In Memoriam: Tatyana Borisovna Dmitrieva

After graduating from the Ivanovo State Medical Institute, Tatyana Borisovna Dmitrieva worked as a psychiatrist in the Ivanovo Regional Psychiatric Hospital. After she received a PhD in psychiatry at the V.P. Serbsky State Research Centre for Social and Forensic Psychiatry in Moscow, she continued to be associated with the Centre, becoming its Director in 1990. She became a Professor of Medicine in 1993.

In addition to her teaching activities, Ms. Dmitrieva was very active in research in public health medicine, forensic psychiatry and social psychiatry, publishing numerous research papers and books, including manuals on the subject of forensic psychiatric expertise. She also wrote two books for a more general readership: Character: Russian, in which she analysed the Russian mentality and its historical roots; and Alliance of Human Rights and Mercy.

Her academic achievements were formally recognized in 1997, when she became a member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. She later became a member of its Presidium.

Ms. Dmitrieva also made major contributions to policymaking at the highest level of government. In 1996, she became Chairman of the Russian Security Council Commission on Health Protection. From 1996 to 1998, she was Minister of Health of the Russian Federation; she was also Deputy Chairperson of the State Commission for Counteracting Drug Abuse and Illegal Traffic. In 2005, she became the Chairperson of the Russian Federation Public Council of Carers and Users of Psychiatric Services. She played a key role in the creation of a new organizational and legislative basis for forensic psychiatric services in the Russian Federation.

Ms. Dmitrieva received numerous national awards, including the Order of Honour, the highest decoration in the Russian Federation. She became a member of the International Narcotics Control Board in 2005, serving as its Rapporteur in 2006, as Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Estimates and Second Vice-President of the Board in 2007 and as First Vice-President of the Board in 2009. She was to start her second term as a member of the Board in May 2010.

In recognition of her contribution to international drug control, the Board wishes to dedicate this report to the memory of Tatyana Borisovna Dmitrieva. She will be remembered as a talented researcher, an able policymaker and a remarkably warm and kind person.