Renowned Professor and Public Health Expert Lic. María del Carmen Amaro Cano Passes Away

August 20, 2024

On the afternoon of August 19, 2024, Lic. María del Carmen Amaro Cano passed away in Havana at the age of 82.

Professor María del Carmen Amaro Cano was a nurse specialized in education, a graduate in Political Science, a Master's degree holder in Historical Sciences, a specialist in Bioethics, Assistant Professor and Consultant at the Faculty of Medical Sciences "Calixto García" of the University of Medical Sciences of Havana (UCMH), president of the Bioethics Chair at the same faculty, member of the National Commission of Medical Ethics, and vice president of the Cuban Society of History of Medicine.

She was also the author of numerous scientific publications.

A native of Matanzas province, she was born on July 10, 1942. Her first profession was teaching, which she practiced at just 14 years old while simultaneously pursuing her high school studies. With the triumph of the Revolution in 1959, she was able to move to Havana to study nursing at the "América Arias" School of Nursing, where she graduated in 1962.

This notable Cuban public health professional and nurse, of proverbial modesty, steadfast until the end in her ideas and social commitments, bearer of profound ethical feelings, delicate and respectful speech, boundless courage, singular empathic capacity; sincere and genuine Martian, enemy of selfishness and indifference, lover and unwavering defender of the History of Public Health in Cuba and of the women and men who have dedicated their lives to this noble cause, always a friend and sister, who responds to the name of María del Carmen Amaro Cano and who at one moment of her valuable existence defined herself in the following manner: "I am simply someone who loves with passion the profession I chose because of my vocation to care. Although unfortunately I could only practice it for 9 years, in my early youth, and when I stopped practicing it, it was not by my desire, but to fulfill the social commitment that led me to study other careers. But I have always remained faithful to that profession which has given me so much, especially it taught me to put myself in the place of the other and treat others as I like to be treated," rightfully occupies a prominent place in the History of Public Health in Cuba.