Professor Pardo and his desire to serve

December 5, 2019

Personality is a confusing term. And so susceptible to diverse interpretations that, being unable to separate its euphemistic accent, I prefer to discard it. But in times of extinction of that universal archetype which is the gentleman, he still retains the bearing, the majesty inherent to men of valor. I choose then the person, instead of referring to personality.

Nor is it possible for me to capture in brief lines how much veneration he awakens among those of us who know him, even though we do not swell the bulging legion that in more than half a century of uninterrupted teaching has drunk from his mastery. Of course, something filters through by the authority exercised by his mere mention in my mom and my dad, two of his eternal disciples, always willing to attend to the slightest request or petition from Professor Pardo.

Nationalist vocation never took on in him the category of disjunction, so his case was not similar to that of other physicians who for different reasons chose to remain in their Homeland after 1959. Leaving was not an option for someone committed to the core with the Revolution that was taking shape.

Those young wounded and persecuted people certainly know it, who through his personal efforts saved their lives at the Calixto García University Hospital, some of whom are still around!

Since obtaining in 1951 at that centennial institution, by competition, a position as internal physician and later resident, his curriculum is enviable: internship at the Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago; study scholarship sponsored by the British Council for King's College in London; head of surgical services, of surgical units, subdirector and director of the Calixto García and Joaquín Albarrán hospitals; internationalist missions in Nicaragua, Peru and Mexico in the 70s. Not to mention membership in Cuban and foreign scientific societies, participation in high-impact events in his specialty, numerous publications, courses received and taught here and there.

But if something defines him it is his condition as a teacher. Not in vain this Doctor of Science, Full Professor of Surgery and architect of the program of that discipline in the current Study Plan, holds the position of Consultant Professor and Professor of Merit of the Higher Institute of Medical Sciences of Havana.

In the profession his devotion to rigor and dexterity in the operating room are legendary, as much as his eagerness to multiply knowledge and care for his beautiful family. And as I presume that in him Medicine is a state of irrenunciable fullness, the mandate of the soul takes precedence over the mandate of chronology. Only such sorcery would explain his yearning to serve, to guide, to confront, to make himself physically present.

Like one who cannot distance himself from the assistance mission, sad days are for him when some sudden ailment puts his customary disposition at risk, or when gasoline is scarce and he cannot leave Fontanar to reach the Albarrán, rather, the Clínico de 26, his other home, to which he has been faithful since 1962.

On those days that he takes care not to prolong too much, he is missed there not as the patriarch he is, but as the one who has earned being. Fortunately, there are more times when he is seen coming, without apparent effort. Like one who retraces his steps through his home and discovers at each step his own footprint, the nuances and smells of pain and joy, presence and absence revealed; in short, time which, with obsessive serenity, challenges and defines us.

All of this concentrates, perhaps without clouding the diligent smile. The march continues in his natural environment the inveterate white coat, spilled on his body for the last 70 years, which is already the same as saying forever. Admirable priesthood this, which, sheltered in the Hippocratic oath, is first ratified by his personal ethics and integrity.

Just days ago, in the hospital's assembly hall, a loving ambush was set for him with the purpose of presenting his life story in an audiovisual prepared by the Infomed team, the network that supports the performance of those thousands of Cubans who more than ever on this December 3rd deserve our sincere congratulations, because it is the Day of Latin American Medicine. Upon concluding the morning session in which several voices evoked his legacy, he, with evident embarrassment, could only manage to remind us that "this so great thing truly seems unnecessary to me."

I was getting ahead of the utopian nature of capturing my affection in few words. It is also not possible to compile such a vast record of care for others. But I forgot to say that this wise, demanding and decent man whom —following the precept of my elders— I prefer to call "Professor Pardo", is Professor Gilberto Pardo Gómez. And I omitted another crucial detail: he is approaching his 94th birthday.