Dr. C. and Consultant Professor Antonio Márquez Guillén Passes Away

May 17, 2024

Dr. C. Consultant Professor Antonio Márquez Guillén, clinician and endocrinologist, who was one of the first co-founders of the Institute of Endocrinology (INEN) and founder and first director of the Center for Diabetes Care (CAD), attached to the institution itself, passed away in Havana today.

Professor Dr. Antonio Márquez Guillén graduated as a physician in 1960. He can be considered a pioneer in diabetes care during pregnancy in Cuba, a service that began at the University Clinical Surgical Hospital "General Calixto García", when it had a maternity ward.

He founded, in the 1970s, the Diabetes and Pregnancy ward at the Gynecological-Obstetric Hospital "Ramón González Coro" together with Dr. Lemay Valdés Amador, and in 1992, the Reproductive Risk consultation in Diabetes at the Anti-diabetes Center, with one of his most cherished students, Dr. Jacinto Lang Prieto. He also created the Cuban Program for Diabetes and Pregnancy (PCDE) in 2001, which is currently in effect and constitutes a prototype for Latin America. Likewise, he directed and advised the first and second Cuban Consensus on Diabetes and Pregnancy.

Regarding his work in the Latin American region, he was Vice President of the Latin American Association of Diabetes (ALAD), directed the Working Group on Diabetes and Pregnancy of this organization from 1997 to 2002; and in that latter year, he founded the Latin American and Caribbean Association for Sexual and Reproductive Health in Diabetes (SAREDIA).

Professor Dr. Antonio Márquez Guillén was President of the Cuban Society of Endocrinology and Diabetes (SOCEND), of which he was currently an Honorary Member, as well as of the Cuban Society for the History of Medicine.

His clinical and research activity developed mainly in the field of diabetes and pregnancy. Thanks to his tireless effort to enhance activity in this field in Cuba, which at the time was an innovation to the Cuban health system, it was generalized to all provinces of the country. He conducted multiple investigations and publications on the subject, in which he is considered an expert both at the national level and in Latin America. His teachings on this subject will be imperishable.