1992 International Travel Fellowship
Vladimir N. Malakhov will receive the 14th annual the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (formerly AACC) International Fellowship Award. This award is sponsored by Becton Dickinson Vacutainer Systems, Becton Dickinson and Co.
Born in Riga, Latvia, Dr. Malakhov graduated from Moscow State University in 1969, where he specialized in the kinetics of enzymatic catalysis. He started his research career as a fellow at the Central Research Laboratory of the Fourth Clinical Department of the Ministry of Health in the U.S.S.R.
His early research focused on kinetic and immunochemical methods for quantification of isoenzymes of creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, and alkaline phosphatase. Dr. Malakhov was among the first to describe immunokinetic methods to determine human creatine kinase isoenzymes, methods that have been widely used in clinical laboratories. His findings formed the basis of his doctoral dissertation. Some of his studies were devoted to solving problems in enzyme and isoenzyme diagnostics and to chromatographic and electrophoretic measurements of isoenzymes in biologic fluids.
Dr. Malakhov’s research took a turn in 1979 when he became head of the newly founded Department of Standardization of Biochemical Methods of the Institute for Preventive Cardiology (today known as the National Research Center for Preventive Medicine of the Ministry of Health). Under his supervision, the department standardized and developed quality-control steps for measuring total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, apolipoproteins, and electrolytes. In the past decade there has been a National Project of Multicenter Population Studies dedicated to the study of epidemiology and prevention of atherosclerosis and related coronary heart diseases and risk factors.
Dr. Malakhov’s investigations also included developing data management methods for findings of multicenter population-based biochemical studies, which could take into account the real values of analytical errors. He also coauthored several publications and patents on analytical aspects of measuring lipids and apolipoproteins, preparing reference and control sera, vial-to-vial variability of analyte concentrations, interactions of lipophilic anions and lipoproteins, clinical application of protease plasmasorption by using immobilized protease inhibitor, and using lipids in population studies of risk factors of atherosclerosis.
Last year the Ministry of Health of the former U.S.S.R. gave Dr. Malakhov’s department responsibility for conducting a large-scale national external quality-assessment scheme for clinical chemistry. This will cover more than 3000 clinical laboratories in the Russian Federation.
In 1981 Dr. Malakhov visited the United States for 4 weeks, spending most of his time at the Centers for Disease Control; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and the Lipid Research Clinic in San Diego, where he familiarized himself with the quality-control and standardization techniques of the Lipid Research Clinics Program.
In 1985 and 1988 Dr. Malakhov was invited to be a temporary advisor to the World Health Organization. He is now involved with the European working groups developing methodical and organizational solutions for external quality assessment in clinical chemistry. He is also a member of the Expert Committee on Advanced Reagent Kits for Clinical Laboratories in the Ministry of Health.