Ricardo Ángel González Menéndez

DrCs Ricardo Ángel González Menéndez, Associate Professor and Senior Consultant and Researcher at the Faculty of Medical Sciences "Dr. Enrique Cabrera", Academician of Merit and President of the National Commission of Medical Ethics, passed away at the age of 85 due to COVID-19.

This distinguished professional was born in Pinar del Río on January 15, 1936, son of an Asturian father, a merchant, and a Cuban mother, a teacher. His first dream was to be an aviation pilot, but later, with the death, without diagnosis, of a maternal aunt, the project emerged to become a doctor.

Already graduated, a mental health condition suffered by his mother was among the reasons he chose psychiatry. His subsequent specialization in the treatment and prevention of addictions, a subject to which he has dedicated three decades of his life, also has its deepest roots in a family scene.

With his eagerness to learn and discover new answers to the multiple questions that arise in his daily professional, teaching, and social work, he achieved the categories of Specialist I and II Degree in Psychiatry, Associate Professor and Senior Consultant of the specialty, Senior Researcher, Doctor in Medical Sciences and Doctor in Sciences, all of which made him worthy of the category of Academician of Merit of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba.

Due to his outstanding competence, in which are present not only the theoretical and practical knowledge and skills of his specialty, but especially the attitudes and values that characterize him, he always enjoyed the well-deserved prestige that allowed him to dignly hold the responsibility of President of the National Commission of Medical Ethics and Advisor of the Toxicomania Service of the Psychiatric Hospital of Havana "Dr. Eduardo Bernabé Ordaz". He was President of the Cuban Society of Psychiatry and General Secretary of the Psychiatric Association of Latin America.

In his desire to contribute to people's health, he has published more than 30 books and scientific articles on Psychiatry, Medical Psychology, Medical Ethics and Deontology, Alcoholism and other drug addictions. The latter made him worthy of election as a Member of the Editorial Board of the journal "Addictions" of Spain.

Among the recognitions received, outstanding are the Hero of Labor, awarded by the National CTC in 1964 and the title of Adopted Son, awarded by the People's Power Assembly of Niquero, 50 years after completing his work in that territory, Honorary Professor of the Autonomous University of the Dominican Republic; Visiting Professor at "Cayetano Heredia" University in Peru. Honorary Professor of the Institute of Spanish-Speaking Psychiatrists (IPLE).

Ricardo González was an expert on the subject of addictions and his treatment and continued advice many of the young people whom he treated throughout his professional career owe much.

Professor Ricardo González Menéndez, an example of medical and social ethics, constitutes a paradigm for new generations.