History of Latin American Dermatology

Dermatology and dermatologists in Brazil150 people daily, having extended its action to the borders of Bahia, Minas Gerais andRio de Janeiro.Nosological statistical studies of dermatological diseases have been conducted, as wellas others on patients with transplants, psychodermatoses, paracoccidioidomycosis cutaneousailments, non-pulmonary tuberculosis, hanseniasis and leishmaniasis.Vitória’s Holly House of Mercy was also certified by the BSD, and had Prof. JoãoBasílio de Souza Filho as Head of Service.Rio de Janeiro ServicesCapital of Brazil’s Kingdom and the Empire, in early times, and of the Republic up to1960, Rio de Janeiro was always one of the country’s main poles of medical development,of Dermatology and of its medical entities, among which the BSD stands out.“Unique in Brazil in obtaining a rank of 4 in the evaluation of the Ministry of Education,the Medical School of Rio de Janeiro’s Federal University offers a Graduate Course,Masters’ and PhD degrees in Dermatology, which, in to the evaluation of the CAPES, consistentlymaintains an ‘A’ grade since 1986” 2 .The Masters’ and PhD degrees in Dermatology of RJFU are the oldest in the country.Created in 1970 by Sylvio Fraga, the first Masters’ graduate was Prof. Carlos Cley, in1974; in that same year, the course was the first to be recognized and validated by theMEC for the specialized field.In Niterói, the first to obtain a Masters’ Degree at Fluminense Federal University wasSinésio Talhari, currently Head of the Dermatology service of the Alfredo da Mata Instituteof Dermatology.Coordinator Dr. Absalom Lima Filgueira points out that the graduate program in Dermatologywas created in the early 1970s, almost at the same moment of the extinction ofthe Chair: “We needed to train professors for higher education, and the path to be followedhad to include the Masters’ and PhD degrees. The main characteristic of theBrazilian Graduate program, in the medical area, is that it has to be offered within thescope of each specialized field. There is not, or at least there did not exist at the time,another course like it in the world, since in other countries the courses were carried outwithin the basic sciences: physics, biology, molecular biology, and chemistry.”Two aspects contributed to the success of RJFU’s Graduate Program in Dermatology:the move to the University Hospital, in 1978, leaving the centuries-old premises of theHoly House of Mercy, and the vicinity of the Health Sciences Center, which contains thefamous Biophysics Institute, an entity for basic research of international fame. The integrationbetween the two areas was gradual and total. The courses, known up to that timeas Biophysics and Biochemistry, became mother courses, giving rise to conjunctive tissue,hormone, endocrinology and photobiology laboratories.Rio de Janeiro’s first Dermatology lecturer was João Pizarro Gabizo, at the Medical-Surgical Academy, which would in 1932 be called the Medical School of the University ofBrazil. Gabizo was succeeded by Luiz da Costa Chaves Faria and the already-mentionedFernando Terra, Eduardo Rabello and Francisco Eduardo Rabello (who stayed in officeup to his retirement, in 1975, by application of the principle of acquired rights).Still at the Holy House (Figure 13), professors Sylvio Fraga and Antônio de Souza Marquesheaded the Dermatology service. At Ilha do Governador, after the move to the UniversityHospital, Prof. Absalom Figureueira (1978-1980) was in charge of the organizationand the first Head of the Dermatology Service, succeeded by Professors Rubem David Azulay(1980-1985), Antônio Carlos Pereira Junior (1986-1997), and Celso Tavares Sodré.Having an infirmary of its own, with 14 beds, the Service’s outpatient care is carriedout jointly with the other sectors of the University Hospital. In this way, neither undergraduatenor graduate students lose sight of all medical aspects. At the graduate level,the course is offered lato or stricto sensu. Lato sensu, the graduate program works on95