History of Latin American Dermatology

History of Nicaraguan DermatologyAnd that his beautiful and sensitive taskBe blessed by God wherever aims it.Dr. Francisco José Gómez Urcuyo is considered to be the doctor who had the most loveand dedication for hanseniasis patients. We can confirm this in one of his poems, whichthe authorities of the Ministry of Health selected and recorded on a bronze plaque thatwas unveiled during a solemn ceremony at the National Center of Dermatology that currentlycarries his name 8 :Lord:My lepers are the light of my life.They fill my professionand my condition of Nicaraguanwith ternderness.Help me bring relief to their injuries,Fortitude in the face of humiliation,Comprehension in their loneliness.Dr. Aldo Edgar Martínez Campos (1937)Dermatologist and specialist in Labor Medicine. In 1980, he was a co-founder of thegraduate Chair of Dermatology at the Medical School of the Autonomous National Universityof Nicaragua. During that year, he participated in a field study to detect new casesof leprosy in the Chinandega and Managua departments. In 1982, he was selected NationalHead of Education in the Specialized Field of Dermatology at graduate level by theAutonomous National University of Nicaragua, in León and Managua, and by the HigherOffice of the Ministry of Health 9 . As founder and head of the Chair he drafted, togetherwith Dr. Hermann Allan Schaffer Urbina, the plans and programs of the specialized fieldwhich are still applied, with changes made by the same authors in subsequent years. Atpresent, out of the forty-two dermatologists who work in Nicaragua, thirty-six have graduatedin the country 10 .In the founding of the Chair of Dermatology, he was sided by Drs. Herman AllanSchaffer Urbina, Francisco José Gómez Urcuyo, Federico Prado Rocha and ÁngelMartínez Jiménez. Dr. Hugo Argüello Martínez, a pathologist, Dalia Torres Flores (Figure5), a biologist and medical technician, with graduate courses in Mycology completed inCosta Rica and Argentina, and Dr. Marlene Parra García, joined later.On two occasions, Martínez Campos was the president of the Nicaraguan Societyof Dermatology and the associate secretary for Nicaragua before the CentralAmerican Society of Dermatology. On two occasions, he has been president of theNicaraguan Medical Association; he is currently the honorary president of theNicaraguan Association of Dermatology and a lifetime member of the Board of Directorsof the Nicaraguan Medical Association 6, 11 . He has been a guest professorat national and international congresses, where he has presented his work andpersonal experiences.It can be categorically asserted that, together with Drs. Hermann Allan SchafferUrbina and Francisco José Gómez Urcuyo, he is one of the pillars of presentdayNicaraguan dermatology.In 1985, the Ministry of Health, in recognition for his educational work, selected himas a member of the National Medical Group for the specialized field of Dermatology. In1986, the Ministry of Health and the Nicaragua National Council of the Higher Educationhonored him as Outstanding Professor in the graduate Dermatology course.Figure 4. AldoEdgar MartínezCamposFigure 5.Francisco JoséGómez Urcuyoand Dalia TorresFlores277