Joseph N. Shapiro (or ''Iosif Naumovich Shapiro.'' ; ; 1887 in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

– 1961 in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

) was a

urologist Urology (from Greek οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and ''-logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary system and the reproductive organs. Org ...

, military doctor, lecturer and one of the founders of urologic

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Early life

Shapiro was born in

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

(1887). Because of the prescribed quota for Jewish students in Russian universities, he entered the Medical Faculty of the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

in 1908 and graduated in 1918 with honors as a Doctor of Medicine. In 1915 he passed the state examination for the title of Physician at the medical faculty of

Moscow University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

. From 1914 to 1917 he worked as an intern in the Urology Department of the "Union of Cities" Infirmary 144; at the same time he also worked as the head of the surgical department of 36th hospital; and as an intern in the urological department in Obukhov Hospital in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, under Professor B .N. Holtz. Professor B.N. Holtz drew him to the teaching of urology as a freelance assistant (1925), and further (1930) as a

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualifi ...

Career

In 1928, Shapiro created the urology department with 60 beds in the Mechnikov Hospital in Saint Petersburg. In 1934, under his leadership, a Department of Urology was created in the 2nd Medical Institute in Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad). Beginning in 1935 Shapiro served as Head of the Department of Urology at the LenGIDUV ( Leningrad Institute for Advanced Medical Education). In the pre-war years (1936–1939) the number of patients in his clinic in LenGIDUV reached 120. It was the largest urology department in the USSR. In 1938 he produced a monograph "Tumors of the urinary bladder", which was a handbook for surgeons, oncologists, and urologists. During

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

(1939–1940) Shapiro was Senior Consultant Urologist for evacuation hospitals of Leningrad. Upon the

German invasion of Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a ...

(1941) he became a consultant urologist at the Northern Front, and from 1942 to 1945 a chief urologist for evacuation hospitals of the People's Commissariat for Health. His report "Gunshot wounds of the urinary and genital system" at the 1941 All-Union conference of surgeons was well regarded. Thanks to his work as the organizer of the stage treatment of urological wounds, 61% of the victims had their health restored and returned to duty. In 1946 J. N. Shapiro opened the urology department with 50 beds in the Uricky Hospital in Leningrad and worked during the first year as head of the department. From 1958 until his death, he was Head of the Urologic Oncology Department in the Uricky Hospital. He died in 1961 and was buried in the Preobrazhenskoe Jewish Cemetery in Saint Petersburg.

References

* 1. Northwestern State Medical University named after I.I. Mechnikov: Department of Urology: History of the department (in Russian): http://szgmu.ru/rus/pdo/k/81/ * 2. St. Petersburg City geriatric center: Department of Urology (in Russian): http://ger-uro.ru/?page=history {{DEFAULTSORT:Shapiro, Joseph N. Soviet urologists Physicians from Minsk 1887 births 1961 deaths Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Moscow State University alumni Soviet military doctors 20th-century Belarusian Jews Physicians from Saint Petersburg Expatriates from the Russian Empire in Germany