Pedro Albarrán Domínguez

He was born at the sugar mill "Cerro," in the jurisdiction of Sagua la Grande, province of Villa Clara, in 1854, son of Pedro Pablo Albarrán and Micaela Domínguez.

Member of a family of illustrious physicians, his brother Dr. Joaquín Albarrán Domínguez was one of the great figures of French urology and his grandson Dr. José A. Presno Albarrán an eminent surgeon.

He completed primary and secondary education at the "Belén" School of the Society of Jesus, Havana, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree (1871).

At the University of Barcelona he obtained the degree of Licentiate in Medicine (1875). He traveled to France and in the hospitals of Paris he practiced general surgery and in particular that of the urinary tract (1875-1877).

Upon his return to Cuba he settled in San Diego del Valle, province of Villa Clara, where he suffered imprisonment due to his independence activities (1880). He then moved to Sagua la Grande and finally to Havana, where he practiced exclusively urology.

In 1886 he was part of a commission that traveled to Paris to study anti-rabies vaccination with Louis Pasteur. Upon his return it was introduced in Barcelona and in Havana the Histochemical-Bacteriological Laboratory and Anti-rabies Vaccination Institute was founded, the first of its kind in Latin America.

Due to the War of Independence (1895-1898) he emigrated to Paris where he worked with the two most eminent urologists of the time, professors Félix Guyon and Joaquín Albarrán, his brother, at "Necker" Hospital.

After the war ended he returned to Cuba (1898) and at the University of Havana he obtained the degree of Doctor in Medicine (1900) with the thesis "Urethral Strictures."

Founder of the first service for diseases of the urinary tract in the country (1902), at "Hospital Number One." He was the first to practice in Cuba the operations of nephrorraphy and nephrolithotomy, as well as devised a procedure for practicing lithotripsy, among other original contributions.

His extensive bibliography highlights the book "Clinical Cases of Urinary Tract" (1894), in which he gathered five of his works and the monographs: "Urinary Neuropathy" (1890), "Nephrolithotomy for Aseptic Stone and Nephrorraphy" (1895), "Enormous Bladder Papilloma. Modified Trendelenburg Lithotomy" (1896), "Rare Case of Urethral Anomaly" (1899) and "A Case of Lithotripsy" (1903).

Distinguished member of the Society of Clinical Studies of Havana, he served as its president (1900-1906). He presided over the I National Medical Congress (1905) and the VIII National Conference on Charity and Correction. He participated in foreign and international medical events such as the International Congress of Medicine and Surgery, Lisbon (1906).

He received important honors, among them, Commander of the Order of the Holy Christ of Portugal. Representative to the Chamber (1902-1910), he was co-author of the law of the Secretariat of Health and Welfare.

When the Chair of Urology was created at the University of Havana (1924), thirteen years after his death, the pavilion that has housed it since then, at the University Hospital "General Calixto García," bears the name "Albarrán" in tribute to the two great Cuban urologists.