A date in which Salvadorans commemorate the first cry of independence is also celebrated the birth of a woman with a huge legacy of scientific studies, especially a pioneer in open spaces for the Salvadoran woman. This November 5th, Dr. Maria Isabel Rodriguez up to 102 years of life.
Born on November 5, but from 1922, in the Concepción neighborhood of San Salvador. Chavelita, as she was appointed by her mother Concepción Rodríguez, studied at the Francisco Morazán National Institute (Inframen).
She was the third woman to graduate from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of El Salvador (UES) in 1948, the only woman to promote her promotion. Years later she would be dean of the same higher education school. A cardologist and faithful believer in scientific research, above all, she said that knowledge only serves to benefit others.
He’s got one. subspeciality in electrocardiography the National Institute of Cardiology of Mexico, held between 1949 and 1951 and a second postgraduate degree in Physiological Sciences, studied at the same institute between 1951 and 1954.
January 2013. The then Minister of Health, María Isabel Rodriguez, carries Jasir Martínez, the first baby of the year, in the former hospital of Maternidad. / DEM File
Two years ago, in an interview conducted by the radio show Diana Veronica and Tony, he described its origins: I am a person who comes from a modest family, who never moved influences to climb positions, who had a very rich teaching, very important teachers and very committed to public school.She said when interviewed for her centenary.
In 1954 she returned to the country as a professor and researcher at the University of El Salvador, at the Faculty of Medicine where she worked until 1972. His curriculum indicates that in this period he devoted special effort to the study and follow-up of the selection and admission processes not only of students in the area of health but of the entire university population.
Interview María Isabel Rodriguez: “Life itself has been finding me and I am satisfied”
Between 1973 and 1978 he did academic work in Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Over the next two years, he did academic work in Venezuela and in countries of the Andean region.
Between 1980 and 1982 she was a representative of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Dominican Republic, two years later she coordinated a training programme for technical staff of PAHO representations and between 1985 and 1994 was coordinator of an international health training programme. In total, about 20 years of international health work.
An April 2013 photo during the launch of Vaccination Week. / DEM file.
After his seventh decade of life, Rodriguez won the first public position when he reached the rectory of the University of El Salvador in 1999, at the age of 77.
She recalled in interviews the mockery she lived because of her age, in the campaign for the rectory. The most cruel campaign against him came from his opponent when he was seeking the rectory of the EU. She said they called her old and foreign.
Because I said that I had arrived at those years and still pretended to be rector of the university, also foreign because I had been abroad for a long time, because I spent many years for my training.
María Isabel Rodriguez,
Doctor of cardiology, former minister and former rector of UES.
In the UES she was re-elected for a second term and completed her management at the age of 85. She became health minister at the age of 87during the government of Mauricio Funes and health and education adviser at 92.
In 2021, the University of El Salvador dedicated a statue of Dr. Rodriguez when inaugurating the rectors’ walk. María Isabel Rodriguez was the first female rector of the alma mater and was re-elected for a second term with almost 100 percent of the vote. It was managed for eight years, between 1999 and 2007./ Archive.
Two years ago, in a radio interview, he said age is no excuse to stop contributing to the country that loves itself.
One starts to think, whether a person who has worked seriously, who has trained solidly, that there is evidence that he has the ability to give, that he has published more than 100 good quality works, whether he has to retire to keep that knowledge is absurd, even ridiculous. I’d say the limit is the ability to give, the ability to do, that’s why you have to test people, You can’t tell the people who turned 60: Go awayAt that time, one of the first female doctors in El Salvador reflected.
Dr. Rodriguez has at least 46 publications and patents related to basic and clinical biomedical research in the cardiovascular area, four publications in human resources development in health; and 49 publications related to Medical Education, training, curriculum design and health personnel research.
In her long life, the former health minister has a long list of recognitions, including, 11 honoris causa (honorary titles to outstanding characters), to mention that of the University of Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2005; of the Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas (UCA) of El Salvador in 2006; of the National University of Córdoba, Argentina in 2007; of the University of San Carlos, of Guatemala, in 2008; of the University of El Salvador in 2009, among others.
Besides, The Pan American Health Organization gave her the highest recognition of the institution by declaring it Heroin of Public Health in 2015, while the Legislative Assembly decorated it that same year with the Order of Merit November 5, 1811.
This article has been translated after first appearing in Diario El Mundo