Relationship between N. A. Semashko and the professorship of the First Moscow State University in the 1920s: creating the clinic of social and occupational diseases

Aim. To describe and analyze the relationship between N. A. Semashko, the leadership and professors of the First Moscow State University on the reform of higher medical education, the internal structure of the faculty and the distribution of material resources. Methodology . An analysis was conducted on the published studies on the history of the Department of Social Hygiene of the First Moscow State University, the Clinic of social and occupational diseases and the Institute of social hygiene. The source base was the records of medical universities and government health authorities, preserved in the funds of the Moscow Central State Archive and the Russian State Archive. Results. The relationship between N. A. Semashko, the leadership and the professorship of the First Moscow State University were of a heterogenous nature. A dubious attitude towards pedagogical activities and the preventive bias of the People’s Commissar prevailed among clinicals. N. A. Semashko had to compromise and use the resources of his own People’s Commissariat. Research implications. The experience of interaction between government bodies and universities in the development of higher medical education in the 1920s is analysed and updated.