Elena N. Parovichnikova — General Director of the National Medical Research Center for Hematology of the Russian Ministry of Health, hematologist, chief freelance hematology specialist of the Russian Ministry of Health, Doctor of Medical Sciences, hematologist, international expert and the country's leading specialist in the field of leukemia, bone marrow failure and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Elena Parovichnikova graduated with honors the 2nd Moscow State Medical Institute named after N.I. Pirogov in 1985 with a degree in general medicine. She completed her residency and postgraduate studies at the Department of Hematology and Intensive Care of the Russian Medical Academy of Continuous Professional Education, Russian Ministry of Health (1985-1990).
She began working at the NMRC for Hematology in 1990. In 1992, she worked as a researcher at the Department of Hemoblastosis Chemotherapy and Bone Marrow Transplantation becoming the senior researcher of the same department in 2002. From May 2011 until September 2021, she served as the Head of the Department of Hemoblastosis Chemotherapy, Hematopoiesis Depression, and Bone Marrow Transplantation. On 9 August 2021, she became the Acting General Director and on 20 September 2021 she was named the General Director of the National Medical Research Center for Hematology of the Russian Ministry of Health.
Elena Parovichnikova defended her thesis for the degree Candidate of Medical Sciences on the topic, “Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Patients Over the Age of 60” in 1992, and her thesis “New Treatment Programs for Acute Leukemia” for the degree Doctor of Medical Sciences in 2003.
Elena N. Parovichnikova stands at the foundation and is the coordinator of all Russian multicenter studies on the treatment of acute leukemia in adult patients. She is the initiator of interregional cooperative interaction between the hematology centers of the country aimed at creating new, effective, and at the same time reproducible chemotherapy programs while monitoring the effectiveness hemoblastosis treatment. Under her leadership, new programs of differentiated treatment of acute leukemia based on the identification and monitoring of specific tumor markers have been developed. Furthermore, protocols for the treatment of patients with various variants of the disease were created, taking into account patient age and clinical features of the tumor process, making it possible to improve treatment results by 1.5-2 times. All of these works served as the cornerstone for the creation of domestic clinical recommendations for the treatment of acute leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes, which took into account the experience and results of Russian multicenter clinical trials, the development of which was initiated and coordinated by Elena N. Parovichnikova. In total, 18 multicenter prospective, including randomized, studies on the treatment of acute leukemia have been carried out under her leadership.
Elena Parovichnikova expanded the strategy of treatment of acute leukemia in women at different stages of their pregnancy, proving the need and effectiveness of chemotherapy in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. For the first time in world practice, it was demonstrated that pregnancy is not an exclusion criterion when performing clinical prospective studies, that the tolerability and toxicity of chemotherapy in pregnant and non-pregnant women with acute leukemia is comparable, and that in different variants of acute leukemia pregnancy has different prognostic risks.
E.N. Parovichnikova pays great attention not only to applied, but also to fundamental aspects of medical science. The works of the scientific team led by her on studying the evolution of a residual leukemic clone using methods of molecular genetics and flow cytofluorometry was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research in the form of grants and the Russian Science Foundation. In the course of these studies, the evolution of a residual leukemic clone was studied; A two-step approach to risk assessment was proposed for monitoring minimal residual disease, as well as temporary patterns of acute leukemia; the role of clonal hematopoiesis in patients with acute leukemia was determined; the innate predisposition to the development of malignant diseases of the blood system and the development of toxic complications was assessed, which affects the choice of a hematopoietic stem cell donor and determines the need for transplantation of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cells.
Under her leadership, approaches to the transplantation of allogeneic stem hematopoietic cells, to the search and selection of donors, and to the time regulations for transplant preparation have changed significantly. The volume of transplant care provided at the NMRC for Hematology has increased tenfold. Under her guidance, protocols for the transplantation of allogeneic stem hematopoietic cells used in regional transplant centers were published. A number of studies have been carried out aimed at studying immune system reconstruction, the pathogenesis of the acute graft-versus-host reaction, prevention of relapse development, and the monitoring of the minimal residual population of tumor cells. Work was also carried out on modeling the reference register of bone marrow donors, which made it possible to determine the optimal size of the register, the completeness of donor typing. A provision on “special” hematology for patients with diseases of the blood system was also formulated.
E.N. Parovichnikova is chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Association for the Promotion of Hematology, Transfusiology and Bone Marrow Transplantation “National Hematology Society” and chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Conference “Leukemias and Lymphomas, Therapy and Basic Research,” which has been held biyearly for the past 30 years. She heads the Scientific Committee of the Congress of Hematologists of Russia. She is a recognized scientist in the world community, heads the working group of the Russian study on the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in adults, is a permanent member of the Pan-European working group on the treatment of these leukemias (EWALL), participates in the work of the European Leukemia Network (ELN), is an organizer of educational seminars on hematology (EHA tutorials) together with the European Hematology Association (EHA), is a member of EHA, has repeatedly spoken at international European congresses, and regularly participates in international expert councils.
Parovichnikova has been a member of the Expert Council of the Higher Attestation Commission for Therapeutic Sciences (VAK) for more than four years. Currently, she is a chairman of the Profile Commission of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation on Hematology. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the journals “Hematology and Transfusiology,” “Oncohematology,” “Cellular Therapy and Transplantation,” and “Issues of Hematology/Oncology and Immunopathology in Pediatrics.” She is a member of the Reactionary Council of the Journal “Therapeutic Archive,” and chairman of the Scientific Council of the NRMC for Hematology of the Russian Ministry of Health.
Over the past 5 years, Elena N. Parovichnikova has published more than 600 scientific articles in rated journals (a total of 1,656 publications with 4,246 citations, according to the RSCI), with a weighted average impact factor of 3.427. She is the author of 9 monographs, 42 book chapters, 3 information and analytical reference books, and has 7 copyright certificates. The Hirsch index for publications according to the RSCI is 25. Under her leadership, 21 Candidate and 3 Doctoral dissertations were prepared and defended.
