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Ann Thorac Surg 2001;72:1789-1792
© 2001 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Our surgical heritage

A tribute to Euryclides de Jesus Zerbini, MD

Ricardo Lima, MDa, Fernando A. Lucchese, MDb, Domingo M. Braile, MDc, Tomas A. Salerno, MD*d

a Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas, Universidade de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
b Funadacao Faculdade Federal de Ciencias Medicas-Santa Casa, Porto Alegre, RGS, Brazil
c Universidade de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, and Rio Preto Medical School (FAMERP), São José do Rio Preto, Brazil
d Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, Florida, USA

* Address reprint requests to Dr Salerno, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Jackson Memorial Hospital, PO Box 016960 (R114), Miami, FL 33101, USA
e-mail: tsalerno@med.miami.edu


   Introduction
 
The development of cardiac operations in Brazil was an important event in South America. Euryclides de Jesus Zerbini (Fig 1) overcame every impediment to lead this endeavor. When heart surgery grew beyond just workmanship and became dependent on technology, Zerbini continued to practice advanced science in a country plagued by health and social problems.


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  		Fig 1. Omnia vincit labor. Euryclides de Jesus Zerbini

 

   Birth and education
 
Zerbini was born in a modest home in the rural countryside of São Paulo State, Brazil, on May 17, 1912. Born prematurely, the infant Zerbini could fit into a shoebox. As he grew, he decided to take up medicine because of pressure from his father—an elementary school teacher of Italian origin but a naturalized Brazilian who wanted his five children to pursue high positions in life.

Zerbini came to São Paulo in December 1929. He was 17 years old at the time and had graduated first in his class. Entrance into medical school required an examination; only the first 50 candidates were accepted. Zerbini ranked among the top 10. Alone in São Paulo, he knew no one well enough to share his joy of having been admitted into medical school at the University of São Paulo. At that time, the University enjoyed an excellent reputation, supported in part by the Rockefeller Foundation. Studying medicine in São Paulo was not inexpensive, even considering that tuition was free. Zerbini relieved his father’s financial burden by teaching chemistry, physics, and natural history during his first year of medical school.

In 1933, Zerbini went to the "São Paulo Santa Casa de Misericordia," one of the most fashionable teaching hospitals in Brazil, where he met the famous surgeon Alipio Correa Netto. Alipio had fought in the Brazilian Expeditionary Force in the Allied campaign in Italy and was the only non-American surgeon authorized to operate . . . [Full Text of this Article]






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