I graduated with an MD from the Omsk State Medical Academy, Russia, and then completed the Clinical Internship and Residence programme in Internal Disease at the same institution. My postgraduate studies and further research work (2000-2007) were in preventive cardiology at the State Research Centre for Preventive Medicine in Moscow, where I conducted a study on the randomised vs. free-choice admission of nicotine gum/inhaler in smoking cessation/reduction as a part of my PhD. I also initiated and conducted a series of tobacco control seminars for Russian doctors, supported by the American Cancer Society and International Union against Cancer (2003-2004). In 2006-2007, I participated as a senior researcher in the pilot SAHR (Survey on Stress, Aging, and Health) study, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and Duke University and with the support of the National Institute on Aging.

In 2007, I was awarded the UCL Shell Centenary Chevening Scholarship, to attend the MSc course “Health and Society: Social Epidemiology”, which I completed with distinction. In 2008, I was awarded the UCL Overseas Research Student scholarship and a departmental studentship and started my full-time PhD on cardiovascular risk prediction in the populations of Central and Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union. Throughout the PhD, I provided research assistance for the HAPIEE study. HAPIEE (Health, Alcohol, and Psychological factors in Eastern Europe) is an ongoing population cohort study of over 35,000 men and women from the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, and Lithuania, supported by the Wellcome Trust and the National Institute on Aging. After successfully completing my PhD in 2012, I continue to work with the Central and Eastern European Health Research Group. I am a member of the European Society of Cardiology and the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation.