Konstantin Andreevic Kolesov, MD (1901-1971) was one of the leading leprologists of the former Soviet Union, a member of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Leprosy and a Candidate of Medical Sciences. He was head of the Leprosy Department of the Central Institute for Research on Skin and Venereal Diseases at the USSR Ministry of Health, Moscow. He initiated active immunoprophylaxis of leprosy in USSR through the use of BCG vaccine. In 1964 he was the first Soviet scientist to infect mice in the footpad successfully by Shepard's method. He was the first researcher to raise the possibility of using this method to obtain a generalized multiplication of leprosy bacilli in mice, with involvement of the internal organs.

International Journal of Leprosy, Centennial Festskrift edition, Vol 41, No 2. 1973.