The Pirogov Institute of Moscow, one of the most renowned medical schools in the USSR, has recently announced the formation of a chiropractic faculty.
The founding of the new chiropractic college was announced by Stephen J. Press, D.C., (director of the Soviet-American Chiropractic Center at the Pirogov Institute), and Anatoly Fedin, chief neurologist and director of the 2,000 bed hospital at the Pirogov Institute, and co-director of the Soviet-American Chiropractic Center.
The newly formed college will undertake to develop a chiropractic faculty composed of Soviet and foreign doctors, or "resident" and "visiting" professors. The resident professors in the chiropractic faculty of the institute will be composed of neurologists and orthopedists, and teaching faculty from the National Pedagogical Institute of Manual Medicine in Novokuznyetsk, Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Charkov, and elsewhere. The visiting faculty will consist of DCs from the various chiropractic institutions throughout the world, and other leading authorities.
The educational system in the Soviet Union is somewhat different from the West. Upon completion of what we call high school, Soviet students desiring to become doctors must pass medical school entry exams; only the top students have a chance to be accepted by a medical school. The medical school at the Pirogov Institute, for example, has some 50 applicants for each seat in the entrance class. Successful candidates begin a four-year course leading to a certificate which qualifies them to practice as a doctor's assistant. If the assistant wishes to advance beyond that role, an additional two years is required to receive an MD degree, which qualifies the individual as a general practitioner. If the MD chooses to specialize, one to several years of additional education is required.
The chiropractic student will take the same basic four-year course as the aspiring MD. At this point the chiropractic student can choose to take the two-year course that leads to the MD degree or the two-year divergent curriculum to become a DC.
Drs. Press and Fedin have indicated that their negotiations with the Pirogov Institute will also permit a post-doctoral educational system of seminars, and a flexible program to allow the graduate of a chiropractic college full credit towards the issuance of an MD degree.
The clinical practice will take place in City Hospital No. 15 of the Pirogov Institute. This is where the first Soviet-American chiropractic center will be located, and run by Drs. Press and Fedin and their partners.
The first chiropractic classes could begin as early as January of 1992.
Dr. Press encourages faculty members of CCE colleges to volunteer to teach at the new institute; he indicted that several chiropractic colleges have shown interest in giving sabbaticals to professors wishing to teach in the USSR. "Now the time has come to volunteer," said Dr. Press.
For further information, please contact:
Dr. Stephen J. Press, Director
Department of Chiropractic
City Hospital No. 15
Pirogov Institute, Moscow, USSR
c/o 546 Broad Ave.
Englewood, NJ 07631
Tele: (201) 569-1444.
