The article, which is devoted to the anniversary of Nikolai N. Burdenko, analyzes archival documents and reviews how the Russian school of neurosurgery was established. N. N. Burdenko (1876–1946) is an outstanding surgeon and organizer of healthcare, a founder of Russian neurosurgery, a creator of the first Central Neurosurgical Institute in the world, the director and first President of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Colonel-General of the Medical Service, participant of four wars, Chief Surgeon of the Red Army (1937–1946), and a Hero of Socialist Labor. Having graduated from the medical faculty of Yuryev University, N. N. Burdenko was sent on an internship abroad. K. N. Monakov, a neuroanatomist and a neuropsychologist, who participated in the multidisciplinary research of the brain, greatly influenced the formation of N. N. Burdenko as a scientist. The doctor started his medical career as a military surgeon during the First World War. Severe nervous system traumas convinced N. N. Burdenko that neurosurgery needed to be established as its own scientific field. The first brain surgery clinic was opened in Moscow in 1929, whereas the Central Neurosurgical Institute was established by future Academician Nikolai Burdenko in 1932. Doctors from various fields participate in its work, forming a multidisciplinary team and creating the foundation for a neurosurgical research institution. The final achievement of the outstanding scientist was the establishment of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, opening new paths for national healthcare. The principles of the interdisciplinary approach to diagnosis and treatment of patients, laid down by Burdenko, are currently prioritized in all medical institutions of the country. The personal data sheet of People’s Commissariat of Public Health has been published for the first time.