History of Latin American Dermatology

RUBÉN GUARDA TATÍNsucceeded by his daughter Julita Cofré for over a year, and later Jaime Ferrer (1976-1981), Mónica Jara (1981-2000) and Gabriela Smoje (2000-).In the central area, the principal figure has been Manuel Melis. After his graduatetraining in pediatrics, he trained in the practice of child Dermatology with IgnacioGonzález Díaz and Pedro Cofré between 1970 and 1972 and general Dermatology withDaniel Villalobos as the St. John of God Hospital in 1973. In April 1974 he took office atthe Arriarán pediatric hospital, within the St. Borja-Arriarán hospital complex, whosechief of Dermatology, since 1974, was Daniel Villalobos.In Chile today, pediatric Dermatology is a discipline only open to physicians who haveundergone specialized studies in Dermatology and Venereology; being a pediatrician isnot a requirement, but being a dermatologist is. It doesn’t yet represent an authentic specializedsubfield with ad hoc graduate studies. To date no structure called “children’sDermatology service” exists in the organizational chart of Chilean pediatric hospitals. In2004 there exist around 20 dermatologists with preferential dedication to pediatric Dermatologyand around ten with exclusive dedication to children. Since 1990 they have organizedthe working group on child Dermatology, displaying a notable drive and quality,with very successful periodic meetings, with clinical cases and reviews of issues of greatimpact and very attractive for all national dermatologists. This has been the most successfulof all the working groups created with the support of the SCDV. After the first coordinator,María Soledad Zegpi, several others have rotated in the post. Standouts on thenational and international stage have included, among others, Julia Oroz, Manuel Melis,Julita Cofré, Mónica Jara, Winston Martínez, Jaime Ferrer, María Soledad Zegpi, FannyGuerstein, Sergio Silva, Gabriela Smoje, Paulina Grandi, Lilian Pérez, Christel Bolte andPaula Castillo.ImmunodermatologyImmunodermatology constitutes a discipline that has placed Chilean Dermatology inthe vanguard of South American Dermatology over the last two decades. Its main promoterswere Juan Honeyman and Rubén Guarda. Both disseminated and taught the immunologicalapproach to dermatological diseases. Their continuators and distinguisheddisciples were Iván Jara and Raúl Cabrera. While carrying out his graduate studies inDermatology in Oregon (USA) between 1969 and 1971, Dr. Honeyman participated in theimmunology working group of the American Academy of Dermatology. In Chile, in 1971,he introduced the modern study of autoimmune bullous diseases with immunofluorescencetechniques; he published some outstanding articles on bullous pathologies inArchives of Dermatology and was the first to envision the future impact of immunologyin Dermatology. In 1972 he contributed to bringing Dr. Guarda — who had just completedhis scholarship/residency in internal medicine and his training in immunology — into theAguirre Hospital. In addition to his training in Dermatology, Dr. Guarda took over thehandling of collagen vascular diseases and immunological hypersensitivity dermatoses.They both worked for years in the UCH Medical School’s department of experimentalmedicine and contributed to disseminate the theoretical foundations of immunology appliedto clinical treatment through many participations in graduate courses, not only inDermatology but also in other specialized fields, including internal medicine, pediatrics,gynecology and obstetrics, neurology and general surgery.Between 1970 and 1975, Drs. Honeyman and Guarda, along with Marta Velasco (hepatologist),Ricardo Sorensen (pediatrician), Mario Andreis and Sergio Aguilera (rheumatologists),Ricardo Sepúlveda (pneumologist), Alberto Daiber and Timoleón Anguita(hematologists), were the first clinical doctors in Chile to embrace clinical immunologyas the center of their daily activity. Dr. Honeyman was a founding member of the ChileanSociety of Immunology. Dr. Guarda in 1980 introduced the compulsory theoretical teaching176