History of Latin American Dermatology

PAULO R. CUNHApapers in the Congresses’ annals; 90% of them publish one or more scientific papers duringthe course of the residency. In the 1990s, with the creation of the graduate programin Health Sciences, Dermatology began to participate in the orientation of Masters’ andPhDs, having already eight Masters’ graduates, eight students doing the Masters’ andone doing the PhD. At present, there are projects under way to improve the Dermatologycourse, the Medical Internship and the graduate program stricto sensu.GoiásThe Dermatology Chair was launched at the Federal University of Goiás by the lateProfs. Anuar Auad, Rodovalho Mendes Domenici and Vanderli Dutra. In 1967, DivinoMiguel Rassi and Paulo Cezar Borges started, and they retired in the 1990s. In the 1970s,Aiçar Chaul, Lia Cândida Miranda de Castro and Hugo Junqueira came on board.In 1978, the Residency in Dermatology was created, and was immediately authorizedby the BSD; the leadership of the institution was held by Drs. Anuar Auad, Divino MiguelRassi and Paulo Cezar Borges, and, since 1997, Aiçar Chaul. Up to 2002, eighty doctorshave completed the two years of residency, most of them with a Specialist in Dermatologydegree issued by the BSD.Three presidents of the Brazilian Society of Dermatology congresses have emergedfrom the Dermatology service of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Federal University ofGoiás’: Anuar Auad (1970), Divino Miguel Rassi (1987) and Lia Cândida Miranda de Castro,the two former also national presidents of the entity, according to the norms of thetimes, which did not separate the attributions of the BSD from those of the Congress.Minas GeraisBelo Horizonte’s Holy House of Mercy provided the clinical services for the MedicalSchool of Minas Gerais’ Federal University, founded in 1914. The Dermatology Clinic wasthen conducted by Antônio Aleixo, who, in 1917, founded the Infirmary and the Men’sClinic, while Olyntho Orsini was head of the Women’s Clinic.Starting in 1944, with the outpatients offices moved to a building of its own, the DermatologyClinic came to be led by Josefino Aleixo, with Oswaldo Costa and José Marianoas assistants.The Dermatology Clinic of the Holy House currently has 15 assistants — nine of whomgraduated from the same service — and 12 collaborators, all with SDD (Specialist in DermatologyDegree). The leadership of the Service is held by Dr. Jackson Machado Pinto.Two of the members of the Clinic are currently completing their medical internships atthe University of Colorado, and others in Argentina and Austria.The hospital has its own area with 12 beds, 5 outpatient rooms, 2 wards for minorsurgery, a classroom, a meeting room with library and modern equipment. An annual averageof 200 hospitalized patients and around 16,000 outpatients receive General, Sanitaryand Pediatric Dermatology care and Dermatological Surgery. In December 2001, aphototherapy unit with UVA and another with UVB 311 NM were acquired.Since its foundation, various scientific undertakings have been carried out at the DermatologyClinic; standouts among them being Masters’ and PhD theses on American tegumentaryleishmaniasis and on bullous diseases, especially endemic pemphigus foliaceous.Dermatology Service of the MGFUProf. Antonio Aleixo (1884-1943), one of the founders of Belo Horizonte’s MedicalSchool (1911), and its first Dermatology professor, has the honor of being considered thecreator of Minas Gerais’ dermatology school. His main scientific areas of interest werehanseniasis, pemphigus, sexually-transmitted diseases and mycoses. He was the firstHead of the Dermatology infirmary of Belo Horizonte’s Holy House, which, even today, isstill a reference point for dermatologists.92