page_title: First Pavlov State Medical University of St. Petersburg
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: First Pavlov State Medical University of St. Petersburg / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The First Pavlov State Medical University of St. Petersburg in 1903
context_page_description: The First Pavlov State Medical University of St. Petersburg was established in 1897 in St. Petersburg, Russia, as the first Russian medical college for women. After its 123 years of history, it has become one of the leading medical colleges in Russia and the world. As well as the University is one of the top ten medical schools in Europe.
  PSPbGMU is called the First Medical Institute in St. Petersburg because of its renaming in 1936, relative to Saint Petersburg State Medical Academy named after I.I. Mechnikov, which is called the Second Medical Institute.
context_section_description: The Pavlov First Saint-Petersburg State Medical University was founded in September 14 (26) 1897 as the Medical Institute for Women. It was the first institution in Europe that provided an opportunity for women to acquire higher medical education.
  Soon after the founding, the Women’s Medical Institute (WMI) became a reputable institution and represented a recognized model for higher medical education and medical science. Clinics and departments of the WMI developed and implemented the most advanced methods of diagnostics and treatment.
  On 28 March 1917 it provided the venue for the inaugural meeting of the Free Association for the Development and Dissemination of Positive Science (SARRPN).
  The University has changed a few names since the time of its foundation: the Women’s Medical Institute of St. Petersburg (1918), The First Medical Institute of Leningrad, also known as «the 1st Med»(1924). This name went down in history of St. Petersburg and Russian medicine. In 1936 the First Medical Institute was named in honor of the Nobel Prize winner Academician I.P. Pavlov .  In 1994 the First Medical Institute was reorganized into a medical university that received its present name.
  In the 1930s the Institute of Chemistry and Pharmacy as well as the Institute of Pediatrics were detached from the First Medical Institute and established as independent units. In the meantime construction of new units and laboratory buildings were already in the design phase but the Second World War interfered with fulfilling that plan.  
  During heroic wartime defense of Leningrad the Institute did not cease to provide patient care, education and research; many of its graduates went to war. In honor of those killed in battle.. In 1987 a monument in honor of the fallen doctors was erected in the Institute Park, in the very same place where an unexploded bomb had been found.
  The 1960s–1980s were marked by a large-scale construction of new academic buildings, hostels, research laboratories, thus, ‘the 1st Med’ gained its present-day appearance.
  In the 1990s, a number of departments evolved into Research Institutes.
  Today the University continues to advance patient care, medical education and science.
  «Our surgeons continued operating to the sounds of enemy airplanes, anti-aircraft gun shots and mine blasts».
  I.D. Strashun, Director of the 1st LMI (1941-1943)
caption: University in 1903
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