Osvaldo Prieto Ramos

Founder of Cuban Geriatrics, he was one of the first three physicians to study the subject of Geriatrics outside of Cuba. Founder of the Cuban Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology, he served as its President from the founding stage until his health permitted. Founder, in 1992, of the Ibero-Latin American Center for the Elderly (CITED), the leading center for Geriatrics in the country, serving as its Director until 2006.

A native of Pinar del Río, he studied medicine at the University of Havana, where he graduated in 1970, and was assigned to the University Hospital "General Calixto García". The following year he completed an internationalist mission in Congo Brazzaville. In 1974, upon returning from the mission, he was reassigned to his hospital "General Calixto García" as a Resident in Internal Medicine, achieving the title of Specialist of the First Degree in Internal Medicine in 1976. That same year he decided to accept the proposal to pursue specialized studies at the Institute of Gerontology in Kiev, where he remained for two years, thus becoming the first Cuban physician certified in Geriatrics. 

In 1985, he achieved the title of Specialist of the Second Degree in Gerontology and Geriatrics and in 1988 he was one of the principal founders of the Cuban Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics and, the following year, became a member of the International Association of Gerontology. In 1992 he was appointed Principal Professor of Gerontology and Geriatrics at the Faculty of Medical Sciences "General Calixto García". That same year he joined the International Group for Aid to the Elderly of the Caribbean Medical Association (AMECA) and the International Federation of Associations of Older Persons (FIAPA). In that year he was also appointed Director of the Ibero-Latin American Center for the Elderly (CITED), a position he held efficiently until 2006 when, for health reasons, he was forced to free himself from the pressures of management.

Throughout his fruitful life he received numerous distinctions and honors, among which the following stand out:

• FOUNDER of the Center for Medical and Surgical Research (CIMEQ). Distinction granted on March 26, 2001.

• FOUNDER of the Ibero-American Center for the Elderly. Distinction granted on May 7, 2002. 

• FOUNDER of the Chair of the Elderly. Distinction granted on the occasion of the Fifth Anniversary of its creation. February, 2005.

• "ENRIQUE BARNET AWARD", granted by the Provincial Health Directorate of Cienfuegos to distinguished personalities who have excelled in the field of health. Year 2006

• MEDAL FOR GERONTOLOGICAL MERIT from the International Association of Gerontology. Year 2006.

But, probably, the greatest honor was bestowed upon him by the International Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics, by including his biographical summary and photograph in the "Hall of Great Names" –known as the "Hall of Fame"– where the personal contribution of the most outstanding personalities at the national, regional and international level in the field of the specialty is recognized, in care, teaching and research, in the interest of improving the health status, well-being and quality of life of older adults.

This great figure of Cuban medicine passed away in Havana on February 5 of this year 2016, just days before the Cuban Societies of Gerontology and Geriatrics and the History of Medicine were set to celebrate his 80th birthday.