Román Alberca Lorente: chair of psychiatry in 1950

L. Pacheco Yáñez, O. Martínez Azumendi, A. Hernández Merino
Neurosciences and History 2021;9(3):128-134

Type of article: ORIGINAL

AUTHORS

L. Pacheco Yáñez¹, O. Martínez Azumendi², A. Hernández Merino ^3
1Psychiatrist, Department of History of Medicine and Healthcare. Academia de Ciencias Médicas de Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain. Bizkaia Mental Health Network and BioCruces Healthcare Research Institute, Osakidetza, Bizkaia, Spain.
²Psychiatrist, Department of History of Medicine and Healthcare. Academia de Ciencias Médicas de Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain.
³Doctor of Fine Art. Art therapist and occupational therapist, CSM (Agència Valenciana de Salut). Co-coordinator, Master’s Programme in Art Therapy. Universitat Politècnica de Valencia, Valencia, Spain.

ABSTRACT

This study explores the circumstances surrounding the competitive examination held in 1950 in which Prof Román Alberca Lorente, president of the Spanish Society of Neurology from 1959 to 1961, became the chair of psychiatry at the University of Salamanca. Some authors cite him as the third chair of psychiatry in Spain, after Antonio Vallejo-Nágera in Madrid and Ramón Sarró Burbano in Barcelona.

This article aims to demonstrate that, while Vallejo-Nágera was unarguably the first Spanish chair of psychiatry selected in such examinations, Román Alberca Lorente and Ramón Sarró Burbano were in fact selected in parallel, at the same time and during the same competitive examination. We consider this important, as several studies have disseminated an erroneous account of Prof Alberca Lorente’s selection.

KEYWORDS

Román Alberca, Ramón Sarró, Juan José López Ibor, Antonio Vallejo-Nágera, Chair of Psychiatry in Salamanca, Chair of Psychiatry in Barcelona

Neurosciences and History 2021;9(3):128-134