Diego Tamayo Figueredo

Bacteriologist, internist, publicist and politician.

An eminent Cuban for his patriotism, which began with the uprising at La Demajagua and ended only with his death in 1926.

He rendered invaluable services to Cuban medicine. He was the principal introducer of the anti-rabies vaccine in Cuba.

He was born in the city of Bayamo. He was the son of Don Diego Tamayo Aguilera and Doña Candelaria Figueredo y Téllez.

He began secondary studies at the Colegio de Belén in Havana in 1864. He interrupted these in 1868 to participate in the War of Independence (1868-1878). Taken prisoner, he was permitted to graduate as a Bachelor of Arts from the same school (1871) and was deported to Spain, where he graduated as a Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery (1878) from the University of Barcelona.

After the independence war ended, he returned to Cuba in 1879. At the Royal and Literary University of Havana he studied the doctoral period (1880-1881), but did not present his thesis "Morbid Immunity" until 1899, the year in which he was issued the title of Doctor in Medicine. At the same Havana university he graduated as a Licentiate in Physical-Chemical Sciences (1887).

On October 11, 1868, he found the troops of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes at the hacienda "Palmas Altas," at the gates of Manzanillo, serving as an emissary to the insurgent leader with a message for Perucho Figueredo. He was taken prisoner by the Spanish, but given his young age he was banished to Spain.

In 1895 he emigrated to the United States, as a result of the resumption of the wars of independence. He was part of the revolutionary junta in New York and opened a dispensary.

In 1899, the interventionist government of General Wood appointed Diego Tamayo secretary of state and home affairs, being in charge of the organization of health services.

Shortly afterward he occupied the presidency of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba and three years later was elected Honorary member and in 1922 was given the status of member of merit. He participated as a founder of the Cuban Society of Tropical Medicine (1908).

Founder of the Cuban National Party, in September 1901 he was a delegate to the constitutional assembly for the Cuban National Party. In these debates he bravely opposed the Platt Amendment, and personally told General Wood that such an amendment was the most shameful agreement that the American chambers had taken.

Upon the constitution of the republic on May 20, 1902, Diego Tamayo was part of the presidential cabinet of Tomás Estrada Palma, being in charge of the secretariat of home affairs. In the political coalition of 1903 he was part of the National Liberal Party headed by Alfredo Zayas. He was elected Senator in December 1905 by the Moderate Party until the second American intervention in 1908.

In 1886, following Pasteur's discovery of the anti-rabies vaccine, he was part of the scientific commission that traveled to Paris, with the objective of subsequently creating in Cuba the histobacteriological laboratory and Anti-Rabies Vaccination Institute (1887-1960). In this research and care center, the first of its kind in the Americas dedicated to bacteriological research, of which Tamayo came to be considered its scientific director, many other vaccines were obtained, as well as various serums against diseases in humans and animals.

On January 13, 1889 he was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Havana. Between that year and 1895 he served as president of the Society of Clinical Studies of Havana.

He was also president of the central board against tuberculosis, as well as of the red cross.

At the anti-tuberculosis congresses held in Washington in 1909 and in Barcelona in 1910 he brought glory to the name of Cuba. To his initiative is owed the building of the Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Havana, which he joined as a full academician. He founded the university magazine Vida Nueva. He was a professor of medical pathology at the University of Havana.

At the University of Havana he held the chairs of Medical Pathology and Microscopy Analysis and Clinical Chemistry (1900-1906) and Medical Pathology (1909-1923), was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine (1917-1922) and Rector of the University (1922). He presided over the Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Havana and directed its Annals. He presided over the Society of Clinical Studies of Havana (1889-1895).

On March 10, 1909 he founded the Cuban Red Cross; recognized by Presidential Decree 401 of that same year as an Auxiliary Relief Society of Public Authority.

Publications
"Investigations on the parasites of palm trees and the disease of coconut palms". In: Ibíd. T. 26. Havana, 1889, pp. 327-456
"Report on the classification of contusions". In: Ibíd. T. 26. Havana, 1890, pp. 692-693
"Sociological reflections on the causes of mortality in Havana". In: Ibíd. T. 30. Havana, 1893, pp. 43-58
"Report on Finlayism". In: Ibíd. T. 60. Havana, 1929, pp. 978-991
Medical Pathology, s/e, Havana, s/a.