Clinical Neurology in Latin America

ALLEGRI RF.

Handbook of Neurology

Elsevier Publ.

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2009; p. 801 - 814

The field of neurology in South America (SA) began to emerge towards the end of the nineteenth century, following the origin of the specialty in Europe. There were consistent and long-standing admirations for European training, which led to the birth of the discipline in South America. The first steps took place almost simultaneously with European countries in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile and Peru. This paper aims to unearth information on the founders of clinical neurology in SA. Taken together, these sources reveal several important milestones in the long history of the field. The department of Neurology at the Hospital San Roque de Buenos Aires was created in 1885 and headed by José María Ramos Mejía, who then took over as Professor of Neurology at the University of Buenos Aires School Of Medicine in 1887. The first institute of neurology in Latin America, the Instituto Neurológico de Montevideo was created in 1926 under Américo Ricaldoni´s direction. Seventeen years later, the Arquivos de Neuropsiquiatria from San Pablo was created, and is still in existence. Up until the present, South America has made dozens of important research contributions in the diagnosis and treatment of regional endemics diseases (cysticercosis, hydatidosis, and Chagas disease).