Matvei Mudrov

Born Mar. 23 (Apr. 3), 1776, in Vologda; died July 8 (20), 1831, in St. Petersburg. Russian physician, one of the founders of the Russian clinical school.

In 1800, Mudrov graduated from the medical faculty of Moscow University. From 1809 he was a professor at that university and director of the clinical institute. He was a professor from 1813 to 1817 at the Moscow division of the Medical and Surgical Academy. Mudrov was the first in Russia to introduce the method of scientifically questioning the patient and compiling a case history. He was also the first to work out a schema for the clinical examination of patients. He advocated individualization of therapy: one should not treat the disease, but the patient. He emphasized that the principal task of the physician is to recognize and define the causes of a disease and to carry out combined therapeutic and prophylactic measures.

Mudrov was one of the founders of military hygiene. He made a significant contribution to the development of higher medical education, introducing practical lessons for students in pathology, comparative anatomy, and other fields. He was head physician of the Central Commission for the Control of Epidemics. Mudrov participated directly in the fight against the epidemics of cholera in Saratov in 1830–31 and in St. Petersburg in 1831, where he died of cholera.