Apuntes sobre Historia de la Oncología en Cuba / Notes on History of Oncology in Cuba

RESUMEN Muchos son los resultados relevantes de la Oncología cubana, gracias a los médicos, científicos y académicos que siempre han estado a la vanguardia de la lucha contra el cáncer, no sólo en Cuba sino también en Latinoamérica a lo largo de más de 170 años. El pueblo cubano, con su espíritu humano y colaborador, hizo aportes que ayudaron en los momentos difíciles, donde los gobiernos trataban de limitar el presupuesto para una obra tan noble como la lucha contra el cáncer. Fue la política de salud adoptada por el gobierno revolucionario, la que permitió el acceso a la atención gratuita a todo paciente oncológico poniendo a su alcance los recursos disponibles en su lucha contra esta tenebrosa enfermedad. La creación de la Unidad Oncológica de Matanzas ha sido y es hoy una muestra de tan noble obra. Con el objetivo de exponer las características del surgimiento y desarrollo de la oncología en Cuba se realiza el presente trabajo (AU).

SUMMARY There are many relevant results of Cuban Oncology, thanks to our doctors, scientists and academics who have always been at the forefront of the fight against cancer, not only in Cuba but also in Latin America for more than 170 years. The Cuban people, with their human spirit and collaborator, made contributions that helped in difficult times, where governments tried to limit the budget for a work as noble as the fight against cancer. It was the health policy adopted by the revolutionary government, which allowed access to free care for all oncological patients, putting at their disposal the available resources in their fight against this dark disease. The creation of the Oncological Unit of Matanzas has been and is today a sample of such a noble work. With the aim of exposing the characteristics of the emergence and development of oncology in Cuba, the present work is carried out (AU).

Professor Anastas Kocarev, First Macedonian Oncologist with Worldwide Reputation and Pioneer in Cancer Diagnostics and Treatment with Radium.

PhD. Anastas Kocarev (Kotzareff in French) is one of the most prominent Macedonian doctors and experts, prolific contributor to the cancer research in Switzerland and France in the first decades of the 20th century. He was born in Ohrid on May 5th, 1889. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Geneva where he defended a doctorate in medicine in 1915. In 1916 he was elected Assistant Professor (Private Docent) at that Faculty. He was a prominent scientist and professor of experimental medicine at the Faculty of Medicine in Geneva and the Sorbonne University in Paris, with a wide reputation in Europe and the United States. PhD. A. Kocarev is one of the pioneers of oncology and radiology in the world, a forerunner of modern nuclear medicine and positron emission tomography. He was a close associate of Nobel laureate in chemistry and physics Maria Sklodovska-Curie and at her invitation moved to Paris in 1925 to continue the research on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer using radium. He was fully devoted to science and published numerous scientific papers and books with high citations and dissemination in many medical libraries in Europe and beyond. In addition to his professional teaching and scientific work as a top oncologist-radiologist, he was a great patriot with advanced political ideas. He founded the Academic Society "Macedonia" in Geneva, in 1915, and united it with other Macedonian political associations from Zurich and Lausanne, in 1918, into a joint "Alliance of Macedonian Societies for Independent Macedonia", with commitments, activities and initiatives to the Society of Nations, based in Geneva, Switzerland, for the proper resolution of the Macedonian national issue by creating a united and independent state "Macedonia" or the formation of a "Balkan Federation". He died suddenly in Paris on March 29, 1931.