Department of Internal Medicine with a Course in Gastroenterology

About the department

Про кафедру

The Department of Internal Medicine with a Course in Gastroenterology of Bogomolets National Medical University is the legal successor of powerful therapeutic schools with deep historical traditions and belongs to the oldest therapeutic departments in Ukraine and worldwide.

The Department was reorganized through the merger of the Department of Internal Medicine No. 1 and the Department of Internal Medicine No. 4, each of which has its own history of formation and development.

The Department of Internal Medicine No. 1 has existed since 1844 and was one of the first departments of the Medical Faculty of St. Volodymyr University of Kyiv, founded in 1841. Over its 181-year history, the Department has been headed by outstanding scientists and physicians of international renown, including V. P. Obraztsov, F. H. Yanovskyi, M. D. Strazhesko, V. M. Ivanov, and H. Y. Burchynskyi. Each of them left a significant mark on the history of national medicine.

Thanks to these scholars, the Department consistently introduced the most advanced achievements of world medicine of their time. At different periods, landmark medical discoveries and reports were made at the Department for the first time in the world, Europe, the USSR, or Ukraine. Among the most important are the following:

• Development of the principles of deep methodical sliding palpation of the abdominal organs, which are currently used worldwide (V. P. Obraztsov, M. D. Strazhesko).
• The first in the world lifetime diagnosis of myocardial infarction (coronary artery thrombosis) (V. P. Obraztsov, M. D. Strazhesko).
• Establishment of the Ukrainian school of gastroenterology; fundamental works on peptic ulcer disease of the stomach and duodenum; the well-known Soviet-era textbook Internal Diseases (H. Y. Burchynskyi).
• At the Department, the world’s first studies were conducted to establish the role of H. pylori infection in the recurrence of duodenal peptic ulcer disease; the first use in the CIS countries of the ^13C urea breath test, the Bravo capsule, and novel enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (including fecal elastase-1, fecal pyruvate kinase, and GastroPanel), as well as video endoscopes and video capsule endoscopy in gastroenterology; and the first studies on the application of food intolerance testing (V. H. Perederii).

The Department of Internal Medicine No. 4 was founded in 1957 to train students of the Pediatric Faculty of the Kyiv Medical Institute.

The first Head of the Department was Tymofii Tytovych Hlukhenskyi, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist of the Ukrainian SSR. His scientific interests included the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, as well as hematological disorders.

 In 1975, the Department was headed by Oles Avdiiovych Piatak, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist of the Ukrainian SSR. During his tenure, priority research areas included cardiovascular pathology, particularly ischemic heart disease and arterial hypertension. In 1994, the Department of Therapy of the Pediatric Faculty was reorganized into the Department of Faculty Therapy No. 2.

Since 1995, the Department has been headed by Viktor Hryhorovych Lyzohub, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor. The Department’s research activities have focused on cardiovascular pathology, particularly ischemic heart disease and arterial hypertension in combination with obesity, concomitant gastrointestinal disorders, changes in immunological parameters and lipid metabolism in these conditions, the search for new approaches to optimizing treatment, and the study of modern indicators of immune status and the humoral system.

Since 2016, the Department of Internal Medicine No. 1, and since 2026 the updated Department of Internal Medicine with a Course in Gastroenterology, has been headed by Professor Vadym Petrovych Shypulin, Honored Doctor of Ukraine and a well-known popularizer of medical science in Ukraine. Under his leadership, the Department is a cohesive team of experienced clinician-researchers and like-minded professionals committed to the continuous improvement of medical knowledge and the implementation of modern diagnostic and therapeutic methods for diseases of internal organs.