Alexander Bakulev

Aleksandr Nikolayevich Bakulev (Russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Ба́кулев) (December 7 [O.S. November 25] 1890 - March 31, 1967) was a Soviet surgeon, one of the founders of cardiovascular surgery in the USSR.

Aleksandr Bakulev Александр Бакулев
Born	December 7 [O.S. November 25] 1890 Nevenikovskaya, Vyatka guberniya
Died	March 31, 1967(1967-03-31) (aged 76) Moscow
Nationality	Russian
Alma mater	Saratov University
Known for	First usage of radio opaque substances in kidney surgery during transplantation of the ureters, first successful lung ablation with open ductus arteriosus (1948), treatment of brain abscesses using repeated punctures with infill of cavities with air
Awards	Stalin Prize (1949)1, Lenin Prize (1957)2, Gold Scalpel (1965)
Scientific career
Fields	Thoracic surgery
Institutions	Saratov University, 2nd Moscow Institute of Medicine
Notes
1For lung surgery operations 2For treatment of heart diseases and arterial vessels

Born in Nevenikovskaya (now in the Kirov oblast) into a peasant family which belonged to the old Vyatka clan of Bakulevs, Bakulev attended the medical faculty of Saratov University after graduating from high school. During the First World War he served as a regimental medical officer on the Western Front. In 1938 Bakulev conducted a successful lobectomy in a case of chronic lung abscess. In 1939 he earned the academic degree of Professor and the same year conducted a successful lobectomy in a case of pulmonary actinomycosis. In 1943 Bakulev became head of the surgery department of the 2nd Pirogov Moscow Institute of Medicine. On the Eastern Front of World War II, Bakulev was the chief surgeon of Moscow evacuation hospitals. In 1948 he pioneered the surgical treatment of congenital heart disorders in the Soviet Union. He was the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences from 1953 to 1960.

In 1955 he suggested the foundation of the Thoracic Surgery Institute (now the Bakulev Scientific Center of Cardiovascular Surgery) and then became its first head. In 1958 Bakulev was elected as a member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

Bakulev died in Moscow in 1967. A medical prize was named after him.