Sergei Kurashov

Born Sept. 18 (Oct. 1), 1910, in the village of Kliuchiki, in present-day Tambov Oblast; died Aug. 27, 1965, in Moscow. Soviet public health official and public figure. Corresponding member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR (1965). Member of the CPSU (1938).

Kurashov graduated from the medical department of the University of Kazan in 1931. In 1941 he became director of the Kazan Medical Institute (named for him in 1965). In 1942 he became a deputy of the People’s Commissariat of Public Health of the RSFSR and chief administrative director and deputy minister of public health of the USSR. He became minister of public health of the RSFSR in 1955 and of the USSR in 1959. Also in 1955 he became head of the subdepartment of the public health organization of the First Moscow Medical Institute.

Kurashov’s principal works were devoted to the organization of public health, to safeguarding the health of young children and adolescents, and to the development of health resorts and public health abroad. Kurashov was editor of the multivolume publication Public Health Legislation of the USSR.

In 1962, Kurashov served as president of the 15th international assembly of the World Health Organization. He was chosen as a candidate member for the Central Committee of the CPSU at the 22nd congress of the CPSU in 1961. He served as deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR at its fifth and sixth convocations and as deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR at its fourth convocation. Kurashov was awarded the Order of Lenin, three other orders, and various medals. He was buried at the Kremlin wall in Red Square.