History of Latin American Dermatology

JOSÉ G. DÍAZ ALMEIDA, ALFREDO ABREU DANIELFigure 13. AlfredoAbreu DanielFernanda Pastrana, Head of the Provincial Dermatology Group of the City of Havana,with the coordination of Prof. Adis Abad.In the new elections to constitute the Governing Board of the Cuban Society of Dermatology,Dr. Alfredo Abreu (Figure 13) was elected President, Dr. José Díaz Almeida,Vice-President, Dr. Zobeida Lovio, Secretary, and Dr. María Antonia Díaz, Treasurer.The Territorial Session on Dermatology of Santa Clara — Session of Cienfuegos —was held in 1996, in the month of July, with the participation of dermatologists andepidemiologists from all parts of the territory, under the coordination of Dr. RobertoSeife. In November 8 and 9, 1996, the Thirteenth Provincial and Second TerritorialSession on Dermatology took place in Santiago de Cuba, sponsored by the Cuban Societyof Dermatology-Santiago de Cuba Branch; the coordinator was Dr. YolandaColumbié. On November 28, the “37 th Anniversary of the Amalia Simoní Clinical SurgicalHospital” Scientific Session was held in the city of Camagüey; Prof. José RodríguezMachado, Head of the Dermatology Service, referred during this session to theapplication of cryosurgery, introduced in his service as of 1991, with the great meritof employing instruments designed by his Collective and manufactured by theprovince’s mechanical industry. The First Portuguese-Cuban-Spanish Session of theAtlantic Dermatology Group took place on November 30 at the Miguel Enríquez ClinicalSurgical Hospital of the city of Havana; an interesting gathering on cases for diagnosiswas held during this event.On February 3 through 7, 1997, in the city of Havana, the First International Conferenceof Cuban-Italian Dermatology was held; Cuban and Italian professors participatedas speakers. In that year, the Higher Institute of Medical Sciences of Havana elevatedprofessors José Díaz Almeida, Alfredo Abreu, Julián Manzur and Pedro Regalado Ortizto the rank of Consulting Professors.The First Portuguese-Cuban Session on Dermatology and General Clinical Medicineunfolded at the Miguel Enríquez Hospital in the city of Havana on September 2 and 3,1998, and made the development of Dermatology in both countries evident. On December17 and 18, the FOTOTER 98 Session was held, sponsored by the University of Havana,at which Esperanza Furones, who had promoted this undertaking, and professorsJosé Díaz Almeida, Adis Abad, Victoria Fundora and Pedro Balaguer, dermatologists atthe General Calixto García Hospital, presented numerous papers related to the applicationof the Fototer in Dermatology.We thus reached the year 2000 with a substantial improvement in the country’s socialand economic situation, which had been taking place in a sustained manner as of thesecond half of the 1990s. As main indicators, we point out:Education is developing at all levels.The number of graduate specialists in Dermatology has increased until it has reachedthe number of 546 for a population of 11,229,688 which entails an average of 1 dermatologistper 20,567 inhabitants.The country’s higher institutes of Medical Sciences have developed and the number ofMedical Schools has increased to reach 22, including the Latin American School of MedicalSciences (ELAM).Dermatology is present in all of the country’s polyclinics.A collective of professors of the higher institutes of Medical Sciences of Havana, VillaClara and Santiago de Cuba has concluded the most recent textbook on the subject forDermatology students and residents.Graduate courses on Dermatology have been increased at all the Medical Schools.The training and specialization of the teaching staff continues and the number of professorswith a scientific degree has risen.Major national and provincial gatherings have taken place for the discussion andanalysis of the leprosy and STD programs.160