Prof. Dr. med.
Roman Albertovich Luria
1874 - 1944

Roman Albertovich Luria was born on May 16, 1874 into a Jewish family in Brest-Litovsk (today Belarus). He was the youngest child of the teacher Albert Luria (1840–1886) and his wife Etta Levinson (1845–1885). After the early death of both parents, he was raised in Novgorod-Seversky (today Ukraine) by his sister’s family. His brother Leon (1864–1923), also a physician, emigrated to the United States in 1891, as did his brother Gregory (1868–1933). Another brother, Matvey (born 1869), worked as a dentist.

Luria was married to Yevgeniya Viktorovna Luria (née Chaskina, 1875–1951), who worked as a dentist. Their son, Alexander Romanovich Luria  (July 16, 1902– August 14, 1977), became an internationally renowned Soviet neuropsychologist. Their daughter, Lydia Romanovna Luria, born in 1908, became a well known and respected psychiatrist.

Education and Career

Beginning in 1892, Roman Luria studied at the Medical Faculty of the Imperial University of Kazan. At that time, Jewish students made up only about 5% of the university’s enrollment. After graduating, he was barred from pursuing a university career because of his Jewish background. He therefore first practiced medicine in a rural area near Kazan and later worked in a private practice in Kazan. From 1897 to 1899, he worked as an administrative physician in the province of Simbirsk, south of Kazan.

From 1899 onwards, he was able to work at the provincial zemstvo hospital in Kazan, which also allowed him access to the physiological laboratory of Kazan University. Under these conditions, he was able to pursue a doctorate. His dissertation, “On the Role of the Sensory Nerves of the Diaphragm in the Innervation of Respiration,” was completed in 1902. During these years, he specialized in gastrointestinal diseases.

Luria spent several summers in Germany to continue his medical education; German social, political, and scientific ideas played a significant role for him and his family and German was spoken as a second language at home.

In 1912, Roman Luria and his wife Yevgeniya visited the famous spa town of Karlsbad in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Karlsbad was, at the time, an internationally renowned health resort with a large Russian clientele. Interestingly enough, Luria’s visit in 1914 is documented in the arrival recordings on July 29, 1914 one day before Russia and Austria-Hungary started World War I.

Luria served in the Russo Japanese War (1904–1905) in a mobile field hospital of the Third Manchurian Army, and was also active during World War I. From August 1914 onwards, he served as senior physician of the 94th Reserve Infantry Regiment and was later assigned to a reserve evacuation hospital.

During World War I, Dr. Luria acted in Kazan as a contact person together with the lawyer Blatt for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC / “Joint”), which provided aid to Jews suffering from the war.

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC / Joint) was founded in 1914 as a Jewish-American welfare organization with the goal of providing economic support to Jews in Eastern Europe and Palestine. During World War II, the organization helped Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. After the Shoah, the Joint launched an extensive aid program for survivors in the German, Austrian, and Italian DP (Displaced Persons) camps. In addition, the Joint organized and financed emigration to Israel and overseas.

After the October Revolution of 1917, most restrictions on Jews in the Soviet Union were abolished. Luria was now free to pursue an academic career. He received an appointment at Kazan University, where he founded an independent Institute for Advanced Medical Training, serving as its first director for ten years while also heading the Department of Internal Diseases. The institute still continues to exist today (Kazan State Medical Academy). In 1927, on the occasion of Luria’s 30th anniversary in medical practice, the clinic for internal medicine was named after him, and three fellowships in his name were established. Since 2010, the Professor R.A. Luria Prize has been awarded annually for outstanding work by young scientists at the Kazan State Medical Academy

His son A.R. Luria wrote in his memoirs:“My father was a doctor, specializing in stomach and internal diseases, who taught at the Kazan Medical School. Following the Revolution, he became an influential contributor to Soviet medicine. He established an independent institute for advanced medical studies in Kazan and after several years moved to Moscow where he was vicedirector of the Central Institute for Advanced Medical Studies. My family was typical of what in Russia is called ‘the intelligentsia.’ We considered ourselves progressive and had no religious traditions. Although we were sympathetic to the revolutionary movement, we were not directly involved in it.”

In 1930, Roman Luria moved to Moscow, where he became a cofounder of the Central Institute for Advanced Medical Studies, serving as head of the medical department  and deputy director.

Scientific Contributions

Initially, Luria’s scientific work focused on gastrointestinal diseases. His first publication in a German journal appeared in 1912, presenting a case study of megasigmoid colon.

In the following years, he studied syphilis, particularly its effects on the stomach. His book on this topic was published by the Karger publishing house in Berlin in 1929.

He was an early pioneer of psychosomatic medicine. He coined the concept of the “inner picture of illness” (Inneres Bild der Krankheit).

–  The outer picture of illness referred to measurable medical findings.

– The inner picture referred to patients’ subjective experiences: sensations, emotions, beliefs about illness, conflicts, and psychological trauma

– “the entire vast inner world of the patient.”

His 1935 book “Inner Picture of Diseases and Iatrogenic Illnesses” introduced this concept and became influential. It was reprinted several times in the Soviet Union; the 4th edition, published in 1977, was edited by his son shortly before his death.

Roman Albertovich Luria died on October 22, 1944 in Moscow. He is buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery, one of Russia’s most prestigious burial sites