From Agência Brasil (EBC)
Luiz Hildebrando Pereira da Silva.
Photo by Alexandre Almeida
One of the world’s greatest malaria researchers, Brazilian scientist Luiz Hildebrando Pereira da Silva died at the age of 86 on Wednesday evening (Sep 24). He was also the founder and director of the Institute for Research on Tropical Pathologies of Rondônia. Hildebrando had been at the ICU of the Instituto do Coração Hospital, in São Paulo, since September 8, treating a case of pneumonia.
Graduated in 1953 from the University of São Paulo (USP) as a doctor, Pereira moved to the interior of the state of Paraíba in order to conduct research on the epidemiology of parasitic diseases. He subsequently returned to USP in 1956 to teach parasitology. After being fired in 1964 by the military in power, he sought exile in France, where he worked at the Pasteur Institute, in Paris, until 1996, when he retired.
Back in Brazil, the scientist joined the Center of Research on Tropical Medicine of Rondônia, and later on founded the Institute for Research on Tropical Pathologies, connected with the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), which currently gathers renowned experts and dozens of young researchers who finished their graduate programs at the Federal University of Rondônia.
Regarded as one of the most respected scholars on the world’s tropical diseases, Pereira was vice-director of Fiocruz’s Research and Reference Laboratories in Rondônia. He was among the winners of Conrado Wessel Foundation’s award for science, considered one of the country’s most traditional prizes in the field. This year, he was awarded by the government of Rondônia with the Order of Merit Marechal Rondon.
Luiz Hildebrando Pereira was married and left five children.
Aline Leal reports from Agência Brasil (EBC)
Edited by: Davi Oliveira / Olga Bardawil
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira
