In Memoriam: Anatoly Ivanovich Grigoriev, MD, PhD

Anatoly Ivanovich Grigoriev was born on March 23, 1943, in Medelivka, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Having graduated from the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University in 1966, he became a student and test subject under the direction of academicians Vasily Vasilievich Parin and Oleg Georgievich Gazenko at the USSR Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Medical and Biological Problems (IMBP) in Moscow. He earned both his MD and PhD degrees. The IMPB supports the operational medical and research needs for the Soviet/Russian space program. In 1988, Grigoriev became the director of the IMBP and served in this role until 2008.

During his illustrious career, he was a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and served as vice president of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2007–2017). Other accolades include honorary degrees, serving as editor-in-chief of the journal Aviakosmicheskaya i Ekologicheskaya Meditsina (Aerospace and Environmental Medicine), author/editor of >400 books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals worldwide, chief medical officer of the Russian Space Program, and noteworthy academician. As an educator, Dr. Grigoriev prepared students to become physicians and researchers in space physiology with a number of international partners in spaceflight.

Dr. Grigoriev conducted a wide range of research efforts in support of the cosmonauts on various Soviet/Russian space stations and eventually in partnership with NASA on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS). His expertise and leadership led to the refinements in monitoring of cosmonauts during spaceflight, which incorporated telemedicine.

In the early 1970s, the USSR and the United States developed the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Space Biology and Medicine. Dr. Grigoriev served as a cochair of this group until it evolved into the United States/Russia JWG, where he continued in this role. One of the elements of this JWG was a telemedicine team, initially for disaster response in the aftermath of an earthquake in Armenia (1988–1989) and finally a testbed for web-based telemedicine (1994). This team developed and conducted the Spacebridge to Armenia, the Spacebridge to Moscow, and the Spacebridge to Russia.

As the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia emerged as the primary space program leader, Russia joined the United States as a full partner of the ISS. This early work of the JWG led to the multilateral medical systems in current use on the ISS between the Canadian Space Agency, European Space Agency, the Japanese Space Agency, Russian Space Agency (Roscomos), and NASA. He served with distinction as the chief medical officer on the Russian side in concert with current or retired NASA chief medical officers, Drs. Arnauld Nicogossian, Richard S. Williams, and J.D. Polk.

In the 1990s, under the Vice President Al Gore/Victor Chernomyrdin Commission, Dr. Grigoriev worked with officials at Moscow State University (MSU), NASA, and the U.S. Department of State to establish a Western style medical school at MSU, where Grigoriev served as the chair of environmental and extreme medicine, MSU. It also established the Space Biomedical Center for Research and Training at this academic institution, which included a telemedicine curriculum.

In 1994, Drs. Grigoriev, Harry Holloway, and Arnauld Nicogossian established the foundation for a live telemedicine demonstration at a hearing at the U.S. Senate led by Senator John D. “Jay” Rockefeller. In 1996, a live telemedicine demonstration was held during the American Medical Association’s 150 anniversary meeting in Philadelphia. This demonstration linked Drs. Michael DeBakey, Sam Pool, and other colleagues in Houston, Texas; Drs. Grigoriev and Oleg Orlov and colleagues in Moscow, Russia; Drs. Earl Ferguson and Ashot Sargsyan in Krasnoyarsk-26 (a closed former Soviet city—now known as Zheleznogorsk); and Drs. Nicogossian, Ronald Merrell, and Mr. Doarn through a telemedicine link. This multi-international link demonstrated the utility of telemedicine on the internet.

Over Dr. Grigoriev’s career, his contributions to our field have been highly instructive and of great value for both seasoned professionals in the field of telemedicine and space medicine as well as newcomers alike. We appreciate his leadership and contributions to our growing discipline. He will be missed!