Rodolfo Robles

Rodolfo Robles (January 14, 1878 – November 8, 1939) was a Guatemalan physician and philanthropist. In 1915, he was the first to describe onchocerciasis in Latin America, which was known and widespread on the African continent, with the first description of the adult worms made there in 1890 by Sir Patrick Manson. Robles was the first person to describe the etiology of the disease, correctly attributing it to infection with Onchocerca volvulus parasites. He discerned the etiology from clinical observations among coffee plantation workers in Guatemala, extracting the parasitic worm from a nodule on a child's face. As a young man, he was sent to school in the United States, returning to complete high school at the Instituto Nacional para Varones de Occidente (INVO) in 1894. He completed pre-university studies at Rouen, in France, before studying medicine in Paris and earning his degree from the University of Paris in 1904.

In 1955, the Order of Rodolfo Robles was established as award to recognize physicians for outstanding service in the field of public health.

A statue of his likeness can be found outside the old Faculty of Medical Sciences at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala.

A bridge over the Suchiate River, which forms the border between the Mexican state of Chiapas and the Guatemalan department of San Marcos, has been named Puente Rodolfo Robles in his honor.