Higher medical education in Kaunas in 1919–1930

In the autumn of 1919, the Higher Medical Courses for medical students who failed to complete their studies during the First World War were organised at the Kaunas State Hospital by the initiative of Dr. Juozas Žemgulis and other members of the Kaunas Medical Society. In January 1920 these courses became the Medical Department of Lithuanian Higher Courses and on 16  February 1922  after the grand opening of the University of Lithuania in Kaunas, the Faculty of Medicine became one of the largest faculties at the university.  Prof. Petras Avižonis was assigned the role of  the first Dean of the faculty. The faculty had four departments: Medicine, Pharmacy, Odontology, and Veterinary Medicine (the latter was closed in 1928 due to economic hardship and staff shortages). From the very beginning, the Council of the Faculty of Medicine established the necessary subdivisions of the faculty and sought for qualified scientific staff. The positions of the heads of the departments were occupied by experienced professors of foreign universities and famous Lithuanian physicians of that time, who were already lecturing at the Higher Courses. The Faculty of Medicine did not have its own clinical base, so in the 1930s, many departments were housed in the city’s largest hospitals. The theoretical departments of the faculty were located at the Main Building (corner of K. Donelaitis and Gediminas streets). With the strengthening of the economic situation of Lithuania and  after the election of Prof.  Vladas Lašas as the Dean of the faculty the rapid development of the material base of the faculty began, the quality of studies improved, and the level of research work increased.

Kaunas State Hospital buildings. The Higher Medical Courses were taught here from Autumn 1919

The Old Anatomicum (Anatomy Laboratory) of the Higher Medical Courses in A. Mickevičius street. 1921. It is here that the LSMU Main Building presently stands

Anatomy works of Lecturer J. Žilinskas at the Old Anatomicum (Anatomy Laboratory). 1922

Prof. Petras Avižonis – the first Dean of the Medical Faculty at the University of Lithuania 1922-1924

Council of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lithuania. 1923

Practice works of students of the Department of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lithuania. 1928

The staff of the Clinic of Paediatric Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lithuania. 1925

Students of the Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lithuania. Circa 1924-1925

Student ID card of the Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lithuania

Students of the Medical Department of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lithuania with the staff of the Surgery Clinic at Kaunas State Hospital

Farewell party for Vladas Kuzma, Assistant at the Clinic of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lithuania, after receiving a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship for an internship in Vienna. 1925

Students of the Medical Department of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lithuania and the staff of the Surgery Clinic in the garden of Kaunas State Hospital. 1926

Prof.  Vladas Lašas – Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lithuania (Vytautas Magnus) 1924-1940

Students of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lithuania with Prof.  Juozas Bagdonas in the yard of the Infectious Diseases Department of Kaunas State Hospital. 1924

The first graduation of the students of the Medical Department of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lithuania at Kaunas State Hospital. 1925

The first graduation of the students of the Medical Department of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lithuania at Kaunas State Hospital. 1925

Staff and students of the Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lithuania, in the courtyard of the Red Cross Hospital. 1929

Humorous characteristics of professors of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lithuania – heads of departments and clinics.  Author – Azarijus Volockis, a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine.  1929

Part of the form of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lithuania, 1922–1930, used in all the official faculty documents.