Zoilo Enrique Marinello Vidaurreta

Prestigious Cuban scientist and oncologist born in Santa Clara.

He began his medical studies in 1937, during a truly turbulent period in the country's politics and at the University of La Habana. He was a student leader, member of the Student Improvement Movement and member of the board of the Student Anti-Fascist Committee.

He graduated as a Doctor of Medicine in 1943 and that same year obtained, through competitive examination, a position as an internal physician at the "Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes" Hospital and another as a physician in the National Department of School Hygiene of the Ministry of Health and Social Assistance.

In 1944 he began teaching as an adjunct to the chair of Pathological Anatomy and Histology.

From 1945, and for two years, he completed a residency at the "Memorial Cancer Center" in New York, United States, where he obtained specialized training in oncology.

He returned to La Habana in 1947 and in 1950 obtained a position as an oncologist at the Radium Institute "Juan Bruno Zayas," of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes Hospital.

In 1960 Professor Marinello was part of the Intervention Commission of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes Hospital, and assumed the leadership of the Institute and was part of the Technical Commission for Restructuring of the Hospital System of the University of La Habana.

In 1961, he was appointed director of the Curie Cancer Hospital and began his work unifying the four oncological units in La Habana: the Cancer Hospital, the Clinic of the Cancer League, the Domínguez Roldán Hospital and the Radium Institute. The unification led to the creation of the Oncological Hospital of La Habana, which later, in 1966, became the National Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology. He directed this institution until the moment of his death.

At the request of the Minister of Public Health, he held the positions of President of the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Public Health and Chief of the National Oncology Group. In 1967 he was granted the senior category of Specialist of II Degree in Oncology. Years later his work was equally important in the formalization of research categories, in the creation and regulation of the National Commission of Scientific Degrees and in 1981 he was granted, in recognition of his scientific work and his great contributions to Cuban oncology, the category of Senior Researcher and the Doctorate in Medical Sciences.

In December 1972 he assumed the position of President of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba and directed all his efforts toward developing the numerous institutes that were part of the Academy and ensuring that research of true national utility was carried out in them.

During this period he also held the responsibility of Permanent Representative of Cuba on the Scientific-Technical Collaboration Committee of COMECON and was appointed member of the Presidium of the International Committee of the Lenin Peace Prize.

He also held the presidency of the Cuban-Soviet Friendship Association, from its founding in September 1972 until his death.

In November 1976 he was appointed Minister President of the State Committee of Science and Technology, a position he held until January 1980 when said Committee was declared dissolved.

On June 2, 1976 the Academy of Sciences of the USSR granted the degree of Academician to Dr. Zoilo Marinello Vidaurreta.

Throughout his professional life he was elected Member of the Academies of Sciences of the Soviet Union, of the German Democratic Republic, of Bulgaria and of the Third World. He received decorations from all socialist countries and from Cuba in the fields of science, education and defense of the homeland. In 1998 he was elected, posthumously, Academic of Merit.