Martin Corchado

Background

Doctor Martín R. Corchado y Juarbe was born on 25 April 1839 in Isabela, Puerto Rico.

Education

He studied medicine in Barcelona, Spain, where he graduated with a bachelor"s degree in medicine. He then moved to Madrid where in 1880 received his doctoral degree in medicine. Subsequently Corchado also moved to Paris, France, where he studied ophthalmology.

Corchado was one of the first Puerto Ricans to work under Louis Pasteur in his institute in Paris.

Career

After this, he returned to Puerto Rico to practice his profession, settling in Ponce, around 1874. Covering the years 1885-1889, Corchado was the second medical director (after Rafael Pujals) of Hospital Tricoche. He stood out for providing free medical services to the residents of Ponce and nearby towns.

He provided medical services to the poor, those in prison, and acted as a forensic physician in courts of law.

Research Corchado also researched and studied tuberculosis and wrote about it in the publications of the time, including "El Vapor". Corchado has been recorded as being one of the most "eminent Puerto Rican medical researchers of the nineteenth century." He owned the first microscope brought to Puerto Rico.

Corchado died in Ponce on 2 April 1898 from complications from a cold when, not wanting to take time off to attend to his own health, he continued providing medical care to the needy. He was 59 years old.

Achievements

• In Ponce, there is a street in the barrio Segundo sector of the Ponce Historic Zone area named after him. He is also recognized at Ponce"s Park of Illustrious Ponce Citizens.

Politics

A believer in the political autonomy for Puerto Rico from Spain, Corchado was also president of the Puerto Rico Autonomist Party, and one of the signers of the Plan de Ponce with Roman Baldorioty de Castro, Antonio East. Molina, Guillermo Oppenheimer, Pedro Salazar, Luis Gautier, Lazaro Martinez, Marcial Morales, Rafael Pujals, Ramon Marin, Enrique Cabrera and Jose Ramon Abad.