Isaac Gonzalez: Puerto Rican physician who specialized in cancer research and treatment
On the left, holding the microphone is Dr. Reynold López Enriquez, professor of oncologic surgery at the University of Puerto Rico. On the right, an image of Isaac González Martínez, of the Puerto Rican League Against Cancer.
Puerto Ricans have been facing infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, polio, tetanus, etc., for the last two centuries. Some of them, throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, were lost until they became extinct.
Now, the diseases of the islanders are still conditioned by those related to viruses and parasites, cancer, chronic diseases, neurological diseases, among others.
Isaac Gonzalez Martinez discovered a parasite in Puerto Rico
This young man began in 1900 to meddle in the world of parasites. Thus, in 1904, he discovered a new parasite in Puerto Rico, one that had never been written about and did not exist in the medical literature, called Visalia, a strong parasite that wreaked havoc on the island during that time.
Bubonic Plague
This was a bacterial disease transmitted by flea bites, resulting in swelling and inflammation of the lymph nodes, commonly in the groin, armpits or neck.
In 1912, Isaac managed to foresee in Puerto Rico, controlling the plague in only three months, confining people to their own homes.
In 1938 he founded the Puerto Rican League Against Cancer.
Before founding the Puerto Rican League Against Cancer, he worked as a physician and physician and also belonged to the American Association of Parasitology and Public Health.
As early as 1938, he volunteered for the cancer league, donating a radiotherapy machine. He had to seek financial support to bring clinical services to low-income patients. At that time, Dr. Martinez was never paid as a physician in this institution.
The first specialized cancer hospital was created in April 1953.
As a result of his years of hard work and service to the community, years later, in 1953, the first hospital specialized in cancer in Puerto Rico was built, named Dr. Isaac González Martínez Oncology Hospital, as a tribute to his years of career and service.
This is the first hospital in Puerto Rico to subspecialize in cancer, where all of its services are located in the same facility. They are a private, non-profit institution that offers services to cancer patients in Puerto Rico.
Original article published in Medicina y Salud Pública magazine: Link
