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BCMS
HISTORY

Dr. Aureliano Urrutia, photo
courtesy of the author, all
rights reserved.

Dr. Aureliano Urrutia,

Surgeon from the Valley of Mexico

By Anne Elise Urrutia, ©2023, all rights reserved.

Dr. Aureliano Urrutia (1872-1975) was a nity. Having already had a stellar medical ca- service in the Mexican army. During his serv-
pioneer surgeon in Bexar County’s early 20th reer in Mexico, he came to San Antonio in ice, he studied at the O’Horán Hospital in
century, and an important member of the 1914 at a time when the successful study of in- Merida, Yucatán. In 1900, La Escuela Na-
Mexican and Mexican American communities fectious disease was allowing great strides in cional de Medicina appointed Urrutia, age 28,
in San Antonio. He was active in the mid-20th surgery. as its youngest professor of surgery through a
century civic life of San Antonio, working Born in Xochimilco, Federal District, to a competitive process. His demonstration of his
alongside other Mexican Revolution-era exiles family of modest means, as a teen Urrutia won astute knowledge of anatomy, through direct
to improve healthcare and employment, and the nation’s top pre-collegiate honor, which study of the body using a human cadaver, was
to represent San Antonio’s Hispanic commu- awarded him access to medical school and the first of several progressive ideas he con-

32 SAN ANTONIO MEDICINE • January 2024