History of Latin American Dermatology

CÉSAR IVÁN VARELA HERNÁNDEZFigure 7. GuillermoPardoFigure 8. JoséPosadadermatopathology with Degos and Civatte at the Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris; he was one of the pioneers inthis area on his return to Colombia in 1963, and madeimportant contributions with his research into papovaviruses15, 20 .In Medellín (Antioquia), the first dermatologist wasGustavo Uribe Escobar, who studied in Paris,Barcelona and Brussels; in 1920 he launched the chairat the University of Antioquia, of which he was president,as well as founder of the Prophylactic Institutefor Venereal Diseases and of the Red Cross. JoséPosada Trujillo (Figure 8) was trained under his guidance,and succeeded him in the chair in 1936, havingCarlos Enrique Tobón as collaborator. Juvenal Gaviria, who practiced privately in thatperiod, and Fabio Uribe Jaramillo were trained in the same School. Uribe Jaramillo diedwhile we were writing this chapter. Flavio Gómez, in telling me the unfortunate news,wrote me these words: “He was the oldest dermatologist in Colombia, as good as water,as simple as bread, soft and delicate as the canes of the Valley, humble, gentlemanly, sincere,a good friend, studious; he never knew pride, advantage or arrogance.” JorgeLópez de Mesa and Iván Rendón Pizano trained in the Argentine school and Aníbal ZapataGutiérrez in that of Spain. Later there arrived graduates from the University of Michigan:in 1955 Gonzalo Calle Vélez, head of the Dermatology service of the University ofAntioquia until his death, promoter of mycology in the country; in 1959 Alonso CortésCortés, the living bible, a noted teacher, a polyglot, historian, surprising memory man,and good person par excellence; and Mario Robledo Villegas, the country’s second dermopathologist,who deepened the study of mycoses. The mycologist Ángela RestrepoMoreno deserves special recognition as a pioneer in the 1960s and to date the maximumand eminent figure in mycological research. Hugo Espinal Múnera and Libardo AgudeloAlzate arrived from the Mexican school, followed by the graduates of the University ofAntioquia: in 1964, Enrique Saldarriaga Arango and Víctor Cárdenas Jaramillo; in 1965,Flavio Gómez Vargas, who additionally studied dermatological surgery at the Universityof Rio de Janeiro, becoming a pioneer in this specific area; in 1967, Juan PedroVelásquez Berruecos, both of the latter outstanding professors, gentlemen and affectionatefriends, with regard to whom I leave testimony of my deep admiration and gratitudefor their unselfish cooperation in the development of this entire paper, and Jorge MesaRestrepo 15 ; in 1969, Myriam Mesa de Sanclemente and Stella Prada de Castañeda werepioneers in immunodermatopathology.In Pasto (Nariño), in the 1920s and 30s, the physicians Efraín Solare Alava and JorgeGarcía rendered valuable services in the control of focuses of leprosy and the epidemicof bartonellosis; toward 1950, José María Delgado Riascos, who studied at the Sorbonne,worked there for some years and then took up residence in Cali 15, 21 .In Cartagena (Bolívar), Dermatology was launched by Rubén Marrugo Ramírez, whowas the first director of the Caño del Oro leprosarium, in Tierra Bomba, Cartagena Bay;Moisés Pianeta Muñoz, who studied at the University of Cartagena of which he later becamedean (1946), “the modernizer of the Medical School,” “multispecialist and teacherfrom the heart” 22 ; Carlos Alberto Garzón Fortich, who studied Dermatology and leprologyin Brazil and the United States, settled definitively in Cartagena in 1953, being thefirst licensed dermatologist and professor at the University of Cartagena, director of theleprosariums of Caño del Oro and Agua de Dios, head of the Health Ministry’s nationalanti-leprosy campaign, bearer of the Grand Cross of Damian of Brazil and of the “JorgeBejarano” Grand Cross of Colombia; Nayib Ambrad Domínguez, who trained in Argentinawhere in 1950 he took part in endocrinology courses with Carlos Galli Mainini,120