Miguel da Silva Pereira was born in the small town of São José do Barreiro in the State of São Paulo on July 2, 1871, to Virgílio Pereira and Porcina Magalhães Pereira.
He then went on to complete his university studies in medicine at the now closed Rio de Janeiro College of Medicine (currently, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ), graduating in 1896 after successfully defending a dissertation titled “Tropical Hematology”, which today is considered a remarkable work.
Dr. Pereira was elected as a Full Member of the Academia Nacional de Medicina (National Academy of Medicine – ANM) on December 30, 1897, after submitting a paper titled “Tropical Anemia.” He would later go on to preside over the Academy from 1910 to 1911, and to this day, is remembered and honored as Patron of Chair Number 2.
The son and grandson of farmers, he grew up on the Campinho farm, where he soon started to learn to read. At age 12, he began working as an intern at Rio de Janeiro’s Pedro Segundo school. There, he wrote pieces for a student newspaper called A Refrega and was also an activist for Brazil’s republican government. When he was 19, Pereira enrolled at the College of Medicine, which at the time was located on the Rua Santa Luzia Street in downtown Rio de Janeiro. However, he decided to interrupt his studies twice: first in 1893, due to the Floriano Peixoto uprise, at which time he joined and fought with armed forces in Niterói; and later, during the cholera epidemic that ravaged the Vale do Paraíba in the States of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
The doctor and scholar began his professional career as a visiting physician for the Commercial Association of Rio de Janeiro and later became a Full Professor of Clinical Pathology and later of Clinical Medicine at the Rio de Janeiro College of Medicine. In addition, Dr. Miguel Pereira led Rio de Janeiro’s Santa Casa da Misericórdia General Hospital.
Years later, he was responsible for kicking-off an arduous, two-year campaign – the biggest that Brazil had ever witnessed -, to promote proper sanitation throughout the country. His efforts were acknowledged when elected President Venceslau Brás introduced extensive sanitation works in the country.
Dr. Pereira was a major advocate for how the healthy climate of what is now the cities of Miguel Pereira and Paty do Alferes in upstate Rio de Janeiro could better treat tuberculosis patients, the reason he led efforts to inaugurate rest homes there to aid patients suffering from the disease.
He wrote a seminal paper called “O Tratado de Clínica Médica” (“A Treatise on Internal Medicine”) based on several years of work experience and observations of patients. Sadly, the work was never published since he burned the original in contempt for an unidentified disease that took a great toll on his health when he was still at his prime. Dr. Miguel Pereira died a young man, at only 47, on December 23, 1918, but is forever remembered and cherished for his magnificent contributions and efforts to promote proper sanitation in Rio de Janeiro, in addition to his brilliant private medical practice.
The district of Estiva, which at the time belonged to the municipality of Vassouras in Rio de Janeiro, changed its name in 1955. The city is now called Miguel Pereira.
Acad. Francisco Sampaio
Academic number: 184
Chair: 02
Chair honored: 02
Member: Titular
Section: Medicina
Election: 23/12/1897
Inauguration: 30/12/1897
President: Antonio José Pereira da Silva Araújo
Death: 23/12/1918
Academic number: 184
Chair: 02
Chair honored: 02
Member: Titular
Section: Medicina
Election: 23/12/1897
Inauguration: 30/12/1897
President: Antonio José Pereira da Silva Araújo
Death: 23/12/1918
Miguel da Silva Pereira was born in the small town of São José do Barreiro in the State of São Paulo on July 2, 1871, to Virgílio Pereira and Porcina Magalhães Pereira.
He then went on to complete his university studies in medicine at the now closed Rio de Janeiro College of Medicine (currently, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ), graduating in 1896 after successfully defending a dissertation titled “Tropical Hematology”, which today is considered a remarkable work.
Dr. Pereira was elected as a Full Member of the Academia Nacional de Medicina (National Academy of Medicine – ANM) on December 30, 1897, after submitting a paper titled “Tropical Anemia.” He would later go on to preside over the Academy from 1910 to 1911, and to this day, is remembered and honored as Patron of Chair Number 2.
The son and grandson of farmers, he grew up on the Campinho farm, where he soon started to learn to read. At age 12, he began working as an intern at Rio de Janeiro’s Pedro Segundo school. There, he wrote pieces for a student newspaper called A Refrega and was also an activist for Brazil’s republican government. When he was 19, Pereira enrolled at the College of Medicine, which at the time was located on the Rua Santa Luzia Street in downtown Rio de Janeiro. However, he decided to interrupt his studies twice: first in 1893, due to the Floriano Peixoto uprise, at which time he joined and fought with armed forces in Niterói; and later, during the cholera epidemic that ravaged the Vale do Paraíba in the States of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
The doctor and scholar began his professional career as a visiting physician for the Commercial Association of Rio de Janeiro and later became a Full Professor of Clinical Pathology and later of Clinical Medicine at the Rio de Janeiro College of Medicine. In addition, Dr. Miguel Pereira led Rio de Janeiro’s Santa Casa da Misericórdia General Hospital.
Years later, he was responsible for kicking-off an arduous, two-year campaign – the biggest that Brazil had ever witnessed -, to promote proper sanitation throughout the country. His efforts were acknowledged when elected President Venceslau Brás introduced extensive sanitation works in the country.
Dr. Pereira was a major advocate for how the healthy climate of what is now the cities of Miguel Pereira and Paty do Alferes in upstate Rio de Janeiro could better treat tuberculosis patients, the reason he led efforts to inaugurate rest homes there to aid patients suffering from the disease.
He wrote a seminal paper called “O Tratado de Clínica Médica” (“A Treatise on Internal Medicine”) based on several years of work experience and observations of patients. Sadly, the work was never published since he burned the original in contempt for an unidentified disease that took a great toll on his health when he was still at his prime. Dr. Miguel Pereira died a young man, at only 47, on December 23, 1918, but is forever remembered and cherished for his magnificent contributions and efforts to promote proper sanitation in Rio de Janeiro, in addition to his brilliant private medical practice.
The district of Estiva, which at the time belonged to the municipality of Vassouras in Rio de Janeiro, changed its name in 1955. The city is now called Miguel Pereira.
Acad. Francisco Sampaio