Roberto Seife Rangel

Personality of Medicine in Cienfuegos. Chief of the Dermatology Service since 1983 and later of the Chair of Dermatology at the Faculty of Medical Sciences. His dedication was decisive in the consolidation of the specialty in the province, where he was the first to use Interferon in the treatment of common warts.

He was born on February 22, 1940 in Rodas. Son of Jorge Seife Sarki and Ana María Rangel Morfa, he was the ninth of eleven siblings. He completed his primary studies at the Félix Varela school. Later, in 1954, he enrolled at the Secondary Education Institute of Cienfuegos, a time he shared with work he performed at the restaurant owned by his father.

In 1960 he accepted a scholarship plan from the Revolutionary Government and enrolled in the School of Medicine at the University of La Habana. He married on April 1, 1962 to María Margarita Echevarría Curbelo and they had three daughters: Aimeé, Saraí, and Idania.

He graduated in 1967 and almost immediately began a vertical internship in Dermatology at the Manuel Piti Fajardo Hospital. Upon completion he returned to Cienfuegos and joined the Héroes de Playa Girón Hospital. In 1973 he became director of the Cecilio Ruíz de Zárate Polyclinic, work he performed alongside his role as quarantine physician at the Port of Cienfuegos.

In 1976 he was transferred to Santa Clara, where he continued his preparation as a specialist and received his First Degree in October 1978. He returned to Cienfuegos in 1980, to the Gustavo Aldereguía Lima Hospital, but was soon promoted to the Provincial Center of Hygiene and Epidemiology as an advisor for Leprosy and Sexually Transmitted Disease programs.

In 1983 he returned to the Provincial Hospital, this time as Chief of the Dermatology Service and Instructor Professor, by rectoral resolution of the Higher Institute of Medical Sciences of Villa Clara.

As main professor of the Dermatology subject taught to fifth-year students of the Medicine program, he dedicated himself to organizing the curriculum and teaching resources, as well as stimulating the development of the teaching staff. In 1988 he achieved the rank of Assistant Professor and ten years later that of Associate Professor. However, he maintained the administrative and healthcare duties inherent to the specialty.

In 1990 he worked in Ethiopia as professor and organizer of the Chair of Dermatology at Jimma University, for which he received recognition. That same year he became a Specialist of Second Degree.

He died in Cienfuegos on October 13, 2002, victim of lung cancer.

Scientific societies to which he belonged
Cuban Society of Dermatology
Cuban Society of Hygiene and Epidemiology
Cuban Society for Research on Interferon

Decorations he received
Commander Manuel (Piti) Fajardo Medal, for more than 25 years of service in Public Health.
20 Years Medal (founder of medical education in Cienfuegos).
National Vanguard Seal of ANIR