February 14, 2009

ROBERTO DE BELLIS (Uruguay)

ROBERTO DE BELLIS (1939-2007)

Uruguayan hematologist who performed the first autologous bone marrow transplant in South America in 1985.

He graduated in 1968 from the Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de la República Oriental del Uruguay.

De Bellis trained in Hematology in Paris with Professor Jean Bernard. Later he trained Iin Japan, United Kingdom, USA, and again in France.

He was the patron of modern Hematology in Uruguay.

Roberto De Bellis became Full Professor and First Chairman of Hematology at the Faculty of Medicine of Uruguay, in 1980. He published more than 200 medical articles.

In 1985 he founded a bone marrow transplant unit at the British Hospital in Montevideo, where he carried out the first autologous bone marrow transplant in South America.

An Uruguayan postage stamp was issued in his honor in 2008.

REFERENCE:

Muxi P, Wiernik PH 'A tribute to Professor Roberto De Bellis.' Medical Oncology, Volume 24, Number 2, June 2007 , pp. 265-265(1)


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