140 years since the birth of the founder of the Institute Elizaveta Ivanovna Mirolyubova (1879–1962)

18  10.2019 October 21, 2019 marks the 140th anniversary of the birth of one of the founders of the institute, the organizer of the first Pasteur station in Nizhny Novgorod - Elizabeth Mirolyubova.

Born in the family of an employee of the Nizhny Novgorod city government. She graduated from the only female gymnasium in those days with a gold medal. She received medical education at the University of Bern (Switzerland), and completed internships at the Pasteur Institute (Paris) and the Koch Institute (Berlin).
In 1919, at the suggestion of the Nizhny Novgorod Provincial Health Department, Elizaveta Ivanovna organized the Pasteur Station (a hospital for vaccination and preparation of vaccination material) in Nizhny Novgorod, laying a solid foundation for combating rabies in the Nizhny Novgorod province. Thanks to her energy and dedication, the Gorky region was covered by a network of Pasteur points, and the anti-rabies vaccine she made was distributed not only to the most remote areas of our region, but also to neighboring regions and autonomous republics.

Since 1929, the Pasteur station became part of the Gorky Regional Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology (now the NNIEM named after Academician I.N. Blokhina) as a department.

In 1937, she was awarded the scientific degree of a candidate of medical sciences without defending a dissertation, in 1940 she was awarded the Badge of Excellence in Healthcare for organizing anti-rabies assistance to the population, in 1944 she was listed in the Regional Book of Honor and awarded the title of Honored Doctor of the Russian Federation .
Elizaveta Ivanovna knew three foreign languages, which allowed her to follow the novelties of both domestic and foreign literature, willingly shared her knowledge with young people, had many students.

The role of Elizabeth Ivanovna Mirolyubova in organizing anti-rabies affairs is enormous. She devoted her whole life to combating infectious diseases and was one of the largest specialists in the fight against rabies in the USSR. She developed a method for rabies prophylaxis (combined treatment for rabies), introduced her own modification of the rabies vaccine, bringing the death rate from rabies to almost zero.

In memory of Elizaveta Ivanovna and in connection with the Anniversary date, an exposition of genuine photographs, printed works, copies of various documents relating to various stages of Elizaveta Ivanovna’s life was organized in the meeting room of the institute.