Cosme Mariano Argerich (26 September 1758 – 14 February 1820) was a pioneer of military medical practices in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Biography

Born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, he became the first officer to be appointed as the Surgeon General in the

Argentine Army The Argentine Army ( es, Ejército Argentino, EA) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander- ...

. He received his medical doctorate in 1783 from the

University of Cervera The Royal and Pontifical University of Cervera ( es, Real y Pontificia Universidad de Cervera) was a Spanish university located in Cervera, Province of Lleida, Catalonia. The institution was founded in 1717 by Philip V of Spain, who sought to co ...

in Spain, and thereafter practiced medicine in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

until 1784. Returning to

that same year, he was instrumental in containing the

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

epidemics of 1794 and 1796, becoming the country's primary advocate for popular

immunization Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an infectious agent (known as the immunogen). When this system is exposed to molecules that are foreign to the body, called ''non-sel ...

. During the English invasion attempts of 1806 and 1807, he distinguished himself in providing medical treatment to wounded soldiers. As a notable citizen of Buenos Aires, he took part of the debates which led to the

May Revolution The May Revolution ( es, Revolución de Mayo) was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the terri ...

, from 18 to 25 May 1810. He was the primary proponent of the country's Instituto Médico Militar, founded on 13 March 1813. That same year, he was appointed as the organization's director, a position that he held until his death in 1820, overseeing the nation's premiere medical training facility. He was also commissioned in the Argentine Army as a surgeon, and was responsible for training and establishing a

medical corps A medical corps is generally a military branch or officer corps responsible for medical care for serving military personnel. Such officers are typically military physicians. List of medical corps The following organizations are examples of medica ...

for General

José de San Martín José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras (25 February 177817 August 1850), known simply as José de San Martín () or '' the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru'', was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and cent ...

's expeditionary force to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

that required crossing the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

mountain chain (a Hannibal-inspired military victory instrumental to securing the country's independence from Spain). The main military hospital in Buenos Aires is named after him.

External links

Biography from Educ.ar Digital Public Library (in Spanish)
* 1758 births 1820 deaths People from Buenos Aires Argentine military doctors Argentine people of Catalan descent Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery 19th-century Argentine physicians {{Argentina-med-bio-stub