José González Valdés

Professor González Valdés is a native of Cienfuegos but began his primary studies in Sagua la Grande, in a public school, completing them at the Anexa School of Santa Clara.

In 1948 he entered the Institute of Secondary Education, graduating with a degree in Sciences in 1953, and that same year he began medical studies at the University of La Habana. He worked as an external student in the Bacallao Ward of the "Calixto García" Hospital.

In January 1959 he entered the Medical Services of MINFAR as a Medical student, performing duties at the bases of San Antonio de los Baños, Ciudad Libertad and Baracoa, while continuing his medical studies. In January 1961 he was mobilized in San Antonio de los Baños and La Salud. In February, along with other colleagues, he was mobilized again by MINFAR Medical Services for the "Clearing of bandits from the Escambray." He remained there on operations during the months of February and March, in the areas of "Naranjo" and "Meyer" in the Escambray mountains, providing medical care not only to militiamen, but also to the peasants of that area. He also participated in military activities of cordons and sweeps carried out by the battalion.

He continued his medical studies and in October transferred to the Military Hospital "Carlos J Finlay", where he completed a vertical internship in Pediatrics. In June 1962 he graduated and began the Rural Medical and Social Service (SMSR), until July 1963, at the Military Air Base of Santa Clara, as Chief of Medical Services of that military unit. He remained there throughout the missile crisis in October of that year.

In July 1963 he completed the SMSR and began his residency in Pediatrics at the Military Hospital "Carlos J Finlay" in La Habana. In September 1966 he completed his residency and obtained the title of Specialist of the First Degree in Pediatrics. He belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces from 1959 until November 1973, when by general disposition of MINFAR he passed to the reserve with the same rank of lieutenant, being promoted in April 1978 to 1st Lieutenant and in April 1984 to Captain.

Since 1967 he worked as a pediatrician at the pediatric hospital "Pedro Borrás" in the capital, where he was appointed instructor of Pediatrics and of which he was also director until December 1969 when he was appointed director of the newly inaugurated pediatric hospital of Centro Habana, a position he held until 1981.

Since 1972 he has been part of the national group of Pediatrics of MINSAP and has been since then responsible for the National Program for Control of Acute Respiratory Infections. From November 1976 to 1981 he was also vice-dean of Research and Postgraduate Studies at the Faculty of Medicine No. 1 of the Higher Institute of Medical Sciences of La Habana.

He was appointed assistant professor of Pediatrics in 1977. Between 1981 and 1993 he served on the Coordination and Support Team of the Council of State and participated in Medical Education tasks, such as the new curriculum and in the Carlos J. Finlay detachment, among others. He always remained active in the teaching of Pediatrics at both the Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels at the Teaching Pediatric Hospital of Centro Habana, in 1984 he obtained the rank of Full Professor and specialist of the second degree in Pediatrics and Health Administration.

In 1994 he was appointed director of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, a position he held until 1998.

Since 1995 he has been a member of the national reference group for childhood tuberculosis located at the pediatric hospital of Centro Habana. From 1998 onwards he held the position of president of the scientific council of that institution to the present. In that year and in 1999 he made visits to Haiti and Niger as a pediatric physician advisor for Cuba's medical aid to those countries. He participated in Cuban medical collaboration in Brazil during the years 2002 and 2003. He was appointed consulting professor of Pediatrics in 2004.

He has never stopped studying and improving himself, obtaining the title of Master's in Comprehensive Child Care in 2007.

He has been the author of more than one hundred scientific works presented in journals or at national or international congresses. He is coauthor of the Manual of Procedures in Pediatrics (1984), the Pediatrics Textbook for students (1984), Co-editor of the Collection of Pediatrics by Cuban Authors, of the Pueblo y Educación Publishing House, and Co-author of the Textbook for students "Pediatrics" of the Medical Sciences Publishing House (2006).

He was a mentor for twenty Pediatrics Residency Completion Works. He has participated in roundtables, symposiums and as a speaker at various national and international events in the specialty. He has been a professor and coordinator of twenty national postgraduate courses for Pediatrics specialists. He is an Honorary Member of the Cuban Society of Pediatrics and its Treasurer continuously in recent decades. He has been secretary of the Editorial Committee of the Cuban Journal of Pediatrics since 2007.

Member of ALAPE (Latin American Association of Pediatrics), IPA (International Association of Pediatrics), INTERASMA (International Association for Asthma) and SLIPE (Latin American Society of Pediatric Infectology).

He has visited various countries in the world to attend scientific and academic events, in the capacity of advisor, to carry out tasks inherent to higher medical education or as an assistant and teaching collaborator in the field of child health.

He has received multiple distinctions and recognitions throughout his almost fifty years of professional life, among which may be mentioned the distinction as a Vanguard Worker of the National Health Union, special recognition for the 50th Anniversary of the Rural Medical Service, the XX Anniversary Medals of the Moncada, "Manuel Piti Fajardo", "José Tey" and "Frank País", as well as the distinction for the XX Anniversary of the Higher Institute of Medical Sciences of La Habana, a diploma as "Founder of the Revolutionary Air Force", Medal of "Struggle against bandits", Order for Cuban Education, diploma "Fiftieth Anniversary of Cuban Public Health" and, as coauthor, the Aballí Prize in the clinical research category, awarded by the Cuban Society of Pediatrics at the XXVI National Congress of Pediatrics, held in La Habana in 2008.

At 75 years old, he maintains an active clinical and teaching life at the pediatric hospital of Centro Habana where he does not cease each day to emphasize the importance of the clinical method, both at the bedside of the hospitalized child and in the outpatient clinic.

Professor Dr. José González Valdés is, without a doubt, one of the most outstanding Cuban pediatricians. His life dedicated entirely to the pediatric patient constitutes another paradigm worthy of recognition for the current and future generations of pediatricians in our Homeland where we know that nothing is more important than a child.