Manuel Velasco Suárez (28 December 1914 – 2 December 2001) was a Mexican neurologist, neurosurgeon, scientist and humanist. He became governor of the state of Chiapas.

Career

Velasco was born in San Cristóbal de las Casas,

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

, in 1914. He founded and was the first director of National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery (INNN), which today bears his name and of which he was its first director. In 1977, he was appointed director emeritus and honorary member of the Governing Board of the Institute until his death in December 2001. He created the chair of neurology and neurosurgery at the Faculty of Medicine of the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

(UNAM) and in 1989, that university named him Emeritus Professor and distinguished him with the Academic Merit Medal for having taught classes for more than 60 years. He participated in the founding of the National Bioethics Commission in 1992 and the Mexican National Academy of Bioethics. He promoted the closure of inhumane asylums, introduced neuropsychiatry, and in 1948 promoted services for mentally ill patients of the brain and nervous system at the Hospital Juárez de México (then known as Hospital de San Pablo) and later in the creation of seven regional hospitals. He was a scientist, humanist, pacifist and creator of institutions. As a humanist, he participated in the struggles against the proliferation of nuclear and chemical weapons and within these efforts he was the Hispanic American leader of the

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) is a non-partisan federation of national medical groups in 63 countries, representing doctors, medical students, other health workers, and concerned people who share the goal of ...

, an association that in 1985 received the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

. He led neurology, mental health and rehabilitation of the Mexican Ministry of Health and Public Assistance in 1958. He became a politician affiliated with the

Institutional Revolutionary Party The Institutional Revolutionary Party (, , PRI) is a List of political parties in Mexico, political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 as the National Revolutionary Party (, PNR), then as the Party of the Mexican Revolution (, PRM) and fin ...

(PRI) and served as

governor of Chiapas The Governor of Chiapas is the chief executive of the Mexican state of Chiapas. The state constitution stipulates a term of 6 years, to which governors can only be elected once. It also specifies the qualifications for becoming governor: a Mexic ...

from 1970 to 1976. His grandson, Manuel Velasco Coello, also became governor of Chiapas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Velasco, Manuel 1914 births 2001 deaths Politicians from Chiapas Governors of Chiapas Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Mexico 20th-century Mexican politicians People from San Cristóbal de las Casas Mexican neuroscientists Mexican pacifists