Medicine & Science – Cubans in America

Alfonso, Eduardo C.

ctosadmin — Thu, 27 May 2021 21:44:48 +0000

Eduardo C. Alfonso was born in Cuba, Alfonso grew up in Puerto Rico before moving to the U.S. to attend college. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Yale College and medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine.

He joined Bascom Palmer in 1981 as an ophthalmology resident. Following his three-year residency, he completed fellowships at Harvard Medical School: a corneal and external disease fellowship at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary; ophthalmic pathology at the David G. Cogan Eye Pathology Laboratory ; and a research fellowship at the Howe Laboratory at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard University School of Medicine. He joined the Bascom Palmer faculty in 1986 as assistant professor and became professor of ophthalmology and the Edward W.D. Norton Professor in Ophthalmology in 1998.

He is the Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, director of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and holder of the Kathleen and Stanley J. Glaser Chair in Ophthalmology, is known for his clinical expertise and research in eye diseases, corneal surgery and ocular microbiology.

Alvarez, Luis Walter

ctosadmin — Thu, 27 May 2021 21:44:46 +0000

Luis Walter Alvarez was born on June 13, 1911 in San Francisco, California. He was the son of Walter C. Alvarez, a physician, and his wife Harriet née Smyth, and a grandson of Luis F. Álvarez, a Spanish physician, born in Asturias, Spain, who lived in Cuba for a while and finally settled in the United States. He attended Madison School in San Francisco from 1918 to 1924, and then San Francisco Polytechnic High School. In 1926, his father became a researcher at the Mayo Clinic, and the family moved to Rochester, Minnesota, where Alvarez attended Rochester High School. He had always expected to attend the University of California, Berkeley, but at the urging of his teachers at Rochester, he instead went to the University of Chicago, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1932, his master’s degree in 1934, and his PhD in 1936.

After receiving his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1936, Alvarez went to work for Ernest Lawrence at the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Alvarez devised a set of experiments to observe K-electron capture in radioactive nuclei, predicted by the beta decay theory but never before observed. He produced tritium using the cyclotron and measured its lifetime. In collaboration with Felix Bloch, he measured the magnetic moment of the neutron. In 1940, Alvarez joined the MIT Radiation Laboratory, where he contributed to a number of World War II radar projects, from early improvements to Identification friend or foe (IFF) radar beacons, now called transponders, to a system known as VIXEN for preventing enemy submarines from realizing that they had been found by the new airborne microwave radars. Enemy submarines would wait until the radar signal was getting strong and then submerge, escaping attack. But VIXEN transmitted a radar signal whose strength was the cube of the distance to the submarine so that as they approached the sub, the signal—as measured by the sub—got progressively weaker, and the sub assumed the plane was getting farther away and didn’t submerge. The radar system for which Alvarez is best known and which has played a major role in aviation, most particularly in the post war Berlin airlift, was Ground Controlled Approach (GCA). Alvarez also spent a few months at the University of Chicago working on nuclear reactors for Enrico Fermi before going to Los Alamos to work for Robert Oppenheimer on the Manhattan project. Alvarez worked on the design of explosive lenses, and the development of exploding-bridgewire detonators. As a member of Project Alberta, he observed the Trinity nuclear test from a B-29 Superfortress, and later the bombing of Hiroshima from the B-29 The Great Artiste.

After the war, Alvarez was involved in the design of a liquid hydrogen bubble chamber that allowed his team to take millions of photographs of particle interactions, develop complex computer systems to measure and analyze these interactions, and discover entire families of new particles and resonance states. This work resulted in his being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1968. He was involved in a project to x-ray the Egyptian pyramids to search for unknown chambers. With his son, geologist Walter Alvarez, he developed the Alvarez hypothesis which proposes that the extinction event that wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs was the result of an asteroid impact.

Alvarez died on September 1, 1988, due to complications from a succession of operations for esophageal cancer. His remains were cremated, and his ashes were scattered over Monterey Bay. His papers are in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.

Alzugaray, Manuel

ctosadmin — Thu, 27 May 2021 21:44:41 +0000

Manuel Alzugaray was born in Cuba. He is an orthopedic surgeon in Miami, Florida and is affiliated with Coral Gables Hospital. He received his medical degree from Universidad de Salamanca and has been in practice for more than 20 years. He is one of 25 doctors at Coral Gables Hospital who specialize in Orthopedic Surgery.

Anton III, Manuel

ctosadmin — Thu, 27 May 2021 21:44:39 +0000

Manuel P. Anton, III is Chief Medical Officer for the East Florida Division of HCA. Prior to joining the HCA Division Leadership Team, he worked at Mercy Hospital in Miami. He served on the Florida International University Medical School Advisory Committee during the preparation of the medical school’s application process.

Dr. Anton served ten years at the Orlando Regional Healthcare System (Orlando Health). Upon departure from Orlando Health, he was serving as Vice President and Medical Director of the managed care subsidiary, Healthchoice.

Dr. Anton earned his Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Medicine degrees from Emory University. He is board certified in internal medicine.

He has served on several nonprofit boards, including Catholic Hospice and the Agrupacion Catolica Universitaria, and has volunteered on the Belen Jesuit High school Parent Advisory Council, as well as with the Hispanic Heritage Youth Awards. He has served on the Mercy Foundation Board, the Mercy Mission Services Board and the SSJ Health Foundation Board with a special interest in healthcare quality improvement.

Beato, Virgilio

ctosadmin — Thu, 27 May 2021 21:44:37 +0000

Dr. Virgilio Beato was born in Matanzas, Cuba. He graduated from the School of Medicine of the University of Havana, Cuba in 1943 where he was professor. In 1961 he received a letter from the Castro government where he was accused of being a contrarrevolucionario prohibiting the entrance to the hospital, which forced his exile. Doctor of Great prestige and professor in San Antonio, Texas and in Miami where he moved in 1976. He is recognized as a teacher of medicine and philosopher and worked until he was 95 years old. He passed away in Miami in March, 2018.

Castellanos, Agustin

ctosadmin — Thu, 27 May 2021 21:44:35 +0000

Agustin Walfredo Castellanos was an internationally recognized physician, born in Havana, Cuba in 1902. Dr. Castellanos arrived in Miami in 1960. He maintained a private practice and was a clinical and visiting professor of pediatrics at the University of Miami School of Medicine, Senior Scientist at the National Children’s Cardiac Hospital as well as the Chief of Pediatric Cardiology at Variety Children’s Hospital.

He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology twice in 1959 and 1960 by Colombia and Ecuador, respectively. Dr. Agustin Castellanos died on December 7, 2000 in Miami, Florida.

Del Regato, Juan Angel

ctosadmin — Thu, 27 May 2021 21:44:33 +0000

Juan Angel del Regato was one of the most revered physicians in the history of American radiotherapy. He was born, raised, and educated in Cuba, and undertook the study of medicine at the University of Havana from 1926 to 1930.

When the University was closed in 1930, he continued his studies at the University of Paris. He received his medical degree in 1937 with a medal-winning thesis on the successful radiotherapy of inoperable cancers of the maxillary antrum. Following a two year course, he received the Diploma of Radiophysiology and Radiotherapy of the University of Paris.

Early in 1937 del Regato came to the United States bringing with him the Paris tradition of specialization at a time when there were only a handful of American Physicians who practiced radiation therapy exclusively. He served as a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute, Director of Radiotherapy at the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center in Columbia, Missouri, and Director of the Penrose Cancer Hospital in Colorado Springs from 1949-1974. He then became Professor of Radiology at the University of South Florida, Tampa and Emeritus Professor of Radiology in 1981 and a distinguished physician of the Veterans Administration.

He founded the American Club of Therapeutic Radiologists in 1958, a club with 54 initial members. This club of radiotherapists met periodically and grew in number to become the America Society of Therapeutic Radiologists and ultimately to the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO).

Dr. del Regato received numerous honors and awards throughout his professional career including gold medals from the Radiologic Society of North America (1966), the American College of Radiology (1968), the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (1977), as well as the American Medical Association Scientific Achievement Award (1993).

He was the first to establish a training program in radiation oncology and trained a first generation of radiation oncologists recognized today as leaders in our field including Drs. Frank Wilson, Jim Cox, Larry Kun, and many others.

Diaz, Nils J.

ctosadmin — Thu, 27 May 2021 21:44:30 +0000

Nils J. Diaz received a Bachelor’s’ Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Villanova in Havana, Cuba before emigrating to the United States. Based in Florida, Diaz received a Ph.D. and M.S. in Nuclear Engineering Sciences from the University of Florida.

On April 2003, President George W. Bush designated Dr. Nils J. Diaz as Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commision. His role included being the principal executive officer of the NRC, as well as the official spokesman. Diaz had been a Commissioner of the NRC since 1996.

Diaz has been a leader in security issues pertaining to the NRC licenses and was instrumental in strengthening security post-9/11.

He has also served as professor of Nuclear Engineering Sciences at the University of Florida, Director of the Innovative Nuclear Space Power Institute (INSPI) and President and principal engineer of Florida Nuclear Associates. He has published more than 70 refereed papers on national and international journals, and is a fellow of the American Nuclear Society, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Finlay, Carlos Juan

ctosadmin — Thu, 27 May 2021 21:44:27 +0000

Carlos Juan Finlay was born on December 3, 1833 in Puerto Principe (now Camagüey), Cuba. He was the son of Scottish-born Dr. Edward (Eduardo) Finlay and French-born Elisa (Isabel) de Barrés. His father was a physician who had fought alongside Simón Bolívar, and his family owned a coffee plantation in Alquízar. He attended school in France in 1844, but was forced to return to Cuba after two years because he contracted cholera. After recovering, he returned to Europe in 1848, but stayed in England for another two years due to political turmoil, and after arriving in France to continue his education, he contracted typhoid fever and again returned to Cuba.

The University of Havana would not recognize his European academic credits, so he enrolled at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which did not require prerequisites. Finlay met John Kearsley Mitchell, a proponent of the germ theory of disease, and his son Silas Weir Mitchell, who supervised his studies. He graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1855. He then returned to Havana and set up an ophthalmology practice in 1857, and then studied in Paris from 1860–61.

He was the first to theorize, in 1881, that a mosquito was a carrier, now known as a disease vector, of the organism causing yellow fever: a mosquito that bites a victim of the disease could subsequently bite and thereby infect a healthy person. He presented this theory at the 1881 International Sanitary Conference, where it was well received. A year later, Finlay identified a mosquito of the genus Aedes as the organism transmitting yellow fever. His theory was followed by the recommendation to control the mosquito population as a way to control the spread of the disease. His hypothesis and exhaustive proofs were confirmed later by the Walter Reed Commission of 1900. Finlay went on to become the chief health officer of Cuba from 1902 to 1909. Although Reed received much of the credit in history books for “beating” yellow fever, Reed himself credited Finlay with the discovery of the yellow fever vector, and thus how it might be controlled. Reed often cited Finlay’s papers in his own articles and gave him credit for the discovery in his personal correspondence.

This discovery helped William C. Gorgas reduce the incidence and prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases in Panama during the American campaign, from 1903 onwards, to construct the Panama Canal. Prior to this, about 10% of the workforce had died each year from malaria and yellow fever.

Finlay was a member of Havana’s Royal Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences. He was fluent in French, German, Spanish, and English and could read Latin. His interests were widespread and he wrote articles on subjects as varied as leprosy, cholera, gravity, and plant diseases. His main interest, however, was yellow fever, and he was the author of 40 articles on this disease. His theory that an intermediary host was responsible for the spread of the disease was treated with ridicule for years. A humane man, he often took on patients who could not afford medical care. As a result of his work, Finlay was nominated seven times for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, although he was never awarded the prize. He received the National Order of the Legion of Honour of France in 1908.

Finlay died from a stroke, caused by severe brain seizures, at his house in Havana on August 20, 1915.

Greer, Pedro

ctosadmin — Thu, 27 May 2021 21:44:25 +0000

Pedro Greer was born June in 1956, of exiled Cuban parents, Dr. Greer graduated from the University of Florida in 1978 with a Bachelors in Science in chemistry, and received his MD in 1984 from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra in the Dominican Republic. He specialized in gastroenterology and hepatology during his residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Greer is founder of the Camillus Health Concern, a Catholic charity which delivers health
services to the homeless in Miami-Dade County, and the St. John Bosco Clinic, which also
serves those who are disadvantaged.

Dr. Greer was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant in 1993. He is the author of an autobiography called Waking Up in America: How One Doctor Brings Hope to Those Who Need It Most, and he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

Dr. Greer is the Associate Dean for Community Engagement. Professor and Chair Department of Medicine, Family Medicine, and Community Health at Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine.