On the 125th Anniversary of Odesa National Medical University: The Journey of the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery – From Freud’s Legendary Patient and a Righteous Among the Nations to the Present Day
Son Anatoliy, Solodovnikova Yuliia Odesa National Medical University, Odesa, Ukraine Corresponding author Solodovnokova Yuliia: yuliia.solodovnikova@onmedu.edu.ua
This year Odesa National Medical University, formerly the Faculty of Medicine of Novo- russian University established in 1900, will celebrate its 125th anniversary. The Department for the Systematic and Clinical Study of Nervous and Mental Diseases was established in 1903 at the Faculty of Medicine, Novorussian University in Odesa. On October 11 1905, the Neurologi- cal Clinic commenced its activities. It was equipped with hydrotherapy and electrophysiology units, chemical, histological and radiological laboratories, and a laboratory for experimental physiological research. The pride of the Department was its specialized library, which comprised more than 9,000 volumes. Theoretical instruction was conducted at the Anatomical Museum. It was founded by Professor of Anatomy Mykola Batuiev, based on his own collection. At present, the museum, one of the largest in Europe, contains over 3,000 specimens, ranging from Egyptian pyramid mummies to modern times, demonstrating in detail acquired pathologies and congenital malformations. The museum still serves as a training facility for medical students today. The first Chair of the Department, later Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Director of the Higher Medical Women’s Courses at Novorussian University, was Prof Mykola Popov, who had undergone postgraduate training in Leipzig and Paris, and subsequently held a professorship at the University of Warsaw. In 1920, together with his disciple, Prof Oleksii Yanishevsky, who described a now classical neurological reflex [1], he emigrated to Bulgaria. In 1922, Prof Yanishevsky founded the Department of Neurology and Psychiatry at Sofia University. Another eponymous neurological sign is associated with the Odesa-born neurologist Hryhorii Rossolimo (1860–1928). The Rossolimo reflex remains in use in neurological examinations for the assessment of pyramidal tract lesions. It consists of flexion of the toes elicited by percussion or gentle tapping of the plantar surface of the distal phalanges [2,3]. Since 1914 the Department has included an outpatient unit and a 60-bed inpatient ward for acute neurological conditions. The facility was constructed with philanthropic support from the Odesa family of Sigmund Freud’s most famous patient, the so-called “Wolf Man,” Serhii Pankeev, after the tragic death of their daughter Hanna from mercurial polyneuritis [4]. One of the founders of the Odesa neurological school was Academician Hryhorii Markelov, founder and director of the Odesa Research Institute of Neuropsychiatry. He began his academic career in the Alma Mater student society, later chaired the Department for over 25 years, and became a leading authority on the autonomic nervous system in the first half of the 20th century. Among the senior generation of Professor Markelov’s school were prominent neurologists and psychiatrists such as Yevhen Shevayov, Lev Papadato, and Borys Sosiura, the latter of whom single-handedly safeguarded and preserved the Department’s library during World War II, in a manner reminiscent of the citizens of Bologna who concealed the folios of the University of Bologna in their homes during air raids.
Odesa also became a cradle of psychoanalysis, where, according to Sigmund Freud, a “small epidemic of psychoanalysis” took place [5]. The leader of this movement was Yevhen Sheval- yov, who, during the Romanian-German occupation, served as Director of the Odesa Psychiatric Hospital. He saved not only mentally ill Jewish patients, but also Jewish staff members of the hospital and other Jews of Odesa – more than 600 people in total. For this humanitarian act, in 2001 he, together with his son Andrii, was awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations. In the second half of the 20th century, the principal research areas of the Department remained disorders of the autonomic nervous system, followed later by mild traumatic brain injury and cerebrovascular diseases (Prof Yurii Kurako). The first neurosurgeon in Odesa was a woman – Muza Kulazhenko (1959). In 1961 the Neurosurgical Unit was established at the Odesa Research Institute of Neuropsychiatry under Prof Oleksandr Korol, who in 1964 initiated a neurosurgery course at the Department of Hospital Surgery. The main neurosurgical research directions were neuro-oncology and traumatic brain injury. Since 2002, the Department has been known as the Department of Neurology and Neuro- surgery, headed by Prof Anatoliy Son, neurosurgeon, Vice-President, Ukrainian Association of Neurosurgeons, and member of the Executive Committee of the World Federation of Neuro- surgical Societies (WFNS). Despite the challenging times caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine, student life remains active: interns and young researchers continue to undertake international fellowships and conduct scientific research. For instance, a former graduate of Odesa National Medical University and current Assistant of the Department, Tetiana Marusich, serves as the National Representative of the EAN Residents and Research Fellows Section. At present, the Department’s major research areas include neurovegetology, diagnosis and treatment of cerebrovascular diseases, neurosurgical management of cerebrovascular pathology, traumatic brain injury, as well as autoimmune and hereditary diseases of the nervous system.
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