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Hernâni Bastos Monteiro 1891-1963 Doctor, university teacher and writer |
Hernâni Bastos Monteiro, son of Joaquim Monteiro Rebelo and Amélia Clara Bastos Monteiro, was born in Porto on 18 May 1891.
In Porto, he studied at the Central High School (1901-1908), at Polytechnic Academy of Porto (1907-1910) and at Medical-Surgical School of Porto, from which he moved onto the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto in 1911. Already in this University, in 1915, he finished the Medicine course presenting the inaugural dissertation: "Sífilis Hepática", ["Syphilis of the Liver"], receiving a mark of 18.
During the course he received an award for Organic Chemistry, several "accessit" and the awards "Barão de Castelo de Paiva" and "Rodrigues Pinto" and was invited by Professor Luís Viegas to be his 1st temporary assistant in Anatomy (nominated by the decree of 21 August 1915 and taking office on 10 September of the same year).
Soon after, he was commissioned to organize the catalogue of the Normal Anatomy Museum of the FMUP, under the direction of J. A. Pires de Lima, together with whom he received a vote of praise from the School Board on 28 July 1917. The following year, he was hired to teach Topographic Anatomy, which he would teach for 43 years.
In April 1920 he took a public examination to occupy a vacancy as 1st assistant of the Anatomy, Histology and Embryology group. In this examination, in which he was unanimously approved, he presented a class about the "Evolução do aparelho hioideu" ["Evolution of the hyoid system"]. Nominated on 15 May he was responsible for teaching Topographic Anatomy and the complement part of Descriptive Anatomy.
On 24 November 1921, the School Board granted him, unanimously and for the first time, a prize of "150$00 to the best research project published by assistants, ‘professores livres’ or course directors, who are not ordinary Professors".
In 1924 he applied for the position of full Professor of Surgical Anatomy, a subject which then included Topographic Anatomy and Operative Medicine, with a class entitled "The importance of anatomical anomalies within Surgery" (he was nominated by the decree of 23rd February, Diário de Governo n. 53 of the 6th March, taking office on the 7th of the same month), which granted him his PhD in Medicine.
After the contest to become a full Professor, he was appointed Secretary of the Faculty and reappointed for the same position in 1927. Throughout his performance he associated with the publication of the Yearbook of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto and with the celebration of the I Centenary of the Royal School of Surgery, publishing for that occasion the "Suplemento à História do Ensino Médico no Porto" ["Suplement to the History of Medical Education in Porto"] and the "Origens da Cirurgia portuense" ["Origins of Surgery in Porto"].
In 1928, Hernâni Monteiro founded the Laboratories of Experimental Surgery and of Radiology, where Álvaro Rodrigues, Sousa Pereira, Luís de Pina and Roberto de Carvalho worked, among others. In the first of these laboratories pioneer works of lymphangiography were performed as well as relevant works in the area of lymphatic anatomo-physiology and experimental researches within Surgery and Physiology, in collaboration with Professors Joaquim Bastos e Afonso Guimarães. The scientific importance of this centre led to the creation of an Experimental Medicine Centre in the FMUP, which was directed by Hernâni Monteiro between 1940 and 1961.
Hernâni Monteiro was also the founder of the Experimental Embryology and Teratology Laboratory. Together with Roberto de Carvalho and Albano Ramos he developed studies in Radiological Anatomy. And, as a Professor in the FMUP, he also taught Descriptive Anatomy between 1936 and 1945.
Throughout his career he held important public positions. He was a librarian and director of the FMUP, director of the Anatomy Institute in that Faculty (after the retirement of J. A. Pires de Lima, in 1947), president of the board of the Portuguese Medical Association, Secretary of the Delegation of Porto National Education Board and member of the technical committee for the reorganization of University teaching, member of the Technical Committee for the construction of School Hospitals in Lisbon and Porto and President of the Interim Committee of S. João Hospital (nominated in 1954).
Until he reached his age limit, Hernâni Monteiro directed the Experimental Surgery Service, he was secretary of the Medical Biology section in the Congress of Portuguese and Spanish Associations for the Progress of Sciences (1921), vice-president of that same association’s section, vice-president of the Executive Committee of the Medicine National Congress (Porto, 1927), vice-president of the Porto Committee of the International Congress of Pre-Historic Anthropology and Archaeology (1930), president of the First Galician-Portuguese Medical Conferences (Orense, 1935) and councilor of Porto City Council (between 1951 and 1954).
He participated in several boards for the selection of Professors in the Porto School of Fine Arts and in the Faculties of Medicine of the Universities of Lisbon and Coimbra.
He developed scientific works on anatomy and experimental surgery as well as studies on Medical History. He collaborated in numerous Portuguese and foreign periodicals, such as "Anais Científicos da Faculdade de Medicina do Porto", "Anais da Faculdade de Medicina do Porto", "Portugal Médico", "Boletim Geral de Medicina e Farmácia", "Ilustração Moderna", "Boletim da Câmara Municipal do Porto" and "Revista Ibero Americana de Medicina y Terapeutica Físicas".
He integrated renowned national and international societies. He was a corresponding member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, the Coimbra Institute, member of the Association des Anatomistes, da Société Anatomique de Paris, the Société d'Anthropologie, the American Anthropological Association, the Brazillian Anatomical College, the Portuguese Anatomical Society, which he presided, the Portuguese-Spanish-American Anatomical Society (which he also presided), the International Academy of History of Sciences, Porto section, the Société Internationale de Cirurgie, the Portuguese Society of Anthropology and Ethnology (which he presided), the Portuguese Society of Biology, the Portuguese Society of Natural Sciences, the Portuguese Society of Cardiology and the Portuguese Society of Medical Radiology. He was part of the editorial board of the "Acta Anatómica", from Basel (1952), and was a foreign corresponding member for the magazine "Bruxelles Médicale" and for the "Association de la presse médicale belge".
He participated in several scientific meetings, such as the III National Congress of Medicine (Lisbon, 1928), the XV International Congress of Anthropology (Portugal, 1930), the I National Congress of Colonial Anthropology (Porto, 1934), in the meetings of the Association des Anatomistes (between 1923 and 1957), the international conferences of Anatomy in Oxford (1950) and Paris (1955), the conferences of the Portuguese Association and the Spanish Association for the Progress of Sciences (Porto, 1921; Salamanca,1923; Lisbon, 1932; Córdoba, 1944; Madrid, 1958; Seville, 1960), the Galician Medical Conferences (Coimbra, 1929; Vigo, 1931; Lugo, 1933), the Galician-Portuguese Medical Conferences (Orense, 1935; Vigo, 1959), the meetings of the Portuguese Anatomical Society (Lisbon, Coimbra and Porto), the meetings of the Portuguese-Spanish-American Anatomical Society (Santiago de Compostela, Coimbra, Salamanca, Porto and Lisbon), the XIV Congress of the International Society of Surgery (Paris, 1951), the III Portuguese-Spanish Congress of Cardiology (Santander, 1959) and the IV Portuguese-Spanish Congress of Cardiology (Porto, 1963).
In 1934 he was invited to teach a course on Experimental Anatomy in the Institute of Portuguese Studies of the Faculty of Medicine of Santiago de Compostela. He would teach a second course in the same Faculty in 1942 and participate in a third in 1959; he would still give two short courses in the Faculty of Medicine of Salamanca in 1946 and 1953.
Hernâni Monteiro was an educated man, an enthusiast of music, poetry and theatre, having been one of the responsible people for the founding of Porto University Theatre (1948). He was an artistic consultant for Porto University Centre and president of the General-Meeting of the Cultural Association "Amigos do Porto".
He was awarded the titles of honorary Professor of the Faculty of Medicine of Santiago de Compostela (1944) and honorary Doctor for the University of Salamanca (1954). He was granted the title of Grand-Officer of the Order of Public Education (decree of 18 June 1959, under the suggestion of the President of the Board) and of Commander of the Military Order of Santiago da Espada (1961).
On 18 May 1961 he reached his age limit. He failed to teach his last class and retired in June of the same year.
He died soon after, on 16 November 1963, of a serious illness in S. João Hospital.
(Universidade Digital / Gestão de Informação, 2012)