Dear colleagues!

October 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Academician Yuri Mikhailovich Lopukhin, who served as Rector of the 2nd Moscow Order of Lenin State Medical Institute named after N.I. Pirogov (now the Russian National Research Medical University named after N.I. Pirogov) from 1965 to 1984. Today, we remember with gratitude Yuri Mikhailovich, whose importance for Pirogov University is difficult to overestimate.

The organizational talent of Yu.M. Lopukhin allowed one of the key domestic medical higher educational institutions in the country to become a leader, both in educational and scientific terms. His own pioneering scientific work in the field of transplantology, sorption methods of blood detoxification, and work on experimental surgery laid the foundation for the development of entire areas in domestic clinical medicine. In the history of Russian higher medical education, Yuri Mikhailovich Lopukhin is noted for introducing the traditions of research universities, where science is the driving force of the educational process. He implemented practical organizational experience, which later, in the modern history of the university, would be officially secured by the status of Pirogov University as a National Research University, the only such among medical universities in Russia.

The activities of Yu. M. Lopukhin as rector are associated with the design and construction of a new educational and laboratory complex of the university, including modern educational buildings, as well as a unique laboratory complex, which in terms of the scale of projects and technical equipment was a leading center for biomedical research in Europe and for many years served as a standard for many research institutions.

Joining the commemorative events dedicated to the 100th anniversary, the journal "Methodology and Technology of Continuous Professional Education" dedicates a section of the current issue to the publication of materials about Academician Yu. M. Lopukhin.

The thematic section of the issue presents biographical materials, articles devoted to the pedagogical legacy of Yu. M. Lopukhin, his activities as a scientist, organizer of science and education. The section ends with a large interview with prominent representatives of Russian medicine and medical education from among those who studied at Pirogov University during the rectorship of Yu. M. Lopukhin, worked with him during this and subsequent times. The genre in which the material is prepared, perhaps, best conveys to the reader the portrait of the personality of Yuri Mikhailovich Lopukhin in its integrity and versatility. We thank the authors of the articles and interview participants for the time they devoted to our publication and warm memories.