Ricardo Portilla Sánchez

Eminent Cuban urologist.

He was born in the town of Cruces, now in the province of Villa Clara. He completed his primary studies at the Colegio de los Hermanos Maristas de Caibarién and graduated with a degree in Letters and Sciences from the Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza de Matanzas on March 9, 1934.

He pursued his medical studies at the Universidad de La Habana during the turbulent period following the fall of dictator Machado. With an outstanding academic record, he earned 28 honors grades in 32 courses taken and three ordinary prizes. He completed his doctoral examinations for the degree of Doctor in Medicine with a grade of honors on July 2, 1940, before a tribunal presided over by the eminent professor of obstetrics, Dr. Sergio García Marrúz (1886-1947), and his degree was conferred the following day.

During his medical studies he was an intern at the Instituto del Cáncer de La Habana. After graduating, he held the positions of resident physician, surgeon-urologist, and head of administration at that institution until 1947, when he moved to the position of surgeon-urologist at the Casa de Salud del Centro de Dependientes del Comercio de La Habana, where he remained until 1960.

Dr. Portilla entered the teaching profession, during the period of appointment, in chair No. 37, Diseases of the Urinary Tract with its clinic, on October 22, 1941. He presented his thesis for appointment 2 years later. He subsequently held the positions of instructor and associate physician in the chair with teaching duties. In addition to these university activities, he taught different courses in practical oncology at the Hospital "Curie" de La Habana (1953 and 1954) and a practical course in urology sponsored by the Colegio Médico Nacional in early 1960.

When mass resignations of professors from the Faculty of Medicine occurred in mid-1960, he was promoted by competition to Full Professor, head of what was then the Chair of Urology, in September of that year. When university reform was proclaimed on January 10, 1962, he was at that time Head Professor of the Subdepartment of Urology, Department of Surgery of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the Universidad de La Habana.

There, along with a group of then-young professors that included Drs. Mariano Valverde Medel (1921-2006), Enrique Pernas Echemendía, Hugo Benítez Pérez, Miguel de la Cruz Sánchez, Vicente Osorio Acosta, Fidel Presmanes Fernández, and Julio C. Morales Concepción, he was among the architects of modern Cuban urology in the revolutionary period.

In 1963 he was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences and also held the presidency of the Superior Board of Governance of that Faculty until 1965. In 1967 he was conferred the title of Specialist of Second Degree (higher degree) in Urology. In 1981 he received the Doctorate in Medical Sciences in a solemn ceremony in the Aula Magna of the Universidad de La Habana and was granted the category of Senior Researcher.

Principal author of the textbooks for his chair: "Texto de Urología" (1960, 1965, and 1971), "Texto Básico de Urología" (1979), and "Urología" (1985). The quality of his scientific work, recognized within and outside the country, earned him the National Order "Carlos J. Finlay," the highest recognition granted to a scientist in Cuba; the international award "T. León Howard" (USA) for his original contribution on bladder regeneration after total cystectomy and implantation of a plastic mold; and medical societies from the United States of America, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, France, Spain, and Czechoslovakia invited him to join their ranks as a foreign corresponding member.

He was a full member of the Sociedad Nacional de Cirugía de Cuba, president of the Sociedad Cubana de Urología, for the first time in 1954, and participated in 53 international, national, and foreign medical congresses, where he always upheld the name of Cuban urology with great honor.

Upon his death in La Habana on November 3, 1990, he held the position of Principal Professor of the Subdepartment of Urology of the Faculty of Medicine "General Calixto García," of the Instituto Superior de Ciencias Médicas de La Habana, based in his beloved "Albarrán" pavilion of the Hospital Universitario "General Calixto García," and possessed among other decorations: the order "Frank País" of second degree, the medals "Pepito Tey," "Comandante Manuel Fajardo," "25 Years in Teaching," "250th Anniversary of the Universidad de La Habana," "XV Anniversary of the MININT," "XX Anniversary of the MININT," and the "Personal Security Seal of the MININT."

Source: CUADERNOS DE HISTORIA DE LA SALUD PÚBLICA 103