José Antonio Price

José Antonio Price (1890–1951) was a prominent Afro-Panamanian physician and Liberal politician who graduated from University of West Tennessee College of Medicine and Surgery in 1913. Price is regarded as the first black Panamanian to hold a medical degree in republican Panama.

Early life José Antonio Price was born in Santa Ana, Panama City, then part of the Republic of Colombia in 1890 and was the only son of Hilda Price, an immigrant from British Honduras. He moved very early on in his life to the western part of the Isthmus, to the Caribbean location of Bocas del Toro where he spent the majority of his life and career. At the beginning of the 20th century, Bocas del Toro was a prominent international port, home to the first international headquarters of the United Fruit Company.

Education Price attended high school in Kingston, Jamaica and University of West Tennessee College of Medicine and Surgery in Memphis, where he obtained his medical degree in 1913 under the guidance of professor Miles Vandahurst Lynk.

Professional career Price became a pioneer of private medicine in the Republic of Panama. Upon his return to Bocas del Toro in 1913, he started a private practice in his own medical facility called ´Hospital Santa Fe´, located at Four Street and Central Avenue. and Official Doctor of the province of Darien. Price also held multiple government appointments in Bocas del Toro such as Sanitary Doctor and Forensic Doctor. There is evidence that Price also provided free medical services to the poor over a career that spanned for almost forty years.

Political career Price was a Liberal radical and a close political ally to Carlos Antonio Mendoza, Belisario Porras, Francisco Arias Paredes and Ernesto de la Guardia. who died in 1908. He remarried in 1941 to Maria America Vernaza Boyes, a Granddaughter of General Heliodoro Vernaza. Together they had three children Juan Antonio, Jose Antonio and Desiree Antonia. Price died of cancer on Colón Island, Bocas del Toro in 1951.