Fernando Pires Ferreira

Fernando Pires Ferreira (26 April 1842 – 27 October 1907) was a Brazilian ophthalmologist and politician, considered the father of ophthalmology in Brazil.

Born in Parnaíba, Fernando was member of the Pires Ferreira family and went to study in Paris when he was 15. He obtained his Doctor's degree in ophthalmology on 2 July 1867 by the University of Paris Faculty of Medicine and became the apprentice of Dr. Louis de Wecker.

Fernando returned to Brazil in 1868, where he supposedly operated on his mother's cataract. He then moved to Rio de Janeiro and was accepted on the Imperial Academy of Medicine in 1869. He worked at several establishments and founded the Graduation in Ophthalmology on Santa Casa de Misericórdia do Rio de Janeiro. Because of his work, he was laureated with the Imperial Order of the Rose.

First years

Fernando Pires Ferreira was born in Parnaíba, Piauí, on 26 April 1842. He was the son of Antônio Pires Ferreira with Lina Carlota de Jesus Rodrigues de Carvalho, members of the Pires Ferreira family. He had 17 siblings, and was the 11th oldest. His family lived on Fazenda Paraíso, São Raimundo village, São Bernardo, but he was born in Parnaíba because the town's hospitals did not perform deliveries.

His father was a lieutenant colonel and had several lands in Magalhães de Almeida, Santa Rita, São Bernardo and others. He planted and processed sugar cane, rice, aguardiente, cotton and cassava flour. He also had cattle. The work was done using animal traction and slave labor.

Work in France

Fernando moved to Paris, France, when he was 15 to finish his studies in humanities, where he graduated in Bachelor of Science. He obtained his Doctor's degree in ophthalmology on 2 July 1867 by the University of Paris Faculty of Medicine with the thesis "De l'opération de la cataracte par l'extraction linéaire scléroticale". (Cataract surgery by linear sclerotical extraction) He acted as the treasurer of the Imperial Academy, and was responsible for changing its name to National Academy of Medicine in 1889. In 1881, he and Vicente Cândido Figueira de Saboia created the Chair of Ofthamologhy of the School of Medicine from Rio de Janeiro. Fernando indicated Dr. Hilário de Gouvêa as the first to fulfill the sit. He has worked at Santa Casa de Misericórdia, Hospital de São Francisco de Paula, Caixa de Socorros D. Pedro V, the Police Brigade and Church and Convent of Saint Antony and Chapel of the Third Order. On Sunday mornings, he used to operate the poor for free. He has also had an office at Rua do Rosário, 50 and after 64.