# The beloved teacher María de los Ángeles Chávez has passed away

**Date:** 07/31/2021

On the afternoon of Saturday, July 24, 2021, Professor María de los Ángeles Chávez passed away, Professor Emerita of La Universidad de La Habana and Member of Merit of the Academia de Ciencias de Cuba.

Maya, as everyone affectionately knew her, was a founder of Biochemistry studies in Cuba and particularly of Enzymology, in which she established a school of national and international recognition.

Thanks to her determination, the Centro de Estudios de Proteínas of the Facultad de Biología was founded and she notably promoted the academic and scientific activities of our Faculty and University.

An excellent professor, eminent scientist and an extraordinary human being who devoted her life to the University and offered her talent in service of Cuba.

The Doctor of Biological Sciences María de los Ángeles Chávez was characterized by her slender figure and small stature; also a graduate of the Facultad de Química of the Lomonosov state university of Moscow, she radiated energy and dynamism, especially in her professional work for more than four decades at the Havana institution of higher learning. "For me, teaching is the most important thing, it is my life, I consider it essential for developing scientific, engineering, and medical personnel."

Rigorous, tireless worker, demanding, a walker, smoker outside the classroom, vain and lover of mint tea, this is how her former students remember Maya Chávez, mother of Cuban Biochemistry, who played a crucial role in the creation of the scientific hub in western La Habana, where she directed her Instituto de Proteínas for almost two decades and served as permanent visiting Professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and collaborator at other research centers around the world.