Isaac González Martínez
Encyclopedia
Dr. Isaac González Martínez (July 8, 1871 – April 20, 1954) was the first Puerto Rican
urologist, and a pioneer in the fight against cancer
throughout the island. Dr. González Martínez conducted many investigations and experiments in parasitology
, bilharzia, lepra
and typhoid fever
. Dr. González Martínez and Dr. Bailey K. Ashford
were the founders of the first commission in Puerto Rico to study the causes of anemia
. In 1914, he was named director of the biological laboratory of the sanitation service of Puerto Rico. In 1935, Dr. González Martínez founded The Puerto Rican League against Cancer. He also promoted the construction of Puerto Rico's first hospital specializing in oncology.
. His family moved to the City of Mayaguez where he received his secondary education. González Martínez earned a teachers certificate from the Normal School of Mayaguez
and taught history and mathematics at a local school for a short time. In 1890, his family sent him to the School of Medicine of Barcelona in Spain where he earned a degree in medicine. Later he earned a doctoral degree at the University of Madrid
.
González Martínez returned to Puerto Rico in 1900 and set up his medical practice in Mayaguez. He was named Director of the Laboratories of the Department of Health and also the head of the sanitation department in that city.
in the Anemia Commission. Ashford was a member of the United States Army Medical Corps
, who accompanied the military expedition to Puerto Rico
during the Puerto Rico Campaign of the Spanish-American War
in 1898.
eggs were different from the uncinariasis (Hookworm
) eggs. He discovered that these parasitic worms, named bilharzias, were infecting his patients' intestines and damaging their livers. Bilharzias, or snail fever, is a parasitic disease
caused by several species of trematodes
(platyhelminth infection, or "flukes"), a parasitic worm
of the genus Schistosoma. He reported his findings to the American Medical Journals and in 1907, his findings were confirmed by the international medical community.
, a zoonotic disease, had spread throughout Europe in the early 1900s. González Martínez went to Spain to study the fields of urology
and bacteriology
. González Martínez was interested in epidemiology, the scientific study of epidemics, and went to Lisboa, Portugal
with a Spanish commission who wanted to learn ways of controlling the spread of epidemics.
He returned to Puerto Rico after conducting his investigations and in 1912, detected a Bubonic plague epidemic in the island. He separated the patients who had the worm from those who did not, and applied the proper treatments. Due to his actions, within 90 days, the epidemic was brought under control.
School of Tropical Medicine
In 1912 González Martínez, together with Drs. Ashford, Pedro Gutiérrez Igaravides and Walter King, founded the School of Tropical Medicine. Dr. Ashford assumed a full-time faculty position at the school of medicine and continued his interest in tropical medicine. The building of the Institute of Tropical Medicine is located at the University of Puerto Rico
campus at Rio Piedras, and Dr. Ashford was the first to describe and successfully treat North America
n hookworm
in 1899.
González Martínez founded "Anales de Medicina de Puerto Rico", a scientific journal. He was elected president of the Medical Academy of Puerto Rico in 1917. In 1919, he published a chapter on his findings of the Intestinal Bilharzias in the book La Práctica de la Medicina en el Trópico.
In 1920, González Martínez went to Paris, France to study radiology at the Curie Institute. After graduating he returned to Puerto Rico and was named director and consultant of the radiology department of the School of Tropical Medicine. In 1929, he was named director of the radiology department of the Días García Clinic which has since been renamed Hospital Pavia. González Martínez was a member of the American Association of Parasitology and the American Association of Public Health. In 1938, he became a "fellow" of the American College of Radiology.
. He offered his services and treated patients free of charge. That same year he published a scientific article in the permanent cure and treatment of cervical Uterine cancer
. The construction of the first ontological hospital began in 1953 at the Centro Medico de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico's Medical Center).
On April 20, 1954, González Martínez died in his home, in the same year he was to be honored with an Honorary Doctorate degree from the first graduating class of the School of Medicine of the University of Puerto Rico
. The oncological hospital at the Centro Medico de Puerto Rico was named after him, as the Hospital Oncologico Dr. Isaac González Martínez. A high school in San Juan, Escuela Isaac González Martínez, is also named after him.
Puerto Rican citizenship
Puerto Rican citizenship was first legislated by the U.S. Congress in Article 7 of the Foraker Act of 1900 and later recognized by the Puerto Rican constitution...
urologist, and a pioneer in the fight against cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
throughout the island. Dr. González Martínez conducted many investigations and experiments in parasitology
Parasitology
Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question, but by their way of life...
, bilharzia, lepra
LEPRA
LEPRA Health in Action is a health and medical development charity fighting diseases of poverty and working towards a world without leprosy...
and typhoid fever
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
. Dr. González Martínez and Dr. Bailey K. Ashford
Bailey Ashford
Colonel Bailey K. Ashford was born in Washington D.C. in 1873 and died in 1934. Himself a pioneering physician, Ashford grew up as one of five children in the family of a prominent physician. His general education was obtained at the public schools and at Columbian University in Washington D.C....
were the founders of the first commission in Puerto Rico to study the causes of anemia
Anemia
Anemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin...
. In 1914, he was named director of the biological laboratory of the sanitation service of Puerto Rico. In 1935, Dr. González Martínez founded The Puerto Rican League against Cancer. He also promoted the construction of Puerto Rico's first hospital specializing in oncology.
Early years
González Martínez was born in a coffee plantation in the town of Utuado in the central mountainous region of Puerto RicoPuerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. His family moved to the City of Mayaguez where he received his secondary education. González Martínez earned a teachers certificate from the Normal School of Mayaguez
Normal school
A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...
and taught history and mathematics at a local school for a short time. In 1890, his family sent him to the School of Medicine of Barcelona in Spain where he earned a degree in medicine. Later he earned a doctoral degree at the University of Madrid
University of Madrid
The Complutense University of Madrid is a public university in Madrid, Spain, and one of the oldest universities in the world.The University of Madrid may also refer to:* The Autonomous University of Madrid, a public university founded in 1968...
.
González Martínez returned to Puerto Rico in 1900 and set up his medical practice in Mayaguez. He was named Director of the Laboratories of the Department of Health and also the head of the sanitation department in that city.
Anemia Commission
González Martínez was interested in parasitology, a new medical concept in the island, and worked with Dr. Bailey AshfordBailey Ashford
Colonel Bailey K. Ashford was born in Washington D.C. in 1873 and died in 1934. Himself a pioneering physician, Ashford grew up as one of five children in the family of a prominent physician. His general education was obtained at the public schools and at Columbian University in Washington D.C....
in the Anemia Commission. Ashford was a member of the United States Army Medical Corps
Army Medical Department (United States)
The Army Medical Department of the U.S. Army – known as the AMEDD – comprises the Army's six medical Special Branches of officers and medical enlisted soldiers. It was established as the "Army Hospital" in July 1775 to coordinate the medical care required by the Continental Army during the...
, who accompanied the military expedition to Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
during the Puerto Rico Campaign of the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
in 1898.
Discovery of Intestinal Bilharzias
In 1904, González Martínez discovered that the SchistosomiasisSchistosomiasis
Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by several species of trematodes , a parasitic worm of the genus Schistosoma. Snails often act as an intermediary agent for the infectious diseases until a new human host is found...
eggs were different from the uncinariasis (Hookworm
Hookworm
The hookworm is a parasitic nematode that lives in the small intestine of its host, which may be a mammal such as a dog, cat, or human. Two species of hookworms commonly infect humans, Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus. A. duodenale predominates in the Middle East, North Africa, India...
) eggs. He discovered that these parasitic worms, named bilharzias, were infecting his patients' intestines and damaging their livers. Bilharzias, or snail fever, is a parasitic disease
Parasitic disease
A parasitic disease is an infectious disease caused or transmitted by a parasite. Many parasites do not cause diseases. Parasitic diseases can affect practically all living organisms, including plants and mammals...
caused by several species of trematodes
Trematoda
Trematoda is a class within the phylum Platyhelminthes that contains two groups of parasitic flatworms, commonly referred to as "flukes".-Taxonomy and biodiversity:...
(platyhelminth infection, or "flukes"), a parasitic worm
Parasitic worm
Parasitic worms or helminths are a division of eukaryoticparasites that, unlike external parasites such as lice and fleas, live inside their host. They are worm-like organisms that live and feed off living hosts, receiving nourishment and protection while disrupting their hosts' nutrient...
of the genus Schistosoma. He reported his findings to the American Medical Journals and in 1907, his findings were confirmed by the international medical community.
Bubonic plague
The Bubonic plagueBubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
, a zoonotic disease, had spread throughout Europe in the early 1900s. González Martínez went to Spain to study the fields of urology
Urology
Urology is the medical and surgical specialty that focuses on the urinary tracts of males and females, and on the reproductive system of males. Medical professionals specializing in the field of urology are called urologists and are trained to diagnose, treat, and manage patients with urological...
and bacteriology
Bacteriology
Bacteriology is the study of bacteria. This subdivision of microbiology involves the identification, classification, and characterization of bacterial species...
. González Martínez was interested in epidemiology, the scientific study of epidemics, and went to Lisboa, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
with a Spanish commission who wanted to learn ways of controlling the spread of epidemics.
He returned to Puerto Rico after conducting his investigations and in 1912, detected a Bubonic plague epidemic in the island. He separated the patients who had the worm from those who did not, and applied the proper treatments. Due to his actions, within 90 days, the epidemic was brought under control.
School of Tropical MedicineSchool of Tropical Medicine (Puerto Rico)The School of Tropical Medicine , was an educational institution created in 1926 by an act of the Puerto Rican Legislature, to further the research initiated by the Anemia Commissions and the Institute of Tropical Medicine on anemia and its causes...
In 1912 González Martínez, together with Drs. Ashford, Pedro Gutiérrez Igaravides and Walter King, founded the School of Tropical Medicine. Dr. Ashford assumed a full-time faculty position at the school of medicine and continued his interest in tropical medicine. The building of the Institute of Tropical Medicine is located at the University of Puerto RicoUniversity of Puerto Rico
The University of Puerto Rico is the state university system of Puerto Rico. The system consists of 11 campuses and has approximately 64,511 students and 5,300 faculty members...
campus at Rio Piedras, and Dr. Ashford was the first to describe and successfully treat North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n hookworm
Hookworm
The hookworm is a parasitic nematode that lives in the small intestine of its host, which may be a mammal such as a dog, cat, or human. Two species of hookworms commonly infect humans, Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus. A. duodenale predominates in the Middle East, North Africa, India...
in 1899.
González Martínez founded "Anales de Medicina de Puerto Rico", a scientific journal. He was elected president of the Medical Academy of Puerto Rico in 1917. In 1919, he published a chapter on his findings of the Intestinal Bilharzias in the book La Práctica de la Medicina en el Trópico.
In 1920, González Martínez went to Paris, France to study radiology at the Curie Institute. After graduating he returned to Puerto Rico and was named director and consultant of the radiology department of the School of Tropical Medicine. In 1929, he was named director of the radiology department of the Días García Clinic which has since been renamed Hospital Pavia. González Martínez was a member of the American Association of Parasitology and the American Association of Public Health. In 1938, he became a "fellow" of the American College of Radiology.
Puerto Rican League against Cancer
González Martínez became interested in studying the causes and treatment of cancer. In 1827, he traveled once more to Paris and enrolled in the Paris Institute of Cancer. He returned to Puerto Rico and on May 1938, González Martínez founded the Puerto Rican League against Cancer and established a clinic to treat patients with the disease in SanturceSanturce
Santurce can refer to:*Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico, a district of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico*Santurtzi, a town near Bilbao, the Basque Country, Spain...
. He offered his services and treated patients free of charge. That same year he published a scientific article in the permanent cure and treatment of cervical Uterine cancer
Uterine cancer
The term uterine cancer may refer to any of several different types of cancer which occur in the uterus, namely:*Uterine sarcomas: sarcomas of the myometrium, or muscular layer of the uterus, are most commonly leiomyosarcomas.*Endometrial cancer:...
. The construction of the first ontological hospital began in 1953 at the Centro Medico de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico's Medical Center).
Legacy
On September 22, 1950, the Puerto Rican Chapter of the American Cancer Society recognized González Martínez as Puerto Rico's first Oncologist.On April 20, 1954, González Martínez died in his home, in the same year he was to be honored with an Honorary Doctorate degree from the first graduating class of the School of Medicine of the University of Puerto Rico
University of Puerto Rico
The University of Puerto Rico is the state university system of Puerto Rico. The system consists of 11 campuses and has approximately 64,511 students and 5,300 faculty members...
. The oncological hospital at the Centro Medico de Puerto Rico was named after him, as the Hospital Oncologico Dr. Isaac González Martínez. A high school in San Juan, Escuela Isaac González Martínez, is also named after him.
See also
- Dr. Ramón M. Suárez CalderonRamón M. Suárez CalderonDr. Ramón M. Suárez Calderon was a scientist, cardiologist, educator and hematologíst whose investigations led him to identify the proper and effective treatment of a specific anemia known as tropical sprue...
- List of Puerto Ricans
- Puerto Rican scientists and inventors