History of Latin American Dermatology

PABLO A. VIGLIOGLIA, ALBERTO WOSCOFFprofessor of Dermatology. In 1965 he was succeeded by Gerónimo López González andlater by Sebastián Pons, Alberto Torres Cortijo (in an interim capacity) and, in 1987, byCristóbal Parra. The Mendoza school has stood out thanks to the importance of its contributionsand the prestige of its members.Gerónimo López González identified solar prurigo. Sebastián Pons was, in addition tofull professor, rector of the National University of Cuyo Medical School; among his prolificoutlook one may mention the work “Cutaneous Manifestations of Chagas’ Disease.”Alberto Torres Cortijo, who studied in Spain with Gómez Orbaneja and in BuenosAires with Pierini and Borda, devoted himself with zeal to cryosurgery. Especially significantwas his work “Ulcero-mutilating acropathy of Bureau and Barrière. Study of onehundred and fifty cases. Its association with pellagra.”In 1986 Dr. Cristóbal Parra was appointed full professor. His trajectory stood out forthe amount and quality of original works, published by the most prestigious United Statesand European journals. He introduced the knowledge of Argentine Dermatology in Germany,the country were he carried out advanced studies. Several of his works were publishedin German, a language he perfectly spoke and wrote.Other standouts in this school were Elías Bittar, Olga Bocanegra, José F. Leonforte,Emilce Rivarola, Narciso Driban and two brilliant dermatologists members of the Parrafamily: Nélida Pizzi de Parra, who distinguished herself in Pediatric Dermatology, and VivianaParra de Cantú.Histopathology was under the leadership of Aníbal Ortiz Medina, a disciple of Abulafia’sand co-authored several national and international publications.In addition to the National University of Cuyo, founded in 1950, there are two privatemedical schools: the School of Health Sciences of the University of Mendoza, founded in1998, and the School of Medical Sciences of the Aconcagua, founded in 1997.The local dermatological associations are the Cuyo branch of the Argentine Associationof Dermatology (1958), the first section of the Argentine Society of Dermatology andthe Professor Joao FerreiraMarques Athenaeum of Dermatology (1966).Dermatology in La Plata (Province of Buenos Aires)It began in 1918 with Dr. Emilio Cortelezzi who was the first full professor of the chairof Dermatology, created in 1930. He was followed by Nicolás Greco, Ernesto L. Othaz andAlcides Conti, among others. Later named full professors were Jorge Cueto, Juan Fuertes(on an interim basis), Flora Stoichevich and Raúl E. Balsa, who possessed an encyclopedicknowledge and bequeathed a voluminous Handbook of Clinical Dermatology (1998)to posterity.Roberto Castelleto was an anatomopathologist with an outstanding career.The Society of Dermatology of La Plata was founded in 1973. Later a subsidiary of theArgentine Society of Dermatology, was presided by L. T. Mirande, Stella Maris Ingrataand Luis H. Pedemonte.Dermatology in TucumánNorberto Olmos Castro and Pascual B. Arcuri brought into leprology the reading of theleprominoreaction that bears their name. At the Medical School, Luis Vallejo y Vallejo wasfull professor, to be succeeded by Eudoro H. de los Ríos — whose school harbors most Tucumándermatologists, and who contributed interesting insights into deep mycoses.Ana Maria Lorenz, N. Cartagena, L. Iturre de Aguirre and Ben Ami Alperovich havestood out in the study of regional pathologies. Existing since the year 1970 is the DermatologicalGroup of Tucumán — a subsidiary of the Argentine Association of Dermatology— and the subsidiary of the Argentine Society of Dermatology.40