History of Latin American Dermatology

M. MADERO, F. MADERO, G. MONTENEGRO, M. COELLO, C. ARIASmentioned, and with the collaboration of other colleagues who were also partially dedicatedto Dermatology, began to shape the specialized field in our country.Founding of the Ecuadorian Society of DermatologyIn the above-mentioned circumstances, the early 1960s presented a propitious situationfor all these physicians to come together in a single collegiate body that would befully dedicated to the promotion of research, dissemination and teaching of the specializedfield. The idea came up in the city of Guayaquil, and Drs. Enrique Uraga Peña,Wenceslao Ollague Loayza and Luis Carvajal Huerta made it a reality: they began thepreliminary meetings with diverse physicians in the country who practiced Dermatologyor other related specialized fields. Thus the need to create an Ecuadorian Society of Dermatologyemerged, and a date and place were fixed to hold a national meeting at whichthe founding of the entity would take place.Consequently, on May 15, 1963, twenty-three prestigious physicians met in the city ofGuayaquil, at the Medical Club (Figure 1) located on the fourth floor of the building thatstill exists on the northwestern corner of the intersection of Baquerizo Moreno andNueve of Octubre streets, and decided to form the Ecuadorian Society of Dermatology,whose founding charter we transcribe:FOUNDING CHARTER OF THE ECUADORIAN SOCIETY OF DERMATOLOGYFigure 1. Buildinglocated at 9 deOctubre avenue andBaquerizo Moreno(Guayaquil). Thevenue of the “MedicalClub” was on itsfourth floor, the sitewhere the EcuadorianSociety ofDermatology wasfoundedIn the city of Guayaquil on the fifteenth day of the month of May, Nineteen Seventy-Three, the following physicians met in the halls of the Medical Club, following a summonsissues by Drs. Enrique Uraga Peña, Luis Carvajal Huerta and WenceslaoOllague Loayza: Edmundo Blum, Bertha Duarte of Rendón, Elena Yerovi, Silvio Torres,Germán Moreno Valero, Carlos Hidalgo González, Otto Arias, Claudio Arias, CarlosTimm, Bolívar Estrella, Francisco Parra, Roberto Jalón, Eduardo Reina, DomingoParedes, Jorge Ramírez, Eudoro Moscoso, Jorge Bermeo, Carlos Espín, Felipe Arocaand Servio Peñaherrera; who, after having listened to the speech given by Dr. UragaPeña, in which he pointed out that the fundamental goal of the meeting was to constitute,if they considered it convenient, an entity that would group all the doctorswho had a special dedication to Dermatology, Syphilography and Leprology, with theaim of incrementing the study of those branches of Medicine and to encourage, employingall means, its greater dissemination and enhancement, have agreed to setthemselves up as a General Meeting and to that effect have appointed Dr. Uraga Peñaas its Director and Dr. Ollague Loayza as Secretary, and after listening to variousviews favorable to that criterion, have at last resolved to form the Society and thatafter being approved by it have submitted them to consideration by the Administrationfor its approval in conformity with the pertinent legal rulings.Dr. Servio Peñaherrera A. Dr. Enrique Uraga P.Immediately after the constitution of the Society, its Bylaws were drafted, after being discussedand approved in General Meeting sessions held on May 19, 21 and 22 of that sameyear. These initial bylaws were made up of 79 articles, of which we quote the first and last:Art. 1. - With the name of Ecuadorian Society of Dermatology a Scientific Associationof a private legal character and of national scope is created, located in Guayaquil,which will be governed by the following Bylaws.Art. 79. - The Assembly decides to elect a Provisional Board of Directors in this oneinstance, until the next month of May.192