Bokeria Leonide

Leonide Bokeria, (born December 21, 1939, in Ochamchire), is a cardiovascular surgeon. He is a Doctor of Medical Sciences (1973) and a Professor (1975). He became a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2011) and the Academy of Medical Sciences (1994).

In 1965, he graduated from Moscow I. Sechenov State Medical Institute. In 1968, he became a senior scientific researcher at the A. Bakulev Scientific Center for Cardiovascular Surgery of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences; from 1974 to 1977, he was the head of the hyperbaric oxygenation laboratory at the same institute. In 1977, he served as the Deputy Director for Scientific Affairs and simultaneously led the Arrhythmia Department. He was the Director from 1994 to 2019. Since 2019, he has been the President of the Bakulev Scientific Center for Cardiovascular Surgery.

His main research focuses on hyperbaric oxygenation, arrhythmias, experimental surgery, mathematical modeling, and more. For his research on hyperbaric oxygenation and its application in surgery, he was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1976, along with V. Burakovsky and V. Bukharin. He also received the USSR State Prize (1986), the State Prize of the Russian Federation (2002), and the Russian Federation Government Prize (2003). He is the Head of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at Moscow I. Sechenov State Medical University.

Bokeria is a member of the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons (1991), a member of the European Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons, and the International Cardio-Thoracic Center of Monaco (1992); a member of the Serbian Academy (1997). He is an honorary citizen of Tbilisi (1999) and has received numerous honors.