Nikolai Nikolaevich Trapeznikov (21 May 1928, Nizhny Novgorod — 27 September 2001) — Soviet and Russian oncologist, a specialist in tumors of the bones and soft tissues. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, director of the All-Union Oncology Research Center (VONTs), laureate of the State Prize, and initiator of the founding of the Russian Anti-Cancer Society.[2]
Origins and education
He was born in Gorky) into the family of an engineer: his father, a graduate of the Tomsk Polytechnic Institute, worked from 1940 as chief engineer for municipal services on the construction of the Kuibyshev Aviation Plant.[2] In 1943, after finishing the 7th grade, Nikolai was sent to the Kuibyshev Military Aviation School, where he studied until the end of the war. He finished the tenth grade in Gorky; the choice between the polytechnic institute and the medical institute was decided by a coin toss in favor of medicine.[2]
In 1952 he graduated with honors from the medical faculty of the Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy and entered clinical residency at the Institute of Experimental and Clinical Oncology of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (now the N. N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center), where he trained under the guidance of Nikolai Nikolaevich Blokhin.[2]
Scientific career
Beginning his career as a junior research fellow, Trapeznikov went on to become a senior research fellow and the institute's scientific secretary. In 1956 he defended his candidate's dissertation, "Comparative Evaluation of Materials for Surgical Sutures and Ligatures." In 1964 he defended his doctoral dissertation, "Treatment of Primary Bone Tumors."[2]
The main focus of his work was malignant tumors of the bones and soft tissues. He developed the principles of regional intra-arterial chemotherapy for limb sarcomas, introduced a device for arterial perfusion, established the indications for organ-preserving surgery in bone tumors, and demonstrated the possibilities of chemotherapy for metastases of osteogenic sarcoma. Under his leadership, original domestic titanium endoprostheses of the knee, shoulder, and hip joints were created, restoring limb function; several of the designs are protected by three inventor's certificates.[2]
From 1965 he continuously headed the department of general oncology at the Russian Cancer Research Center. In 1967 he was awarded the academic title of professor in the specialty of "oncology." In 1974 he was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, and later became an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, as well as director of VONTs.[2]
Recognition
Trapeznikov was a laureate of the USSR State Prize, an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, and the initiator of the founding of the Russian Anti-Cancer Society. For the 95th anniversary of the scientist's birth, a commemorative exhibition was prepared at the N. A. Semashko National Research Institute of Public Health.[1][2]