Simon Nikolaevich Khechinashvili

Born Nov. 26, 1919, in Kutaisi. Soviet otorhinolaryngologist. Corresponding member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR (1963). Member of the CPSU since 1947.

Upon graduation from the Tbilisi Medical Institute in 1941, Khechinashvili worked under the supervision of I. S. Beritashvili. In 1952 he was appointed to the chair of ear, nose, and throat diseases at the Tbilisi Institute for the Advanced Training of Physicians. Khechinashvili’s principal works deal with the subcortical and cortical vestibular mechanisms, surgical treatment of tumors of the throat, and microsurgery of the ear. He proposed a new method of studying the function of the tonsils. Khechinashvili received a Lenin Prize in 1964 for perfecting and popularizing operations to improve hearing in cases of otosclerosis. He was a deputy to the seventh and eighth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.