Eugenio Suárez Herreros
José Eugenio Suárez Herreros (Santiago, 1899 – Santiago, 21 April 1977) was a Chilean physician, surgeon, professor, and politician who served as a minister of state during the second administration of President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo.
Early life and education
Suárez was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1899 to diplomat and landowner Roberto Suárez Mujica—owner of the "Lo Encalada" estate in the commune of Ñuñoa— and Carmela Herreros Ortúzar. His brother, Horacio, a lawyer, was a diplomat and civil servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Suárez studied medicine at the University of Chile, graduating as a physician and surgeon in 1922 after completing his thesis, Viscosidad sanguínea: acción farmacodinámica y farmacoterápica de los yódicos. He subsequently pursued postgraduate training at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, as well as at serum therapy institutes in Milan, Italy, and Vienna, Austria.
He married Luisa Froemel von Kalchberg, who was of German descent, and they had a son, Eugenio. He later married Ljubica Grego Madariaga, with whom he had a daughter, Eugenia.
Professional career
In 1929, during the first administration of President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, Suárez founded the Bacteriological Institute of Chile. He served as its first director-general, later as deputy director, and again as director-general from 1932. That same year, he founded the Bacteriological Institute of Peru. In 1936, he assisted in establishing the country's National Institute of Hygiene, for which he received a decoration from the Peruvian government.
In 1938, Suárez travelled to Venezuela to assist in organising the country's Institute of Hygiene and was named a "guest of honour" by the Venezuelan government. His professional and academic travels took him to numerous countries, several of whose governments accorded him the same distinction.
Around 1940, the League of Nations invited Suárez to serve as an expert on hygiene and epidemic typhus. He also served on the organisation's Health Committee. He represented Chile at several scientific congresses and authored a number of publications on anthrax.
From 1929 to 1950, Suárez held the extraordinary chair of bacteriology and hematology at the University of Chile School of Medicine, with teaching conducted at the Bacteriological Institute under his direction. He was also a founding member of the Society of Microbiology, a member of the council of the Chilean Institute of Public Health, president of the National Fund for Public and Private Employees, and a director of Mademsa and Madeco.
Political career
In 1941, during the administration of President Pedro Aguirre Cerda of the Radical Party, Suárez was appointed director-general of health, heading the General Directorate of Health, an agency under the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Social Assistance. He remained in office until 1944, during the subsequent administration of fellow Radical president Juan Antonio Ríos. In 1947, reflecting his longstanding involvement in public health, he donated four hectares of land inherited from his father and secured the necessary government funding for the construction of the Bacteriological Institute's headquarters in Ñuñoa.
Although he had no formal political affiliation, Suárez was appointed Minister of Health, Welfare and Social Assistance on 1 April 1953, during the second administration of President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo. He held the post until 5 June of that year, when a statutory change renamed the ministry the "Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare". He continued as head of the renamed ministry until 1 March 1954. On 5 June 1954, Ibáñez again appointed him to the cabinet, this time as Minister of Agriculture, a post he held until 14 November of that year.
Despite holding several public offices over the course of his career, Suárez continued to serve as director-general of the Bacteriological Institute until 1961, when he left the post after nearly three decades, during the administration of President Jorge Alessandri.
Among his other activities, Suárez served as director of the Revista del Instituto Bacteriológico, the predecessor of the Revista del Public Health Institute of Chile. He died in Santiago on 21 April 1977, aged 78. Three years later, under the regime of General Augusto Pinochet, the Public Health Institute of Chile (ISP) was established as the successor to the Bacteriological Institute and named after Suárez in recognition of his contributions to public health. A commemorative monolith was also erected in his honour in front of the institute's headquarters.