Dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of professor Valentina Trofimovna Selezneva

Yuri A. Utochkin; Уточкин Юрий Анатольевич; Tatyana M. Odintsova; Одинцова Татьяна Михайловна; Olga A. Kutyavina; Кутявина Ольга Алексеевна; Anastasia A. Yaroshenko; Ярошенко Анастасия Александровна; Natalya L. Polygalova; Полыгалова Наталья Леонидовна

doi:10.17816/pmj403158-162

Dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of professor Valentina Trofimovna Selezneva

Authors: Utochkin Y.A.¹, Odintsova T.M.¹, Kutyavina O.A.¹, Yaroshenko A.A.¹, Polygalova N.L.¹
Affiliations:
1. E.A. Vagner Perm State Medical University
Issue: Vol 40, No 3 (2023)
Pages: 158-162
Section: Anniversaries
URL: https://permmedjournal.ru/PMJ/article/view/253608
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17816/pmj403158-162
ID: 253608

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Abstract

The article is devoted to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Selezneva Valentina Trofimovna – Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor, teacher, public health organizer, public figure, historian of medicine, Head of the Department of Social Hygiene and Organization of Public Healthcare of the Medicopreventive Faculty of Perm State Medical Academy. In 1947, she graduated with honors from the Sanitary-Hygienic Faculty of Molotov Medical Institute, in 1950 – from the postgraduate courses. All her life was connected with Perm Medical Institute. Valentina Trofimovna paid a great attention to students' scientific society. Together with her colleagues, she founded the school "Young Organizer of Healthcare," where from 20 to 30 students were trained every year. Valentina Trofimovna was an active public figure – four times she was elected the deputy of the city of Perm in Leninsky District Council; she was the Chairman of the permanent commission on health care and social security. Valentina Trofimovna was interested in the history of medicine in the region. Books on the history and development of Perm Medical University, "From the Medical Faculty to the Medical Academy" and "Essays on the History of Medicine in Perm Province" were published under the guidance of V.T. Selezneva. Under her supervision, nine Ph.D theses, including those on history of medicine were prepared. V.T. Selezneva was awarded the orders, medals and honorary diplomas for her truly selfless work. The article also presents an interview with colleagues, students and postgraduate students, reflecting the memories of Valentina Trofimovna Selezneva as a person and a teacher.

Keywords

Perm Medical Institute, active public figure, school Young Organizer of Healthcare, history of medicine

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February 12, 2023 was the 100th birthday of Valentina Trofimovna Selezneva, doctor of medical sciences, professor, teacher, health care organizer, public figure, historian of medicine, head of the Department of Social Hygiene and Health Organization of the Medical and Preventive Faculty of the Perm State Medical Academy (picture).

Fig. Valentina Trofimovna Selezneva

Valentina Trofimovna Selezneva was born on February 12, 1923 in the village of Gorodno, Beshenkovichi region of Vitebsk region in a family of peasants [1]. It is known that in the 1930s in the USSR there was a political repression (dekulakatsii), which touched the family of V.T. Selezneva. Her father was exiled, but she kept in touch with her relatives for three years, after which the letters stopped coming - he died. From 1929 to 1933 the family lived in Vitebsk, then in Borovichi. After finishing high school Valentina Trofimovna entered the nursing department of the Borovichi Medical College. In 1935, a new blow befell the family - after a long illness with tuberculosis, the younger brother died.

At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War she was evacuated with her mother to Kungur. Having sufficient knowledge of sanitary business, she was given an opportunity to work as an assistant to the State Sanitary Inspector of the city. From 1942 to 1947 with honors studied at the sanitary-hygienic faculty at the Molotov Medical Institute (since 1957 - the Perm Medical Institute). After graduating from the institute Valentina Trofimovna, on the recommendation of the Academic council, was left in postgraduate study at the department of the organization of public health services and under the direction of professor Ershov G.F. has executed the master's thesis on a subject "History of sanitary business in the Perm province" which she protected in 1951. [1].

All the subsequent life of Valentina Trofimovna was connected with the Perm Medical Institute. In the 1950's she worked at the department of social hygiene and organization of public health, first as an assistant and then as an assistant professor. In 1965 she got her doctorate in medical sciences, published her dissertation "Essays on the development of medicine and health in the Middle Urals (XVIII century - 1945)", she became a professor in 1966. In 1967, V.T. Seleznyova was elected by competition the head of the chair of social hygiene of the Omsk Medical Institute, at the same time she was the dean of the sanitary-hygienic faculty [1]. Two and a half years later, she returned to the city of Perm, where she was head of the Department of Economics and Organization of Pharmacy at the Perm State Pharmaceutical Institute until 1976. From 1976 to 1995 she headed the department of social hygiene and organization of public health at the Perm Medical Institute.

Valentina Trofimovna paid great attention to student science. Together with her colleagues she founded the school "Young organizer of health care", where from 20 to 30 students were trained every year. V.T. Selezneva made a great contribution to the study of problems of history of medicine, she had published more than 60 scientific works, including 3 monographs: "Essays on the History of Health in the Pre-Revolutionary Urals (1955), "Staff Physician I. V. Protasov" (1962), "Essays on the History of Medicine in the Perm Province" (1997), dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the Perm Province [1].

Valentina Trofimovna was an active public figure - she was elected 4 times as a deputy of the city of Perm in the Leninsky District Council, she was also the chairman of the permanent commission on health care and social security. For a long time she was the head of the scientific-methodical council and the section on propaganda of medical-hygienic knowledge of the Perm regional organization of "Znanie" society, a member of the plenum of the regional committee of the union of medical workers and headed the commission on work among women, a member of the CPSU since 1967, for many years she was a member of the party committee of the Institute. She was a member of All-Union Scientific Society of Medical Historians [1]. Under the direction of V.T. Selezneva were published books on the history of the formation and development of the Perm Medical University, "From the Medical Faculty to the Medical Academy" and "Essays on the history of zemstvo medicine in the Perm province. Under her supervision, nine Ph.D. theses were completed, including dissertations on the history of medicine, one of which (by O.A. Maltseva) on the history of healthcare in the Komi-Permyak Autonomous District; a monograph of the same title was published in 1997, with Professor V.T. Selezneva as the editor [2]. In addition, she took part in the creation of the museum of the history of the Perm State Medical Academy, the history of medicine in Yekaterinburg and Krasnoufimsk, and the museum of the history of the Perm Regional Clinical Hospital. That is why the archive was Valentina Trofimovna's "second place of work".

Valentina Trofimovna was interested in healthy lifestyles and actively promoted them. She also published many articles on family planning. As a historian, she could not help touching the biographies of such outstanding people as M.I. Mizerov, I.K. Kurdov, P.N. Serebrennikov, E.P. Serebrennikova, P.V. Rudanovsky, N.A. Russkikh, M.I. Karamyshev, I.I. Molleson. For her truly selfless work V.T. Selezneva was awarded the "Badge of Honor", medals "For Valorous Labor in the Great Patriotic War" and "40 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War", a medal named after N. I. Pirogov. N.I. Pirogov, badge "Excellent worker of health care," "Activist of the Red Cross Society," noted the gratitude of the Minister of Health of the USSR, Honorary Diplomas of the Leninsky District Committee of the CPSU, the All-Union Society "Znanie" and others [3].

Valentina Trofimovna Selezneva retired in 1997. She died on March 30, 1998, buried in the Northern Cemetery, Section 30 [1]. Bright memory of her will forever remain in the hearts of her colleagues, grateful students and all who knew her.

The docents of the Department of Public Health and Public Health, working under the guidance of V.T. Selezneva: G.Yu. Okuneva and T.N. Govyazina, who was Valentina Trofimovna's last postgraduate student, noted: "She was the leading specialist in the history of medicine of the Urals. She started all her works from studying historical aspect. To her pupils she instilled boundless love to her motherland and national medicine. Her colleagues appreciated her benevolence in communication with people around her, her intelligence and fairness. She was strict, first of all, to herself, very punctual, carried out her work from the beginning to the end, sparing no time or effort. She had an active life stance and showed enthusiasm in all her activities. She always looked elegant and knew her worth. Together with the team actively participated in all holidays, she sang and danced. By her own example led the propaganda of the healthy way of life: jogging in the morning, pouring cold water, spending a lot of time on fresh air. In summer she gathered mushrooms, berries, medicinal plants, fond of fishing. She bathed in the river till September. In winter she went skiing. She was a good hostess and did handicrafts.

Y.A. Utochkin, a former student of V.T. Selezneva, remembering her noted: "I remember Valentina Trofimovna as (I'm not afraid of this word) a fiery orator and lecturer. She used to lecture us on the history of medicine in our first year. During my student years the history of medicine was taught exactly at the Department of Social Medicine (later - public health), because Valentina Trofimovna was the leading scientist-historian of medicine not only in the Urals, but all over the Soviet Union. We studied textbooks, the author of which was also Professor V.T. Selezneva. Always in strict business suit, but with very interesting knitted white lace collars, she would enter the lecture hall and the audience would instantly fall silent. The students were respectful and even a little afraid, and then began a fascinating story about the ancient Greeks or Avicenna ibn Sina, Molleson or Semashko".