Institute of Children and Adolescents Health Care of the Academy of Medical Sciences

Director - G. Danylenko

Institute of Children and Adolescents Health Care of the Academy of Medical Sciences was founded in 1922 in Kharkov as the first Ukrainian State Research Institute of Motherhood and Childhood Protection (Decree of Ukrainian People's Commissariat for Health Protection No. 174 of 28.10.22). In 1965 the Institute was reorganized into Kharkov Research Institute of Children and Adolescents Health Care named after N.K. Krupskaya. From that time on the Institute has been a leading scientific and research organization in this country which coordinates researches concerning the problem of health care of schoolchildren and adolescents, takes part in up-grade training of specialists, and issues methodological bulletins for introduction of novel methods into practice, conducts scientific and practical conferences and symposia as regards urgent problems of children and adolescent health care and renders highly skilled assistance to children and adolescents.

The principal scientific research objectives of the Institute are:
- determination of the patterns of health formation in Ukrainian schoolchildren, as well as the environmental and hereditary factors which affect them and development of monitoring systems;
- determination of neurohormonal and immune mechanisms that ensure development of a child organism and cause formation of pathology in puberty;
- working out new methods for preventing, diagnosing and prognosing the course and treatment of the diseases of cardiovascular, digestive, and endocrinal systems, connective tissue, as well as mental disorders in puberty;
- medical and psychological rehabilitation of children and adolescents with the severest somatic pathology and mental development disorders, and preventing disability development;
- scientific substantiation of the most effective forms of medical support of children and adolescents in Ukraine, including children from high social risk groups.

The names of such well-known researchers and organizers of health care in Ukraine as the first director of the Institute Prof. S.M. Yampolsky, Prof. A.I. Kornilova, Honoured Scientist and Technologist of Ukraine, who headed the Institute for 34 years, (1952 to 1986), member of NAS Prof. V.I. Grishchenko, Professors M.I. Olevsky, M.L. Koshkin, L.M. Merkov, S.Ya. Shafershtein, V.I. Konstantinov, A.P. Lagunova, V.O. Sarana, R.S. Mirsagatova, V.Ya. Gayday, L.A. Stuliy, N.A. Dmitrova, E.Z. Yusfina and T.G. Sofienko are connected with the Institute.

For the past years the following well-known scientific schools have been formed at the Institute: "Arterial hypertension and atherosclerosis precursors in children and adolescents", "Rheumatology of children and adolescents", "Children's and adolescent gynecology", "Children's and adolescent endocrinology", "Hygiene of children and adolescents", and "Radiation pediatrics".

The Institute provides research support for government and integrated Programs: "Children of Ukraine", "Health of the Nation", "Reproductive Health 2001 - 2005" and "Prophylaxis and Treatment of Аrterial Hypertension in Ukraine"

Today the Institute employs 70 researchers and 52 practitioners, 4 of them are Honored Scientists and Technologists of Ukraine, 4 Honored Doctors of Ukraine and 2 Honored Health Protection Specialists of Ukraine; 12 are Doctors of Medicine, 48 are Candidates of Med. Sc., and 59 are specialists with the top-grade qualifications.

The Institute is a clinical basis of the Chair of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology (Prof. M.M. Korenev) at Kharkiv National University named after V.N. Karazin, the Chair of Adolescent Medicine (headed by Prof. L.K. Parkhomenko) and the Chair of Clinical Informatics and Information Technologies in Health Care Management (headed by Prof. O.Yu. Mayorov) at Kharkiv Medical Academy of Post-graduate Training.