saint petersburg state medical academy saint petersburg state medical academy the north-western state medical university named after i.i. mechnikov (nwsmu), until 2011 st. petersburg i. i. mechnikov state medical academy (spsma), is a public university located in st. petersburg, russian federation. the nwsmu is one of the oldest and largest russian higher medical schools. it is often called the second medical college in st. petersburg because of its renaming in 1920, relative to saint petersburg state medical university, which is called the first medical college. north-western state medical university named after i.i. mechnikovlogo of the saint petersburg state medical academyformer namesaint petersburg state medical academymotto"arte et humanitate, labore et scientia"typepublicestablished1907affiliationnon-denominationalrectorlila aleksandr mikhailovich (лила александр михайлович)administrative staff750 (112 dsc, 433 phd, 82 prof, and 167 aprof)students5000location saint petersburg, northwestern federal district, russian federationcampusurban (40 000 м²)websitewww.mechnik.spb.ru more than 35,000 physicians graduated from the university. since beginning the international program in 1947 there have been more than 3500 international graduates from more than 50 countries. currently there is a total student population of over 5,000. the university was established in 2011 following a merger of spsma with the st. petersburg medical academy for postgraduate studies. history the nwsmu was established in 1907 under the direction of academician vladimir bekhterev and developed by the russian government through the ministry of health on the basis of the laws of russian federation. name changes 1907–1920 - medical faculty of psychoneurological institute 1920–1936 - second leningrad medical institute 1936–1946 - the institute united with a city hospital and named after nobel laureate ilya ilyich mechnikov 1946–1994 - leningrad medical institute of sanitary and hygiene by the order of the board of ministers of the ussr (n 14077 from 22.12.1946) 1994–1995 - st. petersburg state medical academy (who directory, 7 ed., page 329) 1995–2011 - the spsma was named after the great russian scientist i. i. mechnikov (order n 1307-p, dated 22.12.1995) 2011–present - the st. petersburg i. i. mechnikov state medical academy was renamed to north-western state medical university named after i.i. mechnikov, specializing in the provision of health care to the northwestern federal district of the russian federation notable graduates pyotr anokhin (1926) (cybernetics, theory of functional systems) sergey elizarovskiy (1934) (world war ii surgeon, stomatology) aleksandr panov (1928) ivan gevorkian (1930) surgeon and scientist. sergey mardashyov (1930) anatoliy portnov (1914–2006), psychiatrist (ru) ekaterina mikhailova-demina (1950) (soviet war heroine, doctor)