Objective — to teach medical students about preventive medicine for the learning, formation, and consolidation of knowledge and skills needed for preventive counseling and work with each risk factor. Material and methods. The investigation dealt with procedures for teaching fourth-year students at the Altai State Medical University (ASMU) about up-to-date preventive technologies, such as lecture material, practical training with patients, students’ visits to a health center to examine patients and to draw up a plan for modifying risk factors, academic writing of case histories, practical training as a medical intern, and teaching patients about the first symptoms of their disease and their skills for emergency self-help and mutual assistance in life-threatening conditions. A questionnaire survey conducted after their study at the department showed that 78.2% of the students strongly considered that behavioral risk factors contributed most greatly to health, the equal number of the respondents deemed that more important contributions were made by currently available drugs (7.7%), heredity (6.9%), and high-tech care (7.2%). More than half (63.5%) of the students reported that after their studies, the lifestyle of theirs and their families had changed, which promoted the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCD). Conclusion. Thus, after studying at the Department of Intermediate-Level Therapy, ASMU, a young physician acquires skills for identifying the risk factors of CNCD, making brief and in-depth preventive counseling, and developing not only a long-term individual program to maintain health, but also to preserve active ageing in their patients.