José Quiroga Fuentealba is a

cardiologist Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular ...

who served as a physician to Chilean president

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

. During the

1973 Chilean coup d'état The 1973 Chilean coup d'état Enciclopedia Virtual > Historia > Historia de Chile > Del gobierno militar a la democracia" on LaTercera.cl. Retrieved 22 September 2006. In October 1972, Chile suffered the first of many strikes. Among the par ...

, Quiroga witnessed the

Chilean Army The Chilean Army ( es, Ejército de Chile) is the land arm of the Military of Chile. This 80,000-person army (9,200 of which are conscripts) is organized into six divisions, a special operations brigade and an air brigade. In recent years, and ...

assault the government palace. He was detained and beaten until his release was ordered by a Chilean military general.

Career

In 1977, Quiroga secured a position at

UCLA Fielding School of Public Health The UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health is the graduate school of public health at UCLA, and is located within the Center for Health Sciences building on UCLA's campus in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California ...

and moved his family to

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...

. He volunteered to treat torture victims at UCLA and the Venice Family Clinic for the next twenty-five years. In 1980, Quiroga co-founded the Program for Torture Victims with Argentine refugee psychologist Ana Deutsch. He has spoken about his work at conferences and universities worldwide. Quiroga was the former vice president and member of the executive committee of the

International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) is an independent, international health professional organization that promotes and supports the rehabilitation of torture victims and works for the prevention of torture worldwid ...

(IRCT) in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. He also serves as treasurer of

Physicians for Social Responsibility Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) is a physician-led organization in the US working to protect the public from the threats of nuclear proliferation, climate change, and environmental toxins. It produces and disseminates publications, p ...

and was a former medical director of the Program for Torture Victims. He received the 2009 Socially Responsible Medicine Award from

in recognition of his professional career and social commitment. Quiroga was awarded the Inge Genefke Award in 2012 alongside his peer Jim Jaranson. The award is given every other year by the Anti-Torture Support Foundation to honor outstanding work in the global fight against torture. The official award ceremony took place in November 2012 at the board meeting of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims. For his work on the human rights of refugees, Quiroga has received press coverage from the Los Angeles Times Magazine the New South Wales Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors' ''Refugee Transitions''. In an interview with the Hungarian journal ''

Élet és Irodalom ''Élet és Irodalom'' (also known as ''ÉS''; meaning ''Life and Literature'' in English) is a weekly Hungarian magazine about literature and politics. History and profile ''Élet és Irodalom'' was first published as a literary magazine on 15 ...

'', he further commented on his founding of the Program for Torture Victims and how its relationships with the IRCT drew closer following the Balkan Wars.

Publications

Author

Co-author

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References

External links

Program for Torture Victims
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quiroga, Jose Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Chilean cardiologists UCLA School of Public Health faculty Chilean emigrants to the United States