Nuno Ferreira de Andrade

Nuno Ferreira de Andrade was born in the city of Rio de Janeiro on July 27, 1851; his father was Camillo Ferreira de Andrade. 

He completed his Bachelor’s in Medicine in 1875 from the then College of Medicine of Rio de Janeiro (later renamed the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ), upon approval of a thesis titled “On the Diagnosis and Treatment of Visceral Neuroses.”

At the age of 17, he passed a diploma-based civil service exam and started working as a Professor of Philosophy, and later, in 1877, as a Professor of Medical Sciences. Later on, he took on the positions of Professor of Clinical Psychiatry from 1881 to 1883, Lecturer in Sanitation from 1884 to 1888, and First Chair of Clinical Medicine in 1888, at which time he won a contest with a paper called “Physiology of Epithelia”, beating renowned Brazilian physicians in the likes of Júlio Rodrigues de Moura, Cândido Barata Ribeiro, José Benício de Abreu and João Baptista de Lacerda.

Dr. Ferreira de Andrade was appointed as a Full Member of the Imperial Academy of Medicine in 1876, after submission and approval of his dissertation titled “On the Nature and Diagnostics of Mental Alienation.” Afterwards, from 1901 to 1903, he served as President of the Academia Nacional de Medicina (National Academy of Medicine – ANM), and later on, became an Emeritus Member in 1907. His memory and contributions live on as the Patron of Chair Number 60. 

Dr. Ferreira de Andrade penned the Annals of the Rio de Janeiro College of Medicine in 1879, in which he describes the main events that took place in the institution, which remained unpublished and confined to the organization without ever having been disclosed through the Report of the Minister of the Empire, as provided for under that institution’s 1854 bylaws. According to the end of the aforementioned dissertation, the paper was only approved due to its accuracy of facts, and not because of an actual appraisal of its content. In the work, the physician called out a lack of efficacy in efforts undertaken by the Imperial Government regarding medical education, resulting from an April 19, 1879-issued (the Lêoncio de Carvalho Reform) decree, which ultimately and likely resulted in his paper not being published. 

He was the first person to serve as a Professor of Psychiatry at the Faculty of Medicine of Rio de Janeiro, where he additionally led efforts to introduce the subject of psychological disorders.  

The physician also drafted a statement in which he strongly objected to the introduction of the subject of Homeopathy at Rio de Janeiro’s Faculty of Medicine, which Joaquim Duarte Murtinho submitted to the government in 1889, showing his discontent with the matter in that institution’s assembly. The document was additionally signed by Hilário Soares de Gouvêa, Pedro Affonso de Carvalho Franco, and Érico Marinho da Gama Coelho, the latter serving as Dean of Rio de Janeiro’s Faculty of Medicine at the time. 

Bestowed with the Order of Christ and the title of Advisor to His Majesty by the Emperor, Dr. Ferreira de Andrade led the Pedro II Mental Asylum’s health service in 1882. Later on, in 1882, he was appointed as the General Inspector for Port Health (ship sanitation), a position he held until 1889. During his tenure as General Inspector, more specifically in 1886, the Ilha Grande quarantine station was established in the town of Abrahão in Ilha Grande island in the State of Rio de Janeiro, with the purpose of serving as a quarantine facility due to the cholera epidemic that ravaged numerous cities in both Europe and Asia. 

Additionally, from 1897 to 1903 Dr. Ferreira de Andrade held the position of Head of the General Directorate of Public Health (DGSP), established after the merger of the Instituto Federal Sanitário (Federal Sanitary Institute) and the Inspetoria Geral de Saúde dos Portos (General Inspectorate for Port Health, to oversee ship port and ship sanitation).

After the Republican Government was established in Brazil, the physician moved to Europe and started studying Political Economics at the Sorbonne in France, without, however, relinquishing his interest in medicine. So much so that he regularly liaised with doctors Richet, Leroy Beaulieu, and Charcot, the latter known as a major reformer in the field of neurology. Later on, starting from 1905, Ferreira de Andrade moved on to journalism and worked in editorial staffs of a host of publications, such as A Ordem, O Paiz, Jornal do Brasil and the Commercial Association of Rio de Janeiro Newsletter.

Dr. Nuno Ferreira de Andrade passed away in his hometown of Rio de Janeiro on December 17, 1922.

Acad. Francisco Sampaio