History of Latin American Dermatology

CÉSAR IVÁN VARELA HERNÁNDEZFigure 22. NelsonGiraldoGalindo arrived in Cali; a dermatopathologist trained in Argentina, he launched thechair at the St. John of God Hospital; his legacy and human conditions were incomparable.Antonio José Torres Muñoz trained at his side, also carrying out furtherstudies in Buenos Aires. In 1967 there arrived Nelson Giraldo Restrepo (Figure 22),who trained alongside Prof. Abulafia in Buenos Aires; together with Dr. Torres hefounded the chair at the University del Valle in the 1970s 21 . In Bogotá, in 1963, LuisAlfredo Rueda Plata, who had studied dermatopathology with professors Degos andCivatte in France, launched his important universal contribution, particularly on thestudy of the papova virus 15, 20 . In 1975, Alonso Cortés Cortés created the “GustavoUribe Escobar” dermatopathology lab at the University of Antioquia, headed by WalterLeón Hernández, a noted dermatopathologist and excellent teacher. The pathologistAníbal Mesa Cock also stood out through his contributions. In Bogotá, in the1970s and 80s, Fernando García Jiménez, Head of the Dermatology Service a theNational University, gave it a significant dermatopathological approach; from the NationalInstitute of Health, the pathologist Gerzaín Rodríguez Toro launched an extremelyimportant collaboration that continues to the present time. Towards 1989, with the entryof Luis Fernando Palma, the subfield acquired even greater rigorousness at that Schoolwith precise observations, under a strict criterion, which were added to this specialist’snoble humanistic conditions and interest in teaching. At the end of the 1980s FelipeJaramillo Ayerbe returned to Manizales from New York University, becoming a pillar inthe coffee-growing region. In the 1990s, other dermatopathologists arrived in diversecities to expand the subfield: Mabel Yaneth Ávila Camacho in Bucaramanga and RicardoAugusto Rueda Plata in Cali; the latter described the polymorphous and eosinophilic rashassociated with radiotherapy 21, 32 . On June 22, 1996,in Bogotá, Antonio Barrera, Patricia DeCastro, FelipeJaramillo, Leonor Molina, Luis Fernando Palma,Gerzaín Rodríguez, Luis Alfredo Rueda and RicardoRueda founded the Colombian Chapter of Dermatopathologyand chose Antonio Barrera Arenales asfirst president (Figure 23).Figure 23.Antonio BarreraFigure 24.GuillermoGutiérrezHISTORY OF ONCOLOGICAL DERMATOLOGYAs of 1934, patients with skin cancer were treated atthe National Radium Institute in Bogotá; but it was in1978 that Guillermo Gutiérrez Aldana (Figure 24), fromthe National University of Bogotá, who also brought hisknowledge to the National Cancerology Institute, designedthe oncodermatological clinical record and started the oncodermatologicy practiceand teaching, which were consolidated under his guiding rules in 1992 with thecreation of graduate studies in oncological Dermatology, which he asked Michel FaizalGeagea to design and which was continued by Álvaro Acosta de Hart. In the 1990s, ClaudiaMarcela Covelli Mora and Carmen Helena de la Hoz Ulloa began offering specializedtreatment at the University del Valle in Cali. Several colleagues who trained abroad andcompleted graduate studies at the National Cancerology Institute have taken the subfieldto diverse cities around the country.HISTORY OF PEDIATRIC DERMATOLOGYCOLLABORATOR: Antonio Barrera ArenalesIn the 1970s and 80s, pediatric Dermatology took its first steps, in line with the buddingand increasing world interest in going deeper into the study of child Dermatology,with eager dermatologists undertaking the teaching. Standouts among them are: in Bogotá,128