, but not everything was simple. An optimist in his convictions, he believed that in life all difficulties are overcome and all problems are solved. According to him, a strong nervous system is the key to health and longevity.
The wives of academician Chazov, and he was married three times, are independent and extraordinary personalities. The first wife, Renata Lebedeva, achieved outstanding results in medicine. She was awarded the title of academician and was the country's chief resuscitator. In this marriage, a daughter Tatyana was born, who followed in the footsteps of her parents and became an endocrinologist, professor.
The second wife of Evgeny Ivanovich was a professor, doctor of sciences, the founder of preventive medicine Lidia Germanova. The marriage lasted 10 years, a daughter Irina was born, who continued the dynasty of doctors, became a cardiologist and headed the Institute. Myasnikov.
The third wife of academician Chazov was his secretary - Lydia Zhukova, this marriage was the longest and strongest. Thirty years the couple were together until the death of Lydia, which occurred several years ago.
Academician Chazov is almost 90 years old. The recipe for happy longevity, in his opinion, includes simple things: a healthy nervous system, an active lifestyle, moderate nutrition and optimism. In the recommendations, he suggests not watching the news for longer than 20 minutes a day, echoing Professor Preobrazhensky.