Olga Matveyevna Avilova (10 September 1918, Bezhitsa, Bryansk — 27 December 2009,

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

) was a Soviet Russian and Ukrainian surgeon, medical researcher in the area of cardiothoracic surgery and

pulmonology Pulmonology (, , from Latin ''pulmō, -ōnis'' "lung" and the Greek suffix "study of"), pneumology (, built on Greek πνεύμων "lung") or pneumonology () is a medical specialty that deals with diseases involving the respiratory tract. ...

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

, Doctor of Medical Sciences (1974),

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

(1975), and the head of the department of cardiothoracic surgery and

at the Kiev Institute of Advanced Training for Physicians (1975–1988). She was a laureate of the State Prize of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

in the areas of science and technology (1974), an Honored Scientist of the USSR (1982), and an Honored Doctor of the USSR (1962).

Biography

Avilova was born in Bezhitsa (now the administrative division of Bryansk). She was a graduate of Smolensk State Medical Institute (1941). She participated in the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...

. She worked as a surgeon for the active front of the army and later as head of the surgical department at the Bryansk regional hospital. Since 1957, she was head of the department at

Kyiv Medical Institute Bogomolets National Medical University (NMU) is a medical school founded in 1841 in Kyiv, Russian Empire by the Russian Tsar Nicolas I. The university is named after physiologist Alexander A. Bogomolets. NMU provides medical training for over 10 ...

. In 1974, she defended her doctoral dissertation "Resection of the bronchi and

mediastinal The mediastinum (from ) is the central compartment of the thoracic cavity. Surrounded by loose connective tissue, it is an undelineated region that contains a group of structures within the thorax, namely the heart and its vessels, the esophagu ...

trachea The trachea, also known as the windpipe, is a Cartilage, cartilaginous tube that connects the larynx to the bronchi of the lungs, allowing the passage of air, and so is present in almost all air-breathing animals with lungs. The trachea extends ...

." She was a student of academician Nikolai Amosov.

Scientific activities

Under the leadership of O. M. Avilova an emergency service was created for victims of chest trauma, spontaneous pneumothorax, foreign bodies in the

lungs The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of th ...

and the

esophagus The esophagus (American English) or oesophagus (British English; both ), non-technically known also as the food pipe or gullet, is an organ in vertebrates through which food passes, aided by peristaltic contractions, from the pharynx to the ...

. She was the founder of the department of

polytrauma Polytrauma and multiple trauma are medical terms describing the condition of a person who has been subjected to multiple traumatic injuries, such as a serious head injury in addition to a serious burn. The term is defined via an Injury Severity Sc ...

. She was the author of about 300 scientific works, including 2 monographs. She was an

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

(with at least 34 inventions), and

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

holder (in particular, "Method for the treatment of expiratory stenosis of the trachea and bronchi"). Under her leadership one

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

dissertation and nineteen

Candidates of Sciences Candidate of Sciences (russian: кандидат наук, translit=kandidat nauk) is the first of two doctoral level scientific degrees in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. It is formally classified as UNESCO's ISCED level 8, "do ...

dissertations were completed.

Selected works

* Transpleural resections for esophageal and cardial tumors (1960) * Resection of the bronchi and mediastinal trachea (1971) * Thoracoscopy in emergency thoracic surgery (1986) * Chronic esophageal fistulas (1987)

Awards

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War (russian: Орден Отечественной войны, Orden Otechestvennoy voiny) is a Soviet military decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to partisan ...

* Lenin Prize *

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star (russian: Орден Красной Звезды, Orden Krasnoy Zvezdy) was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 193 ...

Red Banner of Labor The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR) was the Soviet Union's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, t ...

(1974)

Memorial

She died on 27 December 2009 in Kyiv. She was buried in the capitol at Berkovets Cemetery. On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Olga Avilova, the National Bank of Ukraine in September 2018 issued a commemorative coin dedicated to herОльга Авілова. bank.gov.ua. Дата обращения: 31 августа 2018. from the series "Outstanding Figures of Ukraine." On the obverse of the coin, a stylized composition is placed on a mirrored background, symbolizing thoracic surgery. On the reverse there is a portrait of Olga Avilova with a signature under it. It also contains the dates of her birth and death: 1918–2009.

Biography

Scientific activities

Selected works

Awards

Memorial

References

Further reading