Yosyp Hryhorovych Turovets – a life devoted to surgery

Abstract

This article reviews the life and professional achievements of Yosyp Hryhorovych Turovets (1899 –1987), an outstanding surgeon, scientist, and educator. It traces his path from a childhood in a peasant family in Volhynia to his professorship at the Kyiv Medical Institute. It highlights his academic training, clinical residency, and early medical practice, where his organisational skills became apparent. The article examines his wartime service in evacuation hospitals, participation in military campaigns, and research on gunshot wounds to blood vessels and joints. It notes his contributions to military field surgery, traumatology, reconstructive techniques, and the invention of a unique traumatological device. The article also discusses his post-war scientific and teaching activities, departmental leadership, training of scientific personnel, implementation of innovative surgical methods, and production of educational films. It emphasises his role in introducing the term «herniology» and advancing hernia surgery. The article concludes by recognising Turovets’ significant impact on Ukrainian and global medicine, clinical science, and medical education.