Ukrainian scientists at the Tselinograd State Medical Institute: Contribution to education and science (1960s)
Authors: Mukhangaliyeva Zhanar , Balykova Akkaiyn , Mazhitova Zhanna 
Published: December 2024

The article examines the work, scientific achievements, and contribution of Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Viktor Rafailovich Faitelberg-Blank and Candidate of Medical Sciences, Associate Professor Maria Vasilievna Kropelnitskaya to the development of the Tselinograd State Medical Institute in the 1960s. Authors used the methods of microhistory and comparative historical analysis to achieve the goal of the study, which made it possible to comprehensively reveal the activities of scientists and organizers of medical education V. R. Faitelberg-Blank and M. V. Kropelnitskaya in the Virgin Land. The authors used archival funds and documents, and brief historiographical reviews during the research. For the first time, a set of sources have been introduced into scientific circulation that allow a new look and an objective assessment of the activities of Ukrainian scientists at the Tselinograd Medical Institute. Based on documentary materials from the State Archives of Astana, information from the surviving personal files of V. R. Faitelberg-Blank and M. V. Kropelnitskaya, the main stages of their formation as scientists and teachers in the territory of Ukraine, as well as the reasons for their appearance in Kazakhstan to work at the medical institute have been specified. The activities of V. R. Faitelberg-Blank as the founder of the Department of Pathological Physiology contributed to forming a scientific school that received recognition in Kazakhstan. Also he was engaged in the general development of the problems of “physiology and pathology of digestion”. Despite the short time of V. R. Faitelberg-Blank's work at the institute (1965–1967), he was one of the first scientists at the university who contributed to instilling in his colleagues’ scientific skills of experimental work with animals. The article focuses on the fact that the scientist's many years of experience led to the development of long-term scientific interests of the department in the study of functional and somatic muscles and the gastrointestinal tract under static load and exposure to high-frequency physical agents. V. R. Faitelberg-Blank laid the traditions of teaching students, which has become the foundation for the training of qualified medical personnel in Kazakhstan. The authors have proved the enormous role of M. V. Kropelnitskaya in the formation of the Department of Internal Diseases Propaedeutics, which received recognition as a scientific school engaged in the study of specific methods of treating patients with pathologies of internal organs. M. V. Kropelnitskaya paid students great attention to the study of many physiological processes in norm and pathology. For the first time at the university, she accompanied theoretical material with a demonstration of patients during classes and gave relevant clinical examples. In conclusion, a resume has been made about the enormous contribution of the scientific and pedagogical heritage of V. R. Faitelberg-Blank and M. V. Kropelnitskaya to the development of medical education in virgin Kazakhstan.