Birth of Levon Hovhannisian (February 25, 1885)

Cardiologist Levon Hovhannisian was one of the foremost figures in the development of medical science in Armenia and in the establishment of medical institutions, as well as a specialist in the history of Armenian medicine. 

He was born on February 25, 1885, in Tiflis. In 1903, he graduated from the First Gymnasium of Tiflis and was admitted to the medical faculty of Kharkov Imperial University, which he completed in 1909. After graduating from the university, he began working in a hospital therapeutic department. In 1911, he completed the theoretical portion of the examinations for the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Returning to Tiflis, he continued working at the Mikhailov Hospital while simultaneously preparing for his doctoral dissertation. He married and had three children. 

After assignments in 1912–1913 to the hospitals of the copper mines of Kazakhstan and Alaverdi, he completed the practical portion of his doctoral examinations in Kharkov in the spring of 1913. He then returned to Tiflis and for some time again worked at the Mikhailov Hospital. 

During World War I, he was drafted to the Caucasian front, where he served in his specialty until 1918. For the conscientious fulfillment of his duties, he was awarded two Russian orders. After working in Tiflis and Nakhichevan in 1918–1919, he settled in Yerevan in 1919, where he began working on the eradication of malaria, and in 1920 he headed the Republican Committee for the Fight Against Malaria. From 1922 to 1925, he served as secretary of the Yerevan Medical Society. 

Hovhannisian was one of the founders of the medical faculty of Yerevan State University (later the Yerevan Medical Institute) and initiated the establishment of the Arzni health resort. In 1937, he defended his doctoral dissertation in medical sciences entitled “On the Question of the Origin of Organic Heart Murmurs.” In 1940, he was awarded the title of Honored Worker of Science of Armenia. He was elected a full member of the newly established National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (1943) and of the newly established Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR (1944). 

From 1953 to 1955, Hovhannisian headed the Medical Sciences Division of the Academy of Sciences, and from 1955 to 1961, he directed the cardiology division. In 1961, on the basis of the latter, he founded and directed the Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery. Later, the institution was renamed the Institute of Cardiology of the Ministry of Health and, since 1972, has borne the name of Levon Hovhannisian. In 1965, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in the second degree. He died on May 11, 1970, in Yerevan. 

Levon Hovhannisian’s main scientific works were devoted to cardiology, the study of infectious diseases, and medical terminology. He proposed new methods for diagnosing cardiovascular diseases, studied the origin of heart murmurs, and addressed other medical issues. He authored the five-volume comprehensive History of Armenian Medicine from Ancient Times to the Present (1946-1947, in Russian), the first complete study of the history of Armenian medicine.