The Institute was founded in 1981 by a decree of a USSR Health Minister (# 976 of 21.09.1981).
The initiator of the Institute’s creation and its director for 22 years in a row was Yuriy Petrovich Nikitin, a member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.
From 2003 to 2019, the Institute was headed by a student and successor of Yuriy Petrovich: Voevoda M.I., currently a member of the RAS.
The remarkable scientific intuition of Yu.P. Nikitin found its expression in the support and encouragement of a broad range of basic and applied studies, currently at the center of attention of modern biomedical sciences. The main research areas of the IIPM address basic and applied problems of internal diseases under the conditions of Siberia and Far North.
Within a short period, the Institute became widely known in this country and abroad because of its studies in the field of epidemiology of chronic noninfectious diseases and specific features of internal medicine pathology. At the Institute, research has flourished in the following areas: the prevalence of major internal diseases and their risk factors in various regions of Siberia and Far East. The distinguishing feature of these studies has been the use of strict standardized approaches within large international programs (CINDI, MONICA, INTAS, Inco-Copernicus, Wellcome Trust Fund, and others). This field has been one of cornerstone research topics at the Institute to date:
- WHO project MONICA: multinational monitoring of the incidence and mortality rate of CVDs and their risk factors (9,836 males/females)
- Project MORGAM: a cohort and genetic study on CVDs (11,438 males/females)
- WHO project CINDI: Prevention of CVDs
- Studies in collaboration with the USA, Canada, Iceland, and Scandinavian countries: the problems of circumpolar health
- EUROSTROKE: a populational study on stroke
- European projects on the genetics of arterial hypertension (EPOGH and InGenious HyperCare): investigation of the genomics, clinical features, and treatment of arterial hypertension
- International project HAPIEE: a cohort study on the determinants of CVDs in Eastern Europe (~35,000 males/females, at 4 centers)