Matías Duque Perdomo

Notable Cuban leprologist physician, first Minister of Public Health in the world.

He was born in San Antonio de los Baños, La Habana province, son of Matías Duque and Manuela Perdomo.

He completed his primary and secondary education at the Colegio de Belén of the Compañía de Jesús, graduated as a Bachelor of Arts (1886) from the Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza de La Habana. He pursued his higher education at the Real y Pontificia Universidad of that same city, where he earned the degree of Licentiate in Medicine (1891).

At the Universidad Central de Madrid he graduated as a Doctor of Medicine (1892) and completed postgraduate studies. Upon returning to Cuba he practiced his profession in the city of Cárdenas and in the town of Lagunillas, Matanzas province.

He joined the Cuban Liberation Army during the War of Independence against Spain (1895-1898), served as Chief of Military Health of the 1st Division of the 4th Corps and ended with the rank of Colonel. He distinguished himself as a leprologist heading the Lepra Service at the "Número Uno" Hospital in La Habana, where he conducted original research on the treatment of the disease with red mangrove, which he compiled in a book published in Paris "Traitement de la lépre par la Paletuvieur ou Manglier rouge" (1905).

He wrote on many diverse subjects in the principal national newspapers of his time. His article on Dr. Manuel Bango León (1928) is of great historiographical value.

During the last years of his life he devoted himself to experimental studies on cancer and at the La Liga contra el Cáncer Hospital in La Habana, current Instituto de Oncología y Radiobiología, on October 9, 1937, he performed a self-inoculation of cancerous tumor extract, an experiment that he presented to the Academia de Ciencias Médicas, Físicas y Naturales de La Habana and was published in the Institution's Annals with the title "Self-experiment in cancer inoculation" (1938).

He died in La Habana, of laryngeal cancer, on February 24, 1941.

Publications
His extensive scientific bibliography is highlighted by the monographs:

"How Leprosariums Should Be" (1903)
"Treatment of Puerperal Fever by Hydrozone" (1903)
"Studies in Social Patho-Hygiene" (1904)
"Treatment of Blennorrhagic Metritis and Its Pelvic Complications" (1905), in which he presented an original treatment
"The Marriages of Lepers" (1913)
He also published other books such as:

"Leprosy" (1909)
"Prostitution. Its Causes, Its Evils, Its Hygiene" (1914)
2 volumes of patriotic readings for children.

Positions Held

He founded and directed the journal Medicina Cubana (1918-1929). He distinguished himself as a surgeon at the Hospital de Emergencias de La Habana and his article "Rectal Excision" (1909) is of great interest.

He was Director of the Special Hygiene Service. When Cuba elevated its public health organization to ministerial status, the first country in the world to do so, he was appointed Secretary of Health and Welfare (1909). He participated in the civil war of 1917.

He was a Representative to the Chamber (1914-1918) and delegate to the Constitutional Assembly of 1928 and a distinguished member of the Sociedad de Estudios Clínicos de La Habana, where he presented numerous works.