Among his lecturers were Ivan Sechenov, Alexander Stoletov, Friedrich Erismann and Nikolai Sklifosovsky, but it was an ophthalmologist Professor Adrian Kriukov (1849 – 1908) who had played a special role in Averbakh's professional formation.

In 1904 — 1911 Mikhail Averbakh was a privatdozent of the Imperial Moscow University, which he left with a group of professors as a protest against Minister Kasso's higher-education policy.

In 1935 it was transformed in the Helmholtz Central Institute of Ophthalmology, that combined medical practice with wide scientific activity.

His works during the Second World War were awarded with the Stalin Prize of 1st degree, which the scientist donated to finance the needs of the Red Army.

29 June 1952 a monument to Mikhail Averbakh by sculptor Sergey Merkurov was opened near the buildings of the Helmholtz Central Institute of Ophthalmology.