Ángel Arturo Aballí Arellano

Notable pediatrician physician, professor and scientific writer. He was born in the city of Matanzas, completed his primary studies at the "El Siglo" school in his hometown, where at its Provincial Institute of Secondary Education he obtained his Bachelor's diploma in 1894, distinguishing himself as an Eminent Student of that school.

Transferred to Havana, he entered the National University and by competitive examination since 1896 served, alongside professor José L. Yarini, as Assistant to the Anatomical Dissector of the School of Medicine.

In 1900 he held the position of Assistant Student in the Chair of Legal Medicine and Toxicology alongside professor Antonio de Gordon. In 1901 he graduated as Doctor of Medicine and in November of that same year was declared an Eminent Student by the Faculty Assembly of the School of Medicine and Pharmacy; at that time he held the position of Assistant Student in the Chair of Physiology alongside professor Miguel Sánchez Toledo.

For this reason he was awarded the first biennial travel scholarship that allowed him to perfect and expand his scientific knowledge at the Universities of New York, Paris and Berlin.

He had, as one of his biographers states, the idea of dedicating himself to ophthalmology; but the vigorous pediatric movement promoted by Czerny and Heuber at the Berlin School impressed him and revealed his true vocation.

In New York he conducted studies in histology, bacteriology and hematology with professors Dunham, Park and Goldhorn.

In Paris he received lessons from Marfan and Nobécourt, and in Berlin he studied chemistry, pathological anatomy, pediatrics and ophthalmology with masters Salkowsky, Somerfield, Orth, Baginsky and Freff.

From those cities he began to send his first scientific works which earned the honor of publication by agreement of the School of Medicine and Pharmacy of the University of Havana.

During his stay in Germany he met the great pediatrician Finkelstein, later expelled from his country by Adolf Hitler and exiled in Chile. But the person who exercised true influence over Aballí's mind, guiding his future professional career, was the eminent German pediatrician Baginsky, a physician who had been doctor to the Tsarevich of Russia.

In 1903 he returned to Havana, being appointed physician at the "Tamayo" Dispensary. In 1904 he took the position of Graduate Assistant in the Laboratory of the Chair of Normal Histology and Pathological Histology and Anatomy at the National University, in the service of professor Julio San Martín; in this position he was confirmed annually by competitive examination until 1906 when, also by competitive examination, he was named Auxiliary Professor and Head of Clinic of the Chair of Pathology and Children's Clinic.

His competitive examinations for that chair, against doctors Armando de Córdova y de Quesada, Luis Ortega Bolaños and other distinguished colleagues, were notable for their brilliance. In 1908 he was already officially in charge of teaching pediatric pathology and clinical practice at the School of Medicine.

In 1923 he was promoted to Full Professor of the Chair of Pathology and Children's Clinic. Once he obtained the chair in his own right, Aballí imposed his modern ideas in it; his profound knowledge opened new horizons to that important branch of medicine, and with the creation of the Cuban School of Pediatrics, which was due to him, the foundations began for the reputation that, thanks to the tenacious efforts of its creator, is enjoyed today in the highest scientific centers of America and Europe and, consequently, after the death of the Uruguayan Luis Morquio, Aballí was considered the foremost Spanish-speaking pediatrician.

From then until 1949 when he was elevated to Professor Emeritus, he devoted himself entirely to the teaching and practice of medicine in his specialty, crowned with a well-deserved reputation and creating disciples such as doctors Hurtado, Valledor, Castellanos, Jiménez, Valdés Díaz, Casañas, Villasuso, Cardelle, Gómez del Río, Cabrera Calderín, Gómez Tejera and others, who today enjoy well-earned prestige.

His activities from that time on were multiple and varied, although always within the field of medicine. With the collaboration of one of his best disciples, Felix Hurtado, he founded the Cuban Society of Pediatrics, which he chaired, and created its Bulletin as a publicity organ.

In 1917 he was elected Vice President of the IV National Medical Congress, in 1918 he assumed the direction of the Cuban Medical Review, and was elected Full Member of the Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Havana.

In 1920 he was elected President of the Society of Clinical Studies of Havana, a position in which he was reelected in 1922. In this year he was also named Corresponding Member in Cuba of the Societé Medical des Hospitaux de Paris and the following year he became a member of the Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Havana, as a Full Member, a position for which he had been elected, as already mentioned, since 1918.

In 1924 he was honored with the title of Corresponding Member of the American Pediatric Society and designated, by acclamation, President of the VI National Medical Congress held in Havana, and in 1925, also designated President of the Delegation of Cuba to the VII Latin American Congress in Mexico.

In 1926 he was named Delegate and Guest of Honor at the Conference of Teachers of Diseases of Children in Dallas, Texas. In 1925 he was among the founders and second President (the first for a very brief time was doctor Juan Guiteras Gener) of the Medical Federation of Cuba, a position to which he was elected on October 24 of that year and in defense of it founded in 1926 and directed the newspaper "El Cubano Libre", of short duration, but in whose columns he waged strong campaigns, not only in defense of the medical profession, but for the purest nationalist ideals.

His role as a leader of physicians in relation to mutualism, which gave rise to the medical strike in mutual aid institutions, earned him a well-deserved reputation in that field. In 1927, presiding over the Medical Federation, he was designated President of its National Board, from which position he continued his efforts in favor of the economic and social advancement of his professional colleagues.

In 1928 he was named Delegate to the Executive Committee of that highest collegial organization, in which position he was successively reelected in 1930, 1932, 1934, 1936 and 1937; in this latter year he was designated Treasurer of the Executive Committee, a position he held until 1939, when he became a member of the Supreme Council.

At the end of his term he withdrew from collegial activities, although nevertheless he continued to be elected annually as delegate to all national assemblies of the National Medical College. The Medical College of Havana designated him as one of its Honorary Presidents, a distinction that is always granted to very prominent personalities of the medical profession.

In 1935 he was appointed technical director of the Municipal Hospital of Childhood in Havana, which he founded, until 1947. In 1936 he held the position of Dean of the School of Medicine of the National University, a position in which he was reelected and whose building, constructed during his tenure as dean, bears his name, as does the ward for tuberculous children in the Anti-Tuberculosis Hospital of Havana, to which he donated his splendid library.

Likewise, bearing his name, as a tribute to his efforts on behalf of children, is Public School Number 14 in the city of Havana. For many fruitful years, until his voluntary retirement, he held, as stated, the technical direction of the Municipal Hospital of Childhood in Havana, of whose work he gave an account in a very interesting report.

Furthermore, he was director of the Children's Service of the "Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes" Hospital and founding director of that of the Isabelline Ladies of Havana.

As a scientific writer, Dr. Aballí notably enriched Cuban medical bibliography, both in the number and brilliance of his contributions. It would be impossible in this biographical summary to make known all that enormous output, scattered, for the most part, in national and foreign scientific publications. I will cite, however, some of his most important works: "Bone marrow in experimental anemia" (1902), an important monograph in which the author details the experiments he conducted in this regard at the Carnegie Laboratory in New York; "Study of hemoconia" (1902), in which he reveals the discovery of these corpuscles in rabbit blood; "On Goldhorn's staining method" (1902); "Contribution to the study of infantile atrophy. Digestive apparatus and attachments in atrophy" (1903); "Experimental note on kidney decapsulation" (1903); "Pathological Anatomy of Yellow Fever" (1904), a notable work written in collaboration with doctor Juan Guiteras, which appeared in Handbook of the Medical Sciences, New York; the equally important study on "Sclerema in infantile gastroenteritis" (1906); and an interesting monograph titled "Treatment of gastrointestinal disorders in infants" (1918) and "Milk laboratories and their relationship with the clinic", published in the Journal of Pediatrics, Havana, 1918.

In that same year he published in the Cuban Medical Review a brilliant study regarding the "Treatment of bronchopulmonary clinical forms of influenza". In it he made known the success with which he used, in the treatment of that disease, the same means used in bronchopneumonia. In collaboration with doctor Rafael Nogueira, he published in 1922 another study on "Pyloric stenosis in the newborn and its treatment", and in collaboration with doctor Agustín Castellanos are two works of great scientific importance: "The Rosenthal test for hepatic insufficiency in childhood" (1925) and "Sodoku in Cuba, first proven case in an infant", the latter appeared in the Bulletin of the Cuban Society of Pediatrics (1930).

In addition to those cited, I must add, though gleaning from the vast scientific output of Dr. Aballí, the following works: "On a case of pericardial symphysis with repeated asystole" (1916), "On a case of familial dystrophy of unknown origin" (1919), "Primitive sarcoma of the kidney" (1919), "Adrenal insufficiency in the newborn" (1922), "On a case of atrophic cirrhosis in a nine-year-old child" (1922), "On aerophagia in children" (1922), "Lessons in Children's Pathology" (1922), "Trichuriasis in childhood" (1922), "Conference on acidosis" (1923), "Contribution to the study of pyloric hypertrophy" (1923), "Need to standardize classifications of gastrointestinal disorders in infants" (1923), "Hepatic cirrhosis Laennec type in a girl" (1924), "Endothelial-plasmic dyscrasia" (1925), "Splenomegalies in childhood" (1927), "Multiple myelomas in a child beginning before 17 months of age" (1927), "Can the prognosis of childhood anemias be supported only by blood counts?" (1927), "On a case of post-encephalic tremor" (1929), "On brain tumors in childhood" (1929), "Pulmonary suppurations in childhood. Bronchiectasis and lung abscesses" (1929), "Tuberculous corticopleuritis in childhood" (1929), "The evolution of Children's Clinic in Cuba" (1929), "Lymphosarcoma of the ileocecal valve in a five-year-old child" (1929), "Organization and extension to be given to university teachings so that the student can cooperate with the maximum of his energies and initiatives in research work" (1930), "Childhood mortality in Cuba" (1931), "On bacillary dysentery in childhood in Cuba" (1936) and "The problem of brucellosis in Cuba; its clinical and sanitary aspects" (1937) as Vice President of the IV National Medical Congress (1917), and designated speaker for one of the official topics, Dr. Aballí deserved warm congratulations when he addressed the topic he titled, "Treatment of gastrointestinal disorders in early childhood".

In 1940, before the National Pediatrics Congress held in Havana, he also delivered a brilliant lecture. A year later, especially invited by the Havana women's institution Lyceum Lawn Tennis Club to participate in the short course on childcare sponsored by it, he delivered a wise and notable lecture on "The phantom of acidosis and the way to arrive at its true interpretation in children's diseases".

In 1942, from the learned platform of the Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Havana, he advocated, in a conscientious work, on the means to stop the spread of poliomyelitis.

In 1947 he was the object of a grand and affectionate national tribute, promoted by his numerous disciples and admirers of the Cuban medical profession on the occasion of completing forty years in the teaching of pediatrics. An easy and elegant writer, with impeccable diction, and given the knowledge contained in all his works, these deserved their reproduction in scientific publications of various countries, in many of which he collaborated and as for Cuba, a good part of his written contributions can be consulted, among others, in the pages of the Bulletin of the Cuban Society of Pediatrics, Cuban Medical Review, Journal of Medicine and Surgery of Havana, Journal of the Cuban Society of Pediatrics, Finlay journal, Vida Nueva journal and especially in Annals of the Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Havana.

In the session dedicated by this prestigious institution (December 22, 1941) to remember doctor Raimundo de Castro y Allo, on the occasion of the centennial of his birth, Dr. Aballí was in charge of representing the School of Medicine of the University of Havana and read for this purpose a very beautiful and interesting work that he titled "Dr. Raimundo de Castro Allo, professor of the School of Medicine of the University of Havana".

Dr. Aballí belonged to countless scientific institutions, both national and foreign. Besides those already mentioned, he was deservedly honored with many other distinctions, such as: President of the V Pan-American Congress of the Child; President of the Cuban Society of Pediatrics; Corresponding Member of the Medical Society of Guayaquil, Ecuador; of the American Pediatric Society of New York, USA; of the Medical Academy of Buenos Aires, Argentina; of the Medical Academy of Uruguay; Active Honorary Member of the Mexican Society of Childcare; Honorary Member of the VI Pan-American Congress of the Child; Member of the National Council on Tuberculosis; Honorary President of the Cuban Society of Pediatrics and of the Society of Clinical Studies of Havana; Honorary Member of the Society of Pediatrics of Colombia; Pediatric Member of the Official Commission on Infectious Diseases; Honorary President of the VIII Pediatric Conference of Santiago de Cuba and Honorary Professor at the Schools of Medicine of the Universities of New York and Buenos Aires. Member of numerous boards and charitable institutions, he also held the rank of Grand Officer of the "Finlay Order", the highest decoration with which Cuba honors its most prominent physicians.

Main Works

Among some of his principal monographic works, the following may be mentioned:

Study of Infantile Dystrophy
Therapeutics of Gastrointestinal Disorders in Infants
Sclerema in Infantile Gastroenteritis
Milk Laboratories and their Relationship with the Clinic

Active Bibliography

Lectures on Pediatrics. Moreno Press, Havana, 1920; Aballí, Ángel Arturo and Félix Hurtado.

Lectures on Pediatrics. Published by students Víctor M. Díaz Orero, Juan Llambres and Eugenio Fortún, Havana, 192.

Organization and extension to be given to University Education so that the student can cooperate with the maximum of his energies and initiatives in research work (Paper presented at the International Congress of Universities). Caraza and C.A. Press, Havana, 1930

Aballí, Ángel Arturo, Juan Martínez Cruz and Alberto de Córdoba. Acidified powdered milks in infant feeding. Ponciano S.A. Press, Havana, 1949.

Passive Bibliography

Alonso Menéndez, Daniel. "Professor Ángel Arturo Aballí, Master of Cuban Pediatrics". In: Lectures and Studies in the History and Organization of Science. No 12. CEHOC, Havana, 1979;

Castellanos, Agustín. Bibliographic Index of Cuban Pediatrics. 1920-1949. Vol. 1. Jesús Montero Editor, Havana, 1950, p. 119-120

"Regarding the death of Master Aballí." In: Cuban Journal of Pediatrics. Vol. 25. Havana, March-April 1953, pp. 186-190 and 264;

Hernández Miyares, Carlos. Master Aballí has died!. In: Cuban Journal of Pediatrics. Vol. 24. Havana, July-September 1952, pp. 381-400;

Hernández Millares, Carlos. Master Aballí has died. In: Archives of Pediatric Medicine. Vol. 21. Havana, 1952, p. 149

Hernández Miyares, Carlos. First anniversary of the death of professor Ángel A. Aballí. In: Cuban journal of pediatrics. Vol. 25. Havana, March-April 1953, pp. 585-593

Hurtado Galtés, F. Dr. Ángel Aballí in Memoriam. In: Ibíd. Vol. 24. Havana, July-September 1952, pp. 443-445

Valledor, Teodosio. Bibliographic Index of Cuban Pediatrics. 1950-1954. Vol. 2. Molina y Compañía, S.A., Havana, 1956, pp. 28.

One Hundred Figures of Science in Cuba/ Rolando García Blanco.../et-al/.- Havana: Scientific-Technical Editorial, 2002