Through a statement the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) made an important announcement. From today the collection of the doctor and former rector Guillermo Soberón Acevedo They are part of the patrimony of the highest house of studies in the country. Therefore, they will soon be available to both the university community and the general public.
The documents will be integrated into the Historical Archive of the University, attached to the Institute of Research on the University and Education (IISUE), where they will be protected for study and dissemination.
After signing the certificate of delivery-reception of the personal and institutional collections of Soberón Acevedo, with the doctor’s son, Mario Soberón Chávez, the current rector Enrique Graue Wiechers stressed that this collection is of great importance for understanding our nation. This is due to the fact that the trajectory of the also former Secretary of Health helped the country to shape the last third of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century.
Contributions made to the health field
Under the tutelage of Soberón Acevedo, Graue remarked, it was achieved that the autonomy of the universities was added to the Third Constitutional Article. It is also due to him that as of 1983 the General Health Law includes the universal right to health protection, among other aspects.
“On February 25, the Historical Archive of the UNAM received, from the family of our beloved and beloved Dr. Guillermo Soberón, its splendid collection. We receive it with great pleasure and interest, because I know that Master Soberón would have liked this destination to protect it, study it and spread it ”.
Who was Dr. Guillermo Soberón Acevedo?
He graduated as a surgeon from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in 1949 and received a doctorate in physiological chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, in the United States, in 1956.
The doctor’s scientific work was recognized with the Science Prize in 1965; the Elías Sourasky Science Prize, in 1968; the 1974 Luis Elizondo Prize; the National Prize of Sciences and Arts of 1980; the Abraham Horwitz Award from PAHO, in 1991 and the Recognition of Medical Merit, in 1999.
In the professional field, he was rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in two periods (1973-1981), while he was in charge of the Ministry of Health (SSa) from 1982 to 1988. It was at that time that created the first Molecular Biology Laboratory in Mexico.
While he was forging institutions that are today paradigms in the fight against the diseases that are causing the most damage and suffering to Mexicans. Some of them are the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT), the National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN) and the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER).
Meanwhile, on October 12, 2020, he passed away, although he left a profound legacy within the field of health in our country. Their contribution is so great that it has even been proposed that the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) bear his name. For now, its collections are already part of the UNAM’s heritage.