Dr. Manuel Campuzano Fernández

Surgeon, academic and former director of the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubirán.

Biography

Manuel Campuzano Fernández (17 February 1925 – 15 April 2022).

Surgeon, academic and former director of the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubirán. He is recognised as the father of pancreatic surgery in Mexico.

A lover of nature, Baja California and good coffee, he was an extremely creative person, always coming up with new ways of approaching surgery or making a joke. Always very simple and human. His sense of humour was characteristic, and he was often seen practising movements with a string or coins in his hand to maintain his agility in the operating theatre. He always took care of his body, enjoying long walks and hikes, and was a fervent lover of classical music.

Baja California captivated him, and he made numerous trips to the region. Fishing was one of his passions, as he enjoyed the contact with nature while camping and valued the quiet and calm moments in the boat.

Studies

He completed his professional studies from 1943 to 1948 at the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

In 1949 he presented his social service work in the town of Babícora, Chihuahua, with which he obtained his degree as a Surgeon, and later studied for a Master’s degree in Gastroenterology (1951-1952) at the same university. He was a surgical resident at the Hospital for Nutrition Diseases (1953-1955), in addition to completing a stay and specialisation in General Surgery (1956) at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA.

Teaching and Academy

In 1957, he joined the National Institute of Nutrition as a basic physician.

From 1957 to 1982 he was a professor in the Gastroenterology class at the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. In 1980, together with 15 colleagues from the Hospital de Nutrición, he initiated the programme to develop Medica Sur, with the objective of establishing private medical practices close to the institution where they worked.

Manuel served as Chairman of the Board of Directors at the beginning of this great project which is now considered one of the best private health care institutions in our country. Today the operating theatres are named in his honour.

From 1970 to 1982, he was Head of the Division of Surgery at INCMNSZ. In 1985, together with Dr. Guillermo Robles and Luis Uscanga, he founded the Pancreas Clinic, which is still in operation today, and was the General Director of INCMNSZ from 1982 to 1992. In his inaugural speech on 14 June 1982, he said: ‘I have not voluntarily sought the directorship of my institution; I feel that in doing so I am only fulfilling a variable of my destiny, which has been so closely identified for 35 long years with the destiny of the Institution, which I love dearly’.

Among the main achievements of his tenure as Director of INCMNSZ are: expansion of the hospitalisation and emergency wards, implementation of an experimental research unit and a biotherium, expansion of various departments, creation of the nursing division and modernisation of the pathology department to make it one of the best in the country, among other major accomplishments.
At the end of his term as Director General, he returned to the Pancreas Clinic of the Gastroenterology Department of INCMNSZ (1992-2002).

He also served as full, assistant, associate or visiting professor at the University of Nuevo León, the Nicaraguan Society of Medicine, the Medical College of Costa Rica and the Social Security Fund of the Republic of Panama.

In addition, he held various administrative and consultancy positions in institutions such as the Mexican Institute of Social Security, the Ignacio Chávez National Institute of Cardiology, the Mexican Association of Gastroenterology, the Ministry of Health, the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases, the Board of Trustees of the Boheringer Ingelheim Foundation, A.C., the Mexican Red Cross, and was a member of the Board of Governors in 2011. He received the appointment of Surgeon Emeritus of the INCMNSZ.

Awards and Distinctions

As a specialist and precursor of pancreas surgery, in 1966, he was the first to perform a cadaver kidney transplant in the whole country, an aspect that has earned him several awards during his career.
In 1991, he received the National University Prize in Natural Sciences Teaching, awarded by the UNAM. In 2013, he was awarded the Calasanz Medal in recognition of his long career in medicine, in a ceremony held at the Universidad Cristóbal Colón, in Veracruz.

In 2006, he received the ‘Eduardo Liceaga’ decoration, which is awarded to public servants and other persons who have distinguished themselves for their health merits.
He was also awarded the ‘Doctor Ignacio Chávez’ prize for medical humanism in 2015.

Scientific Societies

He was a founding, honorary or numerary member of several scientific societies in Mexico and abroad, such as the National Academy of Medicine, the Mexican Council of Gastroenterology, the Mexican Association of Gastroenterology, the Mexican Council of General Surgery, the Mexican Foundation for Health, the Costa Rican Association of Hospitals, the Medical College of Costa Rica, the Peruvian Society of Surgery, among others.

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