Mikhail Davydov (oncologist)

Mikhail Ivanovich Davydov (1947 to 2025) was a Russian doctor and medical scientist who directed the Russian Cancer Research Center, known as the Blokhin Center, from 1992. Born in Konotop in the Ukrainian SSR, he served in the airborne troops, graduated from the Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University in 1975 and trained at the Blokhin Center, where he rose from leading researcher in the thoracic department to head of abdominothoracic oncology. He devoted his work to the surgical treatment of lung, esophageal and stomach cancer and mediastinal tumours, devised a new technique of intrapleural gastro-esophageal and esophageal-intestinal anastomoses, and improved results through lymph node dissection. He was among the first in oncological surgery to operate with plasty of the vena cava, aorta and main pulmonary artery. He supervised more than 30 theses and wrote over 300 publications. He received a Russian State Prize in Science and Technology in 2002 and became a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2003 and of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in 2004. He died on 8 February 2025.