William Almenara

Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen, was born in Lima in 1890 and died in the same city in 1974 . His father was Francisco Almenara Butler, a pioneer of Peruvian pediatrics, and his mother Elvira Irigoyen Irigoyen. Doctorate in Medicine from the National University of San Marcos, where for a decade he held the chairs of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacology . Between 1938 and 1939 he was in charge of the Ministry of Public Health, Labor and Social Welfare and, the following year, together with doctors Edgardo Rebagliati and Juan José Calle, he joined the commission in charge of establishing the social security system in Peru, with the result of the dation of social security and the construction of the Obrero hospital. The efficiency demonstrated in this field, as well as in hospital administration, allowed him to take on these tasks at an international level as a technical consultant. In the early 1950s he oversaw the start-up of the employee social security hospital program and construction . In 1955 he joined the body of experts of the World Health Organization. Specialized in bacteriology and tropical diseases, some of his publications on the matter are “Leishmaniasis and blastomycosis in Peru” and “Pathological alterations of the liver in Chagas disease” . He belonged to various medical associations and received decorations from the orders of the Sun of Peru, Hipólito Unanue and Daniel A. Carrión. In his honor, since 1981, the Obrero de Lima Hospital was renamed the Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen National Hospital, at the entrance of whose building a bust of the prominent bacteriologist can be seen . Currently, the Guillermo Almenara hospital of the Public Security of Peru is located in Lima, Avenida Miguel Grau 800, La Victoria 15033, Peru.