The Buenos Aires National Academy of Medicine is an Argentine non-profit organization

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 and learned society

Learned society

A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline/profession, as well a group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies,...

.

Overview

The National Academy of Medicine is the oldest medical Academy in Argentina, and was founded in Buenos Aires in 1822, coinciding with the establishment of the University of Buenos Aires

University of Buenos Aires

The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...

 School of Medicine. Its establishment was an initiative of Bernardino Rivadavia

Bernardino Rivadavia

Bernardino de la Trinidad Gónzalez Rivadavia y Rivadavia was the first president of Argentina, from February 8, 1826 to July 7, 1827 . He was a politician of the United Provinces of Río de la Plata, Argentina today...

, Minister of Government and Foreign Relations for Buenos Aires Province

Buenos Aires Province

The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...

 Governor Martín Rodríguez.
The academy coordinates research and is consulted on medical matters by government departments, judges, public health officials and the media. The academy hosts lectures and fosters close contact with national and foreign Academies, and with medical and scientific institutions promoting research. Basic and clinical research projects are coordinated and financed by the Academy in three institutes: the Mariano Castex Institute of Hematology

Hematology

Hematology, also spelled haematology , is the branch of biology physiology, internal medicine, pathology, clinical laboratory work, and pediatrics that is concerned with the study of blood, the blood-forming organs, and blood diseases...

 (the largest and best known), and the institutes of Epidemiology

Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...

 and Oncology

Oncology

Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer...

; prizes and fellowships are awarded annually.

Its numerary

Numerary

Numerary is a civil designation for persons who are incorporated in a fixed or permanent way to a society or group: regular member of the working staff, permanent staff, or member, distinguished from a supernumerary....

 membership totals 35 physicians elected by a vote of their peers, all reside in Buenos Aires, and each represents different fields in medicine. The academic tenure is held for life and ad honorem; members who retire become Emeritus Academy Members. Corresponding National and International Academy Members are elected each year on the same basis as full Members, and, including honoraray members, totaled 334. Past members have included three Nobel Prize in Medicine laureates: Dr. Bernardo Houssay

Bernardo Houssay

-External links:* * . WhoNamedIt.* . Nobel Foundation....

 (1947), Dr. Luis Federico Leloir

Luis Federico Leloir

Luis Federico Leloir was an Argentine doctor and biochemist who received the 1970 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was the first Spanish-speaking scientist to ever receive the award...

 (1970), and Dr. César Milstein

César Milstein

César Milstein FRS was an Argentine biochemist in the field of antibody research. Milstein shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1984 with Niels K. Jerne and Georges Köhler.-Biography:...

 (1984).

The academy's headquarters is a Neoclassical

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

 building situated on a corner lot in the upscale Recoleta

Recoleta

Recoleta is a downtown residential neighborhood in the city of Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina; it is an area of great historical and architectural interest, due, particularly to the Recoleta Cemetery located there...

area of Buenos Aires. Its semi-annual journal, Boletín de la Academia de Medicina de Buenos Aires, was established in 1917, superseding Anales (1823). The Council for Certification of Medical Professionals was established in 1991, and the Academic Council on medical Ethics, in 1999.