While selecting photos to congratulate Sasha, we discovered how many unsorted photos we still have from past defenses — and we realized that a number of defenses never received full reports, even though they truly deserved them. Filling this gap, we will begin with the defenses for the Traditional Chinese Medicine course, which has been taught for several years now by our wonderful TCM doctor, Evgenia Rogacheva.
Two projects were presented at the most recent defense for this course: Elena Cherenkova’s “Why Chinese Medicine Sees Kidney Health as the ‘Root of Life’ and the Foundation of Longevity” and
Nikolai Cherenkov’s “The Main Causes and Treatment Methods for Varicose Veins from the Perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine.”
The titles of the projects already show how the research skills of the course graduates are developing: the defenses no longer simply describe disease symptoms and treatment methods. Instead, the research question itself comes to the forefront, offering an analysis of the specific features of TCM methods used in treatment and their holistic, gentle nature.
In speaking about the causes of kidney disease, Elena drew on her personal experience — both of illness and recovery — and focused in detail on the main question: the multiple functions of the kidneys that are essential for all systems of the body and that allow TCM authors to call them the “root of life.” As it turned out, among those attending the defenses there were quite a few specialists with their own experience of dealing with kidney diseases — sometimes tragic, sometimes amusing — so the discussion was very lively and, thanks to the members of the Defense Committee, also highly professional.
Nikolai’s task seemed, at first glance, a little easier, since problems with varicose veins are so familiar to everyone that it might seem there is nothing new to say. But Nikolai impressed us with the systematic and consistent way he examined the many factors that affect vein health. He especially emphasized that in this area it is important to skillfully use the methods of both “Western” and “Eastern” medicine, without prejudice, and to find the necessary balance.
It is very encouraging that even the earliest defenses — and TCM graduates always defend first — attract a good number of interested participants. This means that interest is growing both in personal health and in our courses, which help people take better care of it.
We are confident that the TCM course, which will also be offered in the next Fall Semester 2026, will remain just as popular! 🤓
