Adolfo Lutz

Who was Adolfo Lutz?

Adolfo Lutz was a Brazilian physician, 1855-1940, father of tropical medicine and medical zoology in Brazil, and a pioneer epidemiologist and researcher in infectious diseases.

Lutz was born in Rio de Janeiro, on December 18, 1855, son of Gustav Lutz and Mathilde Oberteuffer, a family of Bern. He studied medicine in Switzerland, graduating in 1879 at the University of Bern. After graduation he went on to study experimental medicine techniques in London, England, Leipzig, Germany, Vienna, Austria, Prague and Paris, France.

Upon his return to Brazil in 1881, Lutz initially worked as a general clinician in the small city of Limeira, state of São Paulo for 6 years. Wishing to pursue medical research, he returned to Hamburg, Germany once again, to work with Paul Gerson Unna, specializing in infectious diseases and tropical medicine. As a result of his increasing fame, he was invited to the post of director of Kalihi Hospital, in Hawaii, where he carried out research on leprosy. Following this, he worked for a while in California, USA, before returning in 1892 to Brazil, attending an invitation from the government of the state of São Paulo to direct the Bacteriological Institute