Byystrov

BYYSTROV, Nikolai Ivanovich (1841-1906), renowned pediatrician, the first independent professor of pediatrics in Russia, honored professor of the Military Medical Academy. After graduating from the academy in 1864, he was retained there to study childhood diseases and worked in the clinics of Professors Krassovsky and Florinsky. In 1867-69, he specialized abroad in the fields of chemistry, pathological anatomy, and childhood diseases. From 1870, as an associate professor, he taught a course on childhood diseases, having a department at the obstetrics clinic. From 1874, he took charge of a separate children's clinic at the Mikhailovskaya clinical hospital as an adjunct professor, and later as a full professor. This was the first independent department and clinic of pediatrics in Russia. B. directed the clinic until 1896 and during this time published over 20 scientific works. His clinic for a long time served as the only place for scientific advancement in pediatrics. Over 55 physicians passed through it, writing more than 200 scientific works and over 20 dissertations; among these physicians, many later headed departments of pediatrics. Being a person with vast practical experience, Byystrov created an interesting practical school of pediatricians for that time. This was an era of accumulating clinical experience, developing methods of approaching the child, and developing the physiology and pathology of digestion and metabolism. Byystrov was the initiator of the creation of the Society of Pediatricians in St. Petersburg (1875).