Andrei Mikhailovich Stochik, an outstanding historian of medicine in Russia, an eminent  culture figure of the Russian Federation, an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was born in Moscow on November 14, 1939.

In 1965 after graduation from the Sanitary and Hygienic department of  I. M. Sechenov First MMA  and a short period of work in the Ministry of Health of the RSFSR, in 1968 he  entered the main editorial  board of the Great Medical Encyclopedia at the Presidium of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR (GME; from 1988 to 2006 - Scientific and Practical Association "Medical Encyclopedia" RAMS), where he worked his way from a scientific editor to the general director of the SPA and became one of the leading Russian experts in the field of encyclopedic science. The scientific work by A.M. Stochik in the field of medical encyclopedic research was reflected in his Ph.D. and doctoral theses (1978 and 1992 respectively).

     In parallel with the organizational and research work on the creation of medical encyclopedias and dictionaries (Great, Concise, Short, Popular, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Medical Terms, etc.), in the early 1970s. A.M. Stochik began scientific research in the history of medicine. The directions of these studies reflected the breadth of his creative interests: from the issues of the origin and formation of doctoring and medicine, as a separate sphere of scientific and practical human activity, to the study of the continuity and evolution of scientific views and traditions in medicine, the search for relationships between the state and development of medicine at various stages of its history with the state and level of culture development in the corresponding historical period, the social and scientific ideas prevailing in this period. He was interested in the problems of the emergence and development of healing in the primitive society, in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, in the Arab Caliphates, the emergence and development of medicine in the Renaissance and New Time. The conclusions of his research led to a revision of many provisions of the Soviet history of medicine.

     A major contribution to the study of the history of world and domestic medicine was the fundamental collective article "Medicine", written mainly by A.M. Stochik, which constituted most of the 14th volume of the 3rd edition of GME (1980).

     A new stage in the biography of A.M. Stochik began in 1989, when he was elected head of the Department of the History of Medicine at I. M. Sechenov First MMI, which he headed for 22 years. On his initiative, the department was radically reorganized. Being the Department of the History of Medicine and Cultural Studies with a course in biomedical ethics (since 1995), it has become a large and advanced teaching and research team in the field of these creative areas, this fact is reflected in the "Selected Lectures on the Course of the History of Medicine and Cultural Studies" (1990) . In the late 1980s. on the initiative and with the participation of A.M. Stochik  the Museum of the History of Medicine was founded in I.M. Sechenov First MMI  In 1992 - 2012 simultaneously with the leadership of the SPA and the department A.M. Stochik headed the State Publishing House "Medicine", which annually published 100 - 150 monographs, manuals, atlases, textbooks and reference manuals on various medical specialties. The publishing house also issued over 50 medical periodicals with a total run of more than 100,000 copies.

     In 1994 A.M. Stochik was elected Corresponding Member, and in 1999 -  Academician of the RAMS (since 2013 - RAS). In 2000 he became a member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, in 2006 — 2011 he was the Acting Chief Scientific Secretary of the Presidium. In 2011,  A.M. Stochik was elected director of the Scientific Research Institute of the History of Medicine of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, which was created on the basis of the SPA "Medical Encyclopedia" five years before on his initiative and united the leading medicine historians of the country who conducted scientific research in the history of the emergence and development of various areas of biomedical, preventive and clinical medicine. Since 2013, after the merger of the institute with N.A. Semashko National Research Institute of Public Health , he worked as an adviser to the director of this united institution.

     There are four major directions in medical history research by A.M. Stochik .

     1. The first direction was to revise a number of fundamental provisions of the Soviet history of health care. For this purpose, A.M. Stochik collected and analyzed significant archival material related to the period of the establishment of health care in the country in the first years of the Soviets and during the Great Patriotic War. Unfortunately, the analysis of this vast array of historical knowledge, which he began, remained incomplete.

     2. The second direction covered a wide range of issues on the history of university medical education in Russia. Within the framework of this direction, the study of the history of I.M Sechenov MMA from the creation of the Medical Faculty of Imperial Moscow University in the 18th century to the present day was given special attention. The results of these studies are presented in a series of articles in central medical journals, in several anniversary editions: “225 years of I.M. Sechenov First Moscow Medical Institute "(1990)," 250 years of I.M. Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy (2008)," Figures of medical science and health care - employees and students of  I.M. Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy  Biographical Dictionary 1758 - 2008 " (2008). A particularly significant contribution of A.M. Stochik is the creation (in collaboration with MA Paltsev, SN Zatravkin and AA Stochik) of a series of monographs: "The Medical Faculty of Moscow University in the 18th century" (1996; 2nd ed. 2000), "The Medical Faculty of Moscow University in educational forms of the first third of the 19th century "(1998; 2nd ed. 2001)," Pathological anatomy at Moscow University in the first half of the 19th century "(1999)," Development and implementation of the stages of clinical teaching at Moscow University "( 2002), "Moscow University in the reform of higher medical education 40s - 60s of the XIX century" (2004).

     The use of methodological approaches fundamentally new in the national history of medicine and unique archival material allowed A.M. Stochik to carry out a documented reconstruction of the history of the emergence and development of higher medical education in Russia in the 18th - 19th centuries, to pose and solve a number of key issues of the birth of the national higher medical school in a new way, to revise a number of stereotypes that are firmly rooted in the literature. This cycle of studies, conducted under the guidance and with the direct participation of A.M. Stochik by the staff of his department, by the staff of  I.M. Sechenov MMA and the Research Institute of the History of Medicine, is also represented by numerous dissertations. The creation of a collective work dedicated to the history of the foundation, creation and formation of the RAMS - "60 years of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences" (2004) can also be attributed to this direction of research by A.M. Stochik .

     3. In the last years of his life, A.M. Stochik`s main attention was drawn to the consideration of problems concerning dynamics and mechanisms of development of world medicine and medical science in the New and Modern times. The results of the research are presented in a series of collective articles in central, including historical and philosophical, journals and in three textbooks: "Formation of the natural science foundations of medicine in the process of scientific revolutions of the 17th - 19th centuries" (2011), "Reforming practical medicine in the process of scientific revolutions of the 17th - 19th centuries "(2012)," The emergence of preventive medicine in the process of scientific revolutions of the 17th - 19th centuries "(2013). These works reveal the driving mechanisms of three scientific revolutions that took place in medicine in the 17th - 19th centuries and show their role in the development of medical knowledge.

     4. The major contribution of A.M. Stochik to the history of medicine are the creation of several electronic databases of the main historical events of the 17th - 18th centuries (protected by patents of the Russian Federation), under his leadership and with his personal participation, and the long-term publication of historical and medical almanac “Historical Bulletin of I.M.Sechenov MMA ” which was the first in our country, A.M. Stochik was the initiator of its publication (1992) and the permanent editor-in-chief. From 1992 to 2008 25 volumes of this almanac were published with a total volume of about 250 printed sheets. In the early 2000s. A.M. Stochik initiated the preparation and holding of scientific conferences on the history of medicine under the name "Medical Professors of the Russian Empire". The first conference under his chairmanship was held in 2003 and has since become annual. Since 2007, these conferences were called "Medical Professors of the USSR". The conferences were held within the walls of the Academy of Medical Sciences, I.M. Sechenov MMA FSBSI «N.A. Semashko National Research Institute of Public Health». Starting from the 14th conference (in memory of the founder), they are called "Stochik readings".

     The scientific and social activities of A.M. Stochik were extensive and diverse.  Over the years, he headed the Scientific Council on the History and Philosophical Problems of Medicine and the Terminological Commission of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, he was the chairman of the Dissertation Council at I.M. Sechenov MMA and worked in the Higher Attestation Commission. He also supervised the history of medicine as the deputy editor-in-chief of the journal "Problems of Social Hygiene, Health Organization and the History of Medicine." In total, throughout his scientific and organizational activities, A.M. Stochik published over 300 works, including 26 monographs and study guides, which have received well-deserved recognition from colleagues and medical students. His students completed 4 doctoral and 5 master's theses in the history of medicine and higher medical education. Andrei Mikhailovich passed away on March 16, 2015, retaining clear and sharp mind as well as amazing creative efficiency until the end of his days.