Augusto Huaman Velasco (September 1, 1924 in

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

– July 20, 1998) was a

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...

, statesman,

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

and

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

Early life

Huaman was the son of Gil Huaman who was known as a jurist, landowner and avid traveler. He studied at Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe High School in Lima. He graduated with honors from the Escuela San Fernando and

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...

of the Universidad de San Marcos. He followed this with specialization studies in Spain and Germany. In 1942, he received a specialization in tropical diseases at

Complutense University The Complutense University of Madrid (, UCM; ) is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293 (before relocating to Madrid in 1836), it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world, and one of Spain's ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Career

At Complutense, Huaman met Gregorio Marañon. This meeting interested Huaman in

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

. Huaman became involved in the recently created Institute of Medical Pathology and grew interested in tropical diseases. During the mid-1980s, Huaman earned a special denomination after an active cooperation at Universitäts Frauenklinik,

Kiel, Germany Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Bay of Kiel ...

, on pioneer work with

laparoscopic Laparoscopy () is an operation performed in the abdomen or human pelvis, pelvis using small Surgical incision, incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) with the aid of a camera. The laparoscope aids diagnosis or therapeutic interventions with a few ...

appendectomy An appendectomy (American English) or appendicectomy (British English) is a Surgery, surgical operation in which the vermiform appendix (a portion of the intestine) is removed. Appendectomy is normally performed as an urgent or emergency procedur ...

. Huaman devoted his life to research on health issues related to social and ethical issues in tropical environments, while he was most deeply concerned with the study of the development and proliferation of

tropical disease Tropical diseases are diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropical and subtropical regions. The diseases are less prevalent in temperate climates, due in part to the occurrence of a cold season, which controls the insect population by forc ...

s related to conditions of

extreme poverty Extreme poverty is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, ...

. Huaman advised governments in health strategies to prevent epidemics in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. From 1968 to 1975 he was involved in policy development and general strategy for

social development Social development can refer to: * Psychosocial development * Social change Social change is the alteration of the social order of a society which may include changes in social institutions, social behaviours or social relations. Sustained at ...

programs. He was a key player in the creation of social programs for community health systems in Ecuador, Peru and Chile in the late 1960s. Huaman lectured in several Peruvian, Andean and European socialist universities, including Universidad Federico Villarreal, Universidad de Compostela, Universidad de San Marcos and Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huaman Velasco, Augusto People from Lima Peruvian tropical physicians 1924 births 1998 deaths Peruvian expatriates in Spain Peruvian expatriates in Germany