He worked as a surgeon in Leningrad throughout its epic 900-day siege by the Germans, "performing surgery – often without anaesthetic, electricity or water – as the bombs rained all around".

[2] Uglov was one of the first surgeons in Russia to successfully perform complex operations on the esophagus and mediastinum to treat pancreatic cancer, lung diseases, congenital and acquired heart defects, and aortic aneurysm.

Until 1972 he was the director of the All-Russian Research Institute of Pulmonology of the USSR Ministry of Health, and created a large surgical school.

He was on the cutting edge of Mikhail Gorbachev's ill-fated prohibition campaign, touring the country with his lectures and winning a Lenin Prize for his activities.

[2] Uglov later blamed the failure of the 1986 anti-alcohol campaign on a conspiracy between the bureaucracy and Jews in the media opposing the idea of sobriety.

In addition to alcohol and tobacco, Uglov also classified rock music as drugs, the spread of which, in his opinion, was supported by the Order of the Illuminati.