Francisco Rojas Ochoa, prominent professor and public health expert, dies in La Habana

May 31, 2020

On the afternoon of this Saturday, May 30th, the distinguished and beloved professor Francisco Rojas Ochoa passed away in Havana, considered one of the most relevant figures in Cuban public health, a lifelong educator, always full of teachings.

Admired by all, the Doctor of Sciences, Professor and Researcher of Merit at the University of Medical Sciences of Havana, made important contributions in rural medical and social services, where he introduced methods and organizational standards for its development. As provincial director of public health in Camagüey (1961-1964), he created Cuba's first maternity home, a health system institution designed to improve the quality of care for pregnant women.

He was National Director of Statistics of the Ministry of Public Health (1966-1976), from where he directed the program for training and development of human resources for the sanitary statistics offices of the country and the curriculum for the training of doctors and other professionals specialized in biostatistics.

As a Specialist of Second Grade in Health Organization and Administration, he made valuable contributions to the development of the administration of health programs and services in Cuba and in other countries in the region; and also to the training of several generations of leaders and public health professionals. For his contribution in this field, he received the OPS Prize in Administration in 2005.

He published more than 100 works, including journal articles and books. In the area of scientific publishing, in which he served for more than 30 years as director of the Cuban Journal of Public Health, he achieved that this publication would rank among the most cited in the Spanish-speaking world.

Dr. Francisco Rojas Ochoa was an honorary member of the Cuban Society of Public Health and full member of the Academy of Sciences, president of the Advisory Board of the Medical Sciences Publishing House, member of the Cuban Society of History of Medicine and the Cuban Society of Educators in Health Sciences, as well as member of the Latin American Society of Medicine (ALAMES).

He was awarded the Annual Public Health Prize for his book "Vaccines. Cuba 1959-2008" and held the Order "Carlos J. Finlay".