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{{Short description|Guatemalan physician and philanthropist}}
{{for|the Filipino lawyer and diplomat|Rodolfo Robles (lawyer)}}
{{expand Spanish|topic=bio|Rodolfo Robles Valverde||date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rodolfo Robles
| birth_date = January 14, 1878
| birth_place = [[Quetzaltenango]], [[Guatemala]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1939|11|8|1878|1|14}}
| death_place = [[Guatemala City]], Guatemala
| occupation = Physician
| known_for = Describing the relationship between ''Onchocerca volvulus'' infection (the causative agent of onchocerciasis, or river blindness) and ocular disease.
| spouse = Julia Isabel Herrera Dorion de Robles
| children = Rodolfo Robles Herrera
| parents = Francisco Robles de Leon, Manuela Trinidad Valverde y Alvarez
}}

'''Rodolfo Robles''' (January 14, 1878 – November 8, 1939) was a [[Guatemala]]n [[physician]] and [[philanthropist]]. In 1915, he was the first to describe [[onchocerciasis]] in Latin America,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fee|first=W. T.|title=The Epidemic of Filaria-Onchocerca|date=September 1919|journal=California State Journal of Medicine|volume=17|issue=9|pages=327–328|issn=0093-402X|pmc=1594172|pmid=18737994}}</ref> which was known and widespread on the African continent, with the first description of the adult worms made there in 1890 by Sir [[Patrick Manson]].<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/4008.html|website=Whonamedit - A dictionary of medical eponyms|title=Robles' disease|access-date=15 October 2024}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Klein|first1=Robert|last2=Richards|first2=Frank|last3=Rios|first3=Dalila|last4=Crovella Valdez|first4=Carol Guillermina|last5=Cupp|first5=Ed|last6=Domínguez|first6=Alfredo|last7=Hassan|first7=Hassan K.|last8=de Leon|first8=Oscar|last9=Diaz Espinoza|first9=Carlos Enrique|last10=Monroy|first10=Zoraida Morales|last11=Eberhard|first11=Mark|date=2015-12-09|title=One Hundred Years After Its Discovery in Guatemala by Rodolfo Robles, ''Onchocerca volvulus'' Transmission Has Been Eliminated from the Central Endemic Zone|journal=The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene|language=en|volume=93|issue=6|pages=1295–1304|doi=10.4269/ajtmh.15-0364|issn=0002-9637|pmc=4674249|pmid=26503275}}</ref> Robles was the first person to describe the etiology of the disease, correctly attributing it to infection with ''[[Onchocerca volvulus]]'' parasites.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Diccionario histórico biográfico de Guatemala|date=2004|publisher=Fundación para la Cultura y el Desarrollo, Asociación de Amigos del País|last=Rojas Lima|first=Flavio|isbn=99922-44-01-1|edition=First|location=Guatemala|oclc=58734025}} {{page number needed|date=October 2024}}</ref> He discerned the etiology from clinical observations among coffee plantation workers in Guatemala, extracting the parasitic worm from a nodule on a child's face.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> The disease was later referred to as "Roble's disease" in his honor.<ref name=":2" /> In the 1930s, Robles also played a role in establishing the first public health campaigns to address [[onchocerciasis]] in the Central Endemic Zone of [[Guatemala]], which involved sending teams to endemic areas to provide surgical services and perform nodulectomies.<ref name=":1" />

==Biography==
Rodolfo Robles was born in [[Quetzaltenango]], [[Guatemala]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=Rodolfo Robles Valverde|url=https://medicina.ufm.edu/personaje/rodolfo-robles-valverde/|access-date=2020-06-18|website=Facultad de Medicina - Universidad Francisco Marroquín|language=es}}</ref> As a young man, he was sent to school in the United States, returning to complete high school at the Instituto Nacional para Varones de Occidente (INVO) in 1894.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|date=2015-02-27|title=Rodolfo Robles|url=https://wikiguate.com.gt/rodolfo-robles/|access-date=2020-06-18|website=WikiGuate|language=es}}</ref> He completed pre-university studies at Rouen, in France, before studying medicine in Paris and earning his degree from the [[University of Paris]] in 1904.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /> He performed research at the [[Pasteur Institute]] in Paris, where he obtained the [[Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur]] (French: "National Order of the Legion of Honour") in the degree of ''Grand Officier'' (Grand Officer).

Robles married Julia Isabel Herrera Dorión in 1914,<ref name=":3" /> and had one child, Rodolfo Robles Herrera, born in [[Paris]] in 1928.

He served as a professor in the Faculty of Medical Sciences for many years.<ref name=":2" />

== Honors and tributes ==
Robles has been honored in Guatemala and [[Mexico]] with many schools and hospitals named in his honor, including a hospital in his hometown of Quetzaltenango as well as a hospital focused on eye and ear health in Guatemala City.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-08-11|title=Rodolfo Robles|url=https://www.hagomitarea.com/rodolfo-robles/investigaciones/historia-geografia-y-ciencias-sociales/estudios-sociales/|access-date=2020-06-18|website=Hago mi Tarea|language=es}}</ref>

In 1955, the Order of Rodolfo Robles was established as award to recognize physicians for outstanding service in the field of public health.<ref>[http://www.medals.org.uk/guatemala/guatemala007.htm Guatemala: Order of Rodolfo Robles]</ref>

A statue of his likeness can be found outside the old Faculty of Medical Sciences at the [[Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Monumento al Doctor Rodolfo Robles Valverde|url=http://cultura.muniguate.com/index.php/component/content/article/106-robles/645-robles|access-date=2020-06-18|website=cultura.muniguate.com}}</ref>

A bridge over the [[Suchiate River]], which forms the border between the Mexican state of [[Chiapas]] and the Guatemalan department of [[San Marcos Department|San Marcos]], has been named [[Puente Rodolfo Robles]] in his honor.

== See also ==
* [[Puente Rodolfo Robles]]

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Robles, Rodolfo}}
[[Category:1878 births]]
[[Category:1939 deaths]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:People from Quetzaltenango]]
[[Category:Guatemalan physicians]]
[[Category:Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Guatemalan philanthropists]]

{{Guatemala-bio-stub}}
[[Category:Epidemiologists]]

Rodolfo Robles - Revision history

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