Viktor Zhdanov

Viktor Zhdanov
Віктор Ждaнов
Born	(1914-02-14)February 14, 1914 Stepino, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire (now Sviatohorivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine)
Died	July 14, 1987(1987-07-14) (aged 73) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Resting place	Kuntsevo Cemetery
Citizenship	Russian Empire, Soviet Union
Alma mater	Kharkiv Medical Institute
Known for	Initiating the global program to eradicate smallpox undertaken by the WHO
Awards	Order of Lenin Order of the October Revolution Order of the Red Banner of Labor Order of the Red Star Award of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union
Scientific career
Fields	Microbiology, virology
Institutions	I. I. Mechnikoff Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology

Viktor Mykhailovych Zhdanov (Ukrainian: Віктор Михайлович Ждaнов; Russian: Виктор Михайлович Ждaнов, romanized: Viktor Mikhaylovich Zhdanov; 14 February [O.S. 1 February] 1914 – 14 July 1987) was a Soviet scientist, virologist and epidemiologist. He was instrumental in the effort to eradicate smallpox globally.

Zhdanov was born in the village of Shtepino, Russian Empire (in present-day renamed as Sviatohorivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine).^[1] After Zhdanov graduated from Kharkiv Medical Institute in 1936, he spent the next decade working as an army doctor, where he became interested in epidemiology; this work would directly lead to his doctoral thesis on Hepatitis A.^[2] In 1946, Zhdanov was invited to become Chief of the Epidemiology Department of the I. I. Mechnikoff Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Kharkiv, becoming its director two years later. His work in virus classification saw him admitted to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses as a life member.^[2] In addition to his accomplishments in the field of public health, Zhdanov chaired the Soviet Union's Interagency Science and Technology Council on Molecular Biology and Genetics, which among its many functions directed the Soviet biological weapons program.^[3]