Journal of Medical Biography > Volume 17, Number 2 > Pp. 75-80

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Sharp, D. S Articles by Tauger, M. B Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Social Bookmarking                      What's this?

Public Health Doctors

Natan ‘Nikolai’ Abramovich Vigdorchik (1874–1954): social activism and public health in early 20th-century Russia

Dan S Sharp   and Mark B Tauger 

Correspondence: Dan S Sharp, MD PhD, Associate Director for Science, Health Effects Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1095 Willowdale Road, MS-4020, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA (email: DSharp{at}cdc.gov)

Virtually unknown in the West, the physician Nikolai Vigdorchik is recognized in Russian-Soviet history for his role in introducing social security into Russia. He rose from Jewish working-class origins to a career that combined activism in labour rights and public health with extensive and path-breaking publications in social security, occupational safety and public health. He contributed more than 30 years of leadership to Soviet research and educational institutions devoted to occupational safety and health. Vigdorchik's 1935 publication on lead and hypertension is illustrative of his contribution to modern epidemiological methods, describing a statistical bias in the study of hospitalized patients. It predates by 11 years Joseph Berkson's paper, after whom the bias is named. Vigdorchik's life illustrates a modern-day conundrum: social activism comes with political cost – by virtue of its evidence-based orientation, public health science is safer but both are necessary to move a culture towards health and stability.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?