History of Latin American Dermatology

History of Dermatology in Uruguayto offer more hospital treatment, creatingthe Nursery Home (Casa Cuna) forabandoned and ill children.Between 1825 and 1881, there unfoldedthe Second Era, in which the MacielHospital already operated in itsdefinitive form according to the parametersof the times (Figure 2). June 17,1888, saw the celebration of the firstCentennial of the Charity Hospital. Overthe course of the years other hospitalswere founded that helped to maintainthe sanitary care of the population,which was increasing at a very fast rateowing to the strong rise in immigrants originating in diverse countries of Europe.The first Medical School, founded in 1875 close to the Maciel Hospital, moved in 1908to its definitive location on General Flores Avenue.José Brito Foresti graduated from the Medical School in 1890: in 1897, at the MacielHospital, he created and headed the Polyclinic for Skin and Syphilis — later called DermosyphilopathicClinic (1908) 12-16 — in a historical milestone that marks the launchingof Uruguayan Dermatology. In 1994 the Clinic moved to the “Dr. Manuel Quintela” UniversityClinics Hospital, where it operates at the current time. Over that entire lengthyperiod numerous generations of dermatologists trained there under the guidance of itsTeachers. Thus unfolded the founding of National Dermatological Medicine, whose historyis described in the corresponding chapters.Figure 2: Hospitalof Charity (1857),current NationalMonument. Theexpansion of theprevious site, withtwo stories withwards for womenand men, can beseen. In one angleof the building, thefirst Chapel ofMontevideo■ Biographical sketches of the most outstanding figures inUruguayan Dermatology. Nineteenth and twentieth centuriesBiographical sketches of the most outstanding figures in uruguayan Dermatology.Nineteenth and twentieth centuriesJosé Brito ForestiRaúl A. Vignale, Francisco Amor GarcíaHe was born in Montevideo on October 24, 1870, and graduated from the MedicalSchool in the year 1890 (Figure 3). His doctoral thesis (1894) was titled “SomethingAbout Public Disinfection,” and it makes manifest his concern over sanitation problems,as well as the influence of Louis Pasteur’s new concepts. That same year, hetraveled to Paris where he remained for three years at the Hospital Saint-Louis as anassistant alongside great teachers like Besnier, Fournier, Hallopeau and Gaucher,among other figures; later he made other journeys to Europe. In January 1897, he wasappointed, because of his trajectory and by competition, Head of the First DermosyphilopathicPolyclinic at the Maciel Hospital, where for more than 40 years hecarried out treatment and teaching activities, complementing them at the RicordWard, where patients were hospitalized. On March 21, 1908, in open competition,he was appointed Full Professor of the Medical School’s Dermosyphilopathic Clinic, apost he held until 1939, when he died at the age of 68. His merits and publications arecountless. He was the first President of the Uruguayan Society of Dermatology, foundedin 1918, and later Honorary Member, President of numerous congresses, scientificmeetings and an infinite amount of other activities in the specialized field. On July 30,1960, the Uruguayan Society of Dermatology, which was presided by Prof. Dr. BartoloméVignale, with Dr. Carlos María Fosatti in the capacity of Secretary, sent the MontevideoFigure 3. José BritoForesti, firstLecturer of theDermosyphilopathicClinic of theMedical School atthe Maciel Hospital405