Jorge Benjamin Martínez McCook Martínez

Professor McCook was always by the side of each member of the generation of angiologists who began this fascinating Specialty in 1970 throughout Cuba.

He took upon himself the difficult mission of building a Specialty at the national level, and the presence of all his disciples and those who have continued is the result of his work.

He was a person of affectionate and warm treatment. His yearly "missionary" visits to all, absolutely all, the provinces of the country are particularly remembered, to evaluate the work and learn of achievements and difficulties, but above all the prospects. He knew by name and two surnames each of the angiologists of those years, who came to be many, I suppose something more than 100, but he mentioned them personally.

Professor McCook radiated a confidence and security that is rarely a quality of those we know.

While through History we know that Hippocrates, distant in space and time, is the Father of Medicine, and the also distant Ambroise Paré, the Father of Surgery, we have in Cuba McCook as the Father of Cuban Angiology and Vascular Surgery.

Professor Jorge McCook Martínez not only cleared the path and indicated the direction to follow, but also transmitted to his followers the will and perseverance to not be intimidated by obstacles, but rather to look far ahead, at the horizon to explore.

He was born in Palma Soriano, where he studied primary school, then completed secondary education in nearby Santiago de Cuba. Finally he studied Medicine at the University of Havana.

He was an internal physician at the Teaching Hospital "General Calixto García", where he continued as Assistant Professor to the Chair of Surgical Pathology and Medical Pathology. He was a Doctor of Sciences, Full Professor, and Senior Researcher.

He worked as a vascular surgeon in the Angiology Service of the "Lila Hidalgo" Hospital, now "Leonor Pérez" in Havana.

He served as head of the Angiology Service at the National Hospital, and later worked exclusively at the Teaching Hospital "General Calixto García".

There he held the position of Deputy Clinical Director and later the Directorship of the Center itself from 1972 to 1975, the year he took on only the Directorship of the National Institute of Angiology, which he had been directing simultaneously since 1966.

In 1962 he was appointed National Advisor of Angiology, and later Chief of the National Angiology Group, a responsibility he maintained until his death.

He published more than 100 scientific works in national and international journals, and prepared several texts among which are:

• Clinical Propaedeutics.

• Angiology and Vascular Surgery.

• Past, present and future of Angiology and Vascular Surgery in the Republic of Cuba.

He participated in nearly 60 National and International Congresses.

He was President of the Cuban Society of Angiology, Vice President of the International Union of Angiology and of the Panamerican Society of Phlebology and Lymphology.

Full Member and founder of the National Society of Angiology, of the Societé Internacionale de Chirurgie, and of the International Cardiovascular Society.

Corresponding Member of the Colombian, Brazilian, Peruvian, Honduran, and Mexican Societies of Angiology.

Among other honors, he was conferred the medals "Purkynje" from the Czechoslovak Society of Medicine, "250th Anniversary of the University of Havana", "Fernando Ortiz", and "Carlos J Finlay", the latter posthumously. He was awarded the order "The Sun of Peru" in the Grade of Grand Officer.

He died in Havana, suddenly, at his post, on July 28, 1990, shortly before turning 64 years old.