Medical Radiology and Radiation Safety. 2025. Vol. 70. № 2
Nina Aleksandrovna Koshurnikova
24.12.1926‒13.02.2025
On February 13, at the age of 98, a famous scientist, doctor of medical sciences, professor, honorary citizen of the city of Ozersk, Nina Aleksandrovna, passed away. She was born in Tomsk. During the difficult war years, she, like all her peers, worked in addition to studying at school (cleared railroad crossings). After graduating from the Novosibirsk Medical Institute in 1949, she worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist, head of the maternity ward at MSO-71 in the city of Chelyabinsk-40 (Chelyabinsk-65, now Ozersk). The workload was heavy, sometimes she had to be on duty in an ambulance for 2 days. From 1953 to 1956, Nina Aleksandrovna studied in clinical residency and graduate school at the Research Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the USSR Ministry of Health. After defending her PhD dissertation in 1958, she was assigned to Branch No. 1 of the Institute of Biophysics of the USSR Ministry of Health (since 2005, the South Ural Institute of Biophysics of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia), working her way up from junior to chief researcher. She is a highly qualified specialist in the field of occupational pathology and radiation epidemiology, and studied the remote effects of radiation exposure in an experiment, and then in epidemiological studies. She is the author and co-author of more than 230 scientific papers, including 5 monographs. Under her supervision and with her direct participation, topical important scientific and practical issues of occupational pathology were developed and resolved. The results of the research conducted under her supervision were used in the development of radiation safety standards and formed the basis of the federal law "On the social protection of citizens exposed to radiation due to the accident in 1957 at the Mayak production association and the discharge of radioactive waste into the Techa River." On the initiative of N.A. Koshurnikova and with her direct participation, in 1992, a radiation epidemiology laboratory was created at the Branch to study the effects of radiation exposure on the personnel of the Mayak Production Association and the population living in the zone of influence of the nuclear industry enterprise. The laboratory created a medical and dosimetric register of the Mayak Production Association personnel, a children's register for assessing the health status of the descendants of the 1st and 2nd generations of the enterprise personnel and the children's population of the city of Ozersk, located in the zone of influence of the Mayak Production Association, a register of cases of oncological diseases of the residents of the city of Ozersk, a register of liquidators of the 1957 accident. The results of scientific research carried out on these Registers are of exceptionally great scientific significance and were used in the development of radiation safety standards.
Nina Aleksandrovna paid much attention to young specialists; under her supervision, eight PhD theses and one doctoral dissertation were successfully defended. The contribution of Nina Aleksandrovna Koshurnikova in the difficult 90s for the enterprise is invaluable. Thanks to her ability to determine the main thing and not be afraid of difficulties, the Branch of the Institute of Biophysics was preserved. She was one of the first to establish joint scientific contacts with scientists from Japan, the USA, Germany, France and other countries. Nina Aleksandrovna is a recognized and deserved authority in the foreign scientific world. Scientific meetings, conferences, symposia abroad, as well as in Russia, were unthinkable without her active participation. N.A. Koshurnikova successfully combined her extensive scientific and pedagogical work with social activities - for many years she was a member of the City Trade Union Committee, a freelance lecturer at the Public University of the Trade Union Movement. The multifaceted scientific, organizational and social activities of N.A. Koshurnikova has been awarded state awards: the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, the Veteran of Labor medal, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree, the Order of Pirogov, departmental badge - "Excellent in Healthcare", "Veteran of Nuclear Power and Industry"; the Academician A.I. Burnazyan badge, the Golden Cross of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia, honorary certificates of the Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region and the Federal Medical and Biological Agency. Laureate of the Chelyabinsk Region Governor's Prize. An inquisitive mind and inexhaustible vital energy allowed Nina Alexandrovna to pursue science, her favorite occupation throughout her life, until the age of 90.
In her free time, she loved to pick mushrooms, work on her garden plot, ski, and sail a yacht. Not indifferent to other people's problems, she tried to help everyone who turned to her for help. For us, Nina Alexandrovna is a legendary person.
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