Chavéz Sánchez, Ignacio (1897–1979)
Chavéz Sánchez, Ignacio (1897–1979)
The Mexican educator and cardiologist Ignacio Chavéz Sánchez was a member of a distinguished generation of intellectuals and politicians from the Colegio Nacional de San Nicolás, Morelia, Michoacán. Born on January 31, 1897, Chávez became one of the youngest figures ever to direct a major Mexican university, the Colegio Nacional de San Nicolás, in 1920. He obtained both medical (1920) and Ph.D. (1934) degrees from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and he also studied in Europe (1926–1927). He taught in the National Medical School for five decades, serving as dean in 1933–1934. In 1944 he founded the National Institute of Cardiology, which he directed for many years. He was rector of the UNAM from 1961 to 1966, a period of student unrest. Personal physician to many presidents beginning with Plutarco Elias Calles (1924–1928), Chávez left an important legacy of institutionalizing Mexican heart research. He was awarded Mexico's National Prize of Arts and Sciences in 1961.
See alsoEducation; Medicine: The Modern Era.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Arreola Cortés, Raúl. Infancia y juventud de Ignacio Chávez. Morelia, Mexico: Universidad Michoacana, 1997.
Romo Medrano, Lilia. Un relato biográfico: Ignacio Chávez, rector de la UNAM. Mexico: Colegio Nacional, 1997.
Roderic Ai Camp