In 1988 he was appointed Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of Quarantine Infections of the USSR Ministry of Health.

[6] From 1996 to 2013 Onishchenko was the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Russia and ex officio First Deputy Minister of Health.

"[11] Later that day, Onishchenko refused to confirm information about his resignation, calling Golodets "a strange person" who "does not belong to the number of decision-makers."

On the evening of October 23, Gennady Onishchenko was officially dismissed from his post as head of Rospotrebnadzor and appointed assistant to the Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev.

Two days later, the prime minister Dmitry Medvedev removed the reprimand imposed on Onishchenko in February "for violating the requirements of article 18 of the Law on the state civil service.