Pathology SNT - Danylo Alpern

УКР

Danylo Alpern was a prominent Ukrainian pathophysiologist, corresponding member of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences, Honored Scientist of the Ukrainian SSR, Doctor of Medicine, Professor, Head of the Department of Pathological Physiology at Kharkiv Medical Institute.

He was born on December 15, 1894 in Kharkiv in the family of landowner Ovsiy Alpern. The young man was a bright and diligent student. In 1913, he graduated from the 4th city gymnasium in Kharkiv with a gold medal and entered the medical faculty of Kharkiv Imperial University.

While still a student, he began active work in the student scientific society at the Department of General Pathology under the guidance of the prominent pathologist O. Repriov. He was awarded a gold medal by the University Council for his work "Changes in the morphological composition of blood in pituitary hyperfunction".

In 1917, the future scientist graduated with honors from the Medical Faculty of Kharkiv University and became a scholarship holder at the Department of General Pathology to prepare for the professorship. Since 1919 he worked at the Department of Pathophysiology of Kharkiv Medical Institute. In 1921, D.O. Alpern defended his doctoral thesis on the topic "Materials on the Physiology and Pathology of the Brain Appendage".

From 1920 to 1929, Danylo Alpern held successive positions of prosector, senior assistant, private associate professor and was repeatedly sent to foreign laboratories and worked at the Institute of Pathology (Berlin), the Institute of Physiology and Pharmacology under Professor Heber (Kiel), the Institute of Biochemistry under Professor Kossel (Heidelberg), in laboratories and clinics of internal medicine at the Universities of Kiel and Vienna.

He attached great importance to the scientific growth of his students. In 1929, he organized a student circle and a student scientific society at Kharkiv Medical Institute, which he supervised for many years.

Alpern was especially sensitive, caring, and at the same time demanding of young scientists, contributing to their professional, scientific, and cultural growth.

In 1929, Danylo Alpern was elected as the head of the Department of Pathological Physiology at Kharkiv Medical Institute, which he headed for the rest of his life - almost 40 years.

At the same time, he headed the departments of pathophysiology of the Ukrainian Psychoneurological Institute (1923-1954) and the Ukrainian Institute of Experimental Medicine (1935-1941).

D.O. Alpern was a member of the Academic Council of the USSR Ministry of Health, a member of the editorial boards of a number of medical journals. In the 2nd edition of the "Great Medical Encyclopedia" he was the author and editor of the section "Physiology".

D.O. Alpern was an honorary member of the International Antirheumatic Society and the Argentine Antirheumatic League. D.O. Alpern's merits in the study of pathological processes were highly appreciated. In 1939, the professor was elected as a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

During the Second World War, while being evacuated as part of the medical institute in Chkalov (Orenburg), D.O. Alpern performed significant research on the wound process, shock and trophic ulcers, which had not only theoretical but also practical significance for martial law surgery and therapy, and which are still relevant today.

The main scientific works of the professor are devoted to the pathophysiology of the nervous system, neurohumoral regulation, the pathochemistry of inflammation and the pathogenesis of allergic reactions. The scientist established the trophic influence of the nervous system on the permeability of blood vessels and tissues, the role of mediators in the disruption of the reflex activity of the nervous system, in the pathogenesis of inflammation and trophic ulcers (1928).

D.O. Alpern studied the role of chemical factors and nervous excitation in the pathogenesis of a number of diseases, established the desensitizing and anti-inflammatory effect of pituitary extracts (1935), as well as the role of adenine nucleotides in the pathogenesis of inflammation (1951). He proposed the medical drug mesophysin.

D.O. Alpern devoted a large cycle of research to the problem of inflammation. "Among the old and new problems of pathology, the problem of inflammation always remains relevant," wrote Danylo Alpern.

He was not only a great scientist, but also a talented teacher and a brilliant lecturer. His lectures for students and speeches at scientific forums left an indelible impression.

D.O. Alpern made a huge contribution to the formation of pathophysiology as an academic discipline. He conducted systematic work to improve the pathophysiology course program, and he was the first to create methodological instructions for a workshop for students. A great deal of work was done to equip the department with equipment.

D.O. Alpern was an active participant in Union and republican congresses and conferences, international congresses and symposia.

At the XV International Congress of Physiologists, the scientist presented new clinical and experimental data on vegetative asymmetries of the autonomic nervous system based on many years of work on the regulation of metabolism.

D.O. Alpern's scientific and pedagogical activities were combined with extensive social work. He was a member of the Academic Council of the Ministry of Health of the USSR and Head of the Kharkiv Branch of the Scientific Society of Pathophysiologists, an honorary member of the International Antirheumatic Society, and a member of editorial boards of various medical journals.

The professor was deeply devoted to science, and he devoted his entire life to it.

D.O. Alpern created a large school of pathophysiologists. Under his supervision, almost 50 theses, including 12 doctoral theses, were completed and defended. D.O. Alpern is the author of the textbook "Pathological Physiology", which was translated into English and published in different countries of the world. He is the author of more than 200 scientific papers, including 8 monographs published in Ukraine and abroad. His students headed the departments and divisions of pathophysiology at research institutes in different cities of the country.

Danylo Ovsiyovych Alpern died on August 24, 1968 in Kharkiv and was buried in the city cemetery.

Since 2014, the Department of Pathological Physiology of Kharkiv National Medical University has been named after the famous scientist, a man of exceptional honor and decency, impeccable morals and modesty. His honesty, inner culture, nobility of soul, and integrity won him respect and love. The traditions of D.O. Alpern's school are still developing.

The memory of Danylo Ovsiyovych as a person and a scientist is preserved at the Department of Pathological Physiology and Kharkiv National Medical University.

Reference:

• Перші читання, присвячені Д.О. Альперну:«Актуальні питання патологічної фізіології»: матеріали Всеукраїнської науково-практичної конференції (до 150-річчя кафедри загальної та клінічнох патофізіології ім. Д.О. Альперна. – Харків: ХНМУ, 2021. – С. 19–20.

Translated into English by Yevheniia Hromko

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