OREANDA-NEWS. Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO announces the launch of its new research centre for economics and management in healthcare. It will be headed by Yury Krestinsky, SKOLKOVO Executive MBA graduate.

The centre's primary objective is to conduct research on effective management, economics and informational support for Russia's healthcare system, as well as to create and implement educational programmes allowing for the development of professional healthcare managers.

"We can see a whole array of problems in the market: the lack of managerial skills among the heads of healthcare institutions, the absence of independent market research, dissatisfaction with the quality of services rendered. These are the challenges of Russia's healthcare sector that we want to address in collaboration with the industry's key players. Our centre will actively cooperate with both the market regulatory authorities and private companies in order to establish open and honest dialogue," said Yury Krestinsky. The first research papers should be published before late 2016.

Yury Krestinsky has been working in healthcare since 1992. In 1993, he created a still active national daily newspaper called Farmatsevtichesky Vestnik (Pharmaceutical Herald), as well as other titles covering healthcare issues. All that provided for the foundation of the Bionika group, a leading Russian medical and pharmaceutical informational holding company that manages publishing, advertising, HR, and analytical projects.

In 1996, Mr Krestinsky established the Pharmexpert Market Research Centre; in 2007, he headed the Department of Pharmaceutical Activities, Regional and Information Policy at the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation. Since 2007 he has been acting as the Director of Institute of Public Healthcare Development.