Ioseb Abakelia was a pioneering Georgian

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 physician and medical scholar, specializing in the field of phthisiatry

Phthisiatry

Phthisiatry is the study of tuberculosis. The term is used primarily in Eastern European and Russian science.It dates back to The Canon of Medicine written by Ibn Sina in the 1020s...

 (study of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

).

Biography

Abakelia was born in Kutaisi

Kutaisi

Kutaisi is Georgia's second largest city and the capital of the western region of Imereti. It is 221 km to the west of Tbilisi.-Geography:...

 and studied medicine at the University of Moscow, graduating in 1911. In the 1910s he studied tuberculosis and in 1921 Abakelia published the first Georgian scientific study of tuberculosis. A year later he established the first laboratory in Georgia dedicated to the study of the disease in Tbilisi

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

. He continued his work at the Tbilisi State University

Tbilisi State University

Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University , better known as Tbilisi State University , is a university established on 8 February 1918 in Tbilisi, Georgia. TSU is the oldest university in the whole Caucasus region...

 in 1926. and in 1930 became a professor. That same year he founded the first Georgian Institute for the Study of Tuberculolis and directed it until 1938 when he was arrested and executed (shot) by Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

 during the Great Purge

Great Purge

The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...

.

He was the uncle of Tamar Abakelia

Tamar Abakelia

Tamar Abakelia was a Georgian sculptress, theater designer and illustrator. She was granted the title of Honored Artist of the Georgian SSR in 1942.- Family :...

, a well known sculptress in Georgia.