History of Latin American Dermatology

PABLO A. VIGLIOGLIA, ALBERTO WOSCOFFFigure 8. Prof.Alejandro CorderoFigure 9. Prof.Pedro H. MagninFigure 10. Prof.J. E. CardamaFigure 11. Prof.Julio Martín BordaManuel Olchansky and Natan Gotlib among others. Most of them headed diverse andprestigious Dermatology services in Buenos Aires.The Argentine Association of Dermatology continued the publication of its Revista Argentinade Dermatología, while at the same time annually organizing national congressesand maintaining its dermatological library, the country’s oldest. The Associationwas presided by M. A. Mazzini, G. Basombrio, F. Noussitou, R. Garzón (Córdoba), A.Cordero, A. Kaminsky, J. L. Carrera, F. Ambrosetti, E. Jonquières, R. N. Corti, P. Viglioglia,M. Seoane, P. Magnin, J. E. Cardama (Figure 10) N. Sánchez Caballero, L. M. Baliñaand C. Parra (Mendoza), M. Marini, L. Valle and J. L. Iribas.Luis E. Pierini was the teacher par excellence. Simple, humble in action, respectful,his was a dazzling personality by virtue of his dermatological knowledge and general culture.Italian by birth, he was unable, for that reason, to become president of the firstChair. His thinking was fully expressed in his article “Fifty Years of Dermatology” (ArchArgent Dermatol. 1973; 23: 19), which answered a common query among the new generations:why do we choose Dermatology?Pierini worked at the Fernández and Muñiz hospitals (where he prepared his doctoralthesis on “Treatment of Leprosy” and described the classic test with histamine that bearshis name), and the Casa Cuna children’s hospital (currently Pedro de Elizalde). He washead of service at the Fiorito and Italian hospitals and lastly, as of 1949, at the RawsonHospital, where he reached the rank of full professor of the Second Chair. It should be mentionedthat he worked for twenty years with Prof. Pedro Baliña who appointed him ChiefTeaching Assistant at the Ramos Mejía Hospital. The chair he headed was a seedingground for major specialists who prided themselves in being disciples of Master Pierini.The first among them being Julio Martín Borda (Figure 11), a man of extraordinaryscientific, moral and human merits, who added his work to Pierini’s in the study of manydermopathies. His Private Skin Hospital was the venue of monthly athenaeums attendedby many young dermatologists, particularly from the provinces. At that institution, as wellas at the Rawson Hospital, a large number of Latin American specialists were trained.Standouts at the national level were Abraham Man, José Casas, Raúl Rodeiro, AugustoCasalá, Santiago Mosto, Alberto Carvalho, Raúl Mazzini, Ismael Pomposiello, Gregorio Álvarez,Luis Trepat, Pacífico Díaz and Eduardo Lacentre, some of them already departed,and others who deserve separate mention. Borda’s sagacity allowed him to pose hypothesesand relate clinical conditions which are currently accepted worldwide.David Grinspan distinguished himself among his peers. An exceptional semiotician,with a vast knowledge of dermatology, he chose an orientation towards the hithertopoorly studied stomatology. He founded and led the Rawson Hospital’s Center for SkinTumors and Stomatology, a pioneer in Latin America, bequeathing his teachings in hisTreatise on Stomatology which consists of six hefty volumes and is a classic in its area.Jorge Abulafia devotes himself to dermopathology. He collaborates with the main works34