Academician Mikhail R. Sapin, head of the Laboratory of Functional Anatomy at Research Institute of Human Morphology

Mikhail R. Sapin, Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, headed the Laboratory of Functional Anatomy at the Research Institute of Human Morphology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences for more than 40 years (currently the Research Institute of Human Morphology, a branch of the Petrovsky National Research Center of Surgery). Mikhail R. Sapin was not only the laboratory’s head of research, but he was also actively involved in the Institute’s life. As a member of the Academic Council, he helped define research directions and steer the Institute through difficult times. For many decades, Sapin served as a member of the Scientific and Methodological Council under the USSR Ministry of Health (later the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation), and as Chair of the Functional Anatomy Task Group of the Morphology Research Council at the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (later the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences). Sapin was well respected among morphologists; specialists from across the Soviet Union, and later from Russia and neighboring countries, sought his advice and guidance. For the morphological community, he was a true leader. Since 1974, he had served as Deputy Chair of the All-Union Scientific Society of Anatomists, Histologists, and Embryologists, becoming its Chair in 1988. In 1992, Sapin founded the International Association of Morphologists of the CIS Countries and served as its President; from 2006 to 2015, he was Honorary President of the Association.