Teófilo Hernando Ortega, the pioneer of Spanish pharmacology

Teófilo Hernando Ortega was born on 14th April, 1881, in Torreadrada (Segovia), and died in Madrid, close to his 95th birthday, on 10th March, 1976. A physician specializing in gastroenterology, he is considered the driving force behind experimental pharmacology, and the pioneer of clinical pharmacology in Spain.

He also played a significant part in the intellectual and scientific progress of Spain during the period considered the Silver Age of Spanish culture and science.

Teófilo Hernando studied for his degree in the Faculty of Medicine in Madrid. Among his teachers, Federico Olóriz (Anatomy), Santiago Ramón y Cajal (Histology), Manuel Alonso Sañudo (Clinical Medicine) and Alejandro San Martín (Therapeutics) were the most influential. After graduating in 1903 — the first in his class — he was a resident at the Clinic Hospital and General Hospital in Madrid, and subsequently won the public sector posts of doctor at the Municipal Charity of Madrid (1904), baths doctor (1905), forensic doctor of Madrid (1909), and assistant teacher of Therapeutics and Legal Medicine (1910). At the same time, he continued his scientific training by preparing his doctoral thesis, which he would defend in 1909.

Advised by Ramón y Cajal — who would later become his personal physician, and who was aware of his scientific interest, Hernando applied for a scholarship from the Board for the Extension of Studies, and in 1911 spent six months in Strasbourg with Oswald Schmiedeberg, the “father” of modern pharmacology, whose teaching he would later develop in Spain. Upon his return, he won the chair of ‘Terapéutica, Materia Médica y Arte de Recetar ’ at the Faculty of Medicine of the Central University of Madrid (1912), whose focus he changed completely, dividing it into two subjects starting in 1920: ‘General and Experimental Pharmacology’ in the third year of the degree of Medicine, and ‘Clinical Therapeutics’ — now Clinical Pharmacology — in the sixth year. He was also a strong advocate of practical learning, officially creating the Department of Experimental Pharmacology (1928) and calling for the use of all hospitals for clinical teaching.

In addition to his clinical and teaching work, Hernando developed extensive research, reflected in more than one hundred publications, on both digestive pathologies and various pharmacological groups. Of particular note are his classic study on the action of digitalis drugs (1911), his introduction into Spain of the fundamentals of Ehrlich’s modern chemotherapy (1910), and, from 1915, his work together with Gregorio Marañón as editor of the first Internal Medicine textbook on a par with European medical textbooks written by Spanish professionals.

Although he never accepted political office, Hernando held important technical and cultural positions in Spain during the first third of the 20th century. With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he went into voluntary exile in Paris, and did not return to Spain until 1941. He was stripped of his Chair, and would not be reinstated until his retirement in 1951. However, his medical and scientific expertise was recognized with the title of “Patriarch of Spanish Medicine” (Seville Academy of Medicine, 1969), as well as by dozens of national and international scientific/medical institutions.

The Schools of Pharmacology in Spain since Teófilo Hernando Ortega.

Teófilo Hernando’s interest in pharmacology was awoken during the period that he spent in 1911, first in Strasbourg — then in Germany — in the laboratory of Oswald Schmiedeberg, and later in other clinics and institutes in Berlin and Frankfurt, with prominent researchers such as Paul Ehrlich. Although brief, these sojourns allowed him to assimilate the foundations of modern pharmacology, which was beginning to develop rapidly in Europe.

So when he won the chair of ‘Materia Médica y Arte de Recetar’ — later renamed Experimental Pharmacology, thanks to his efforts — he created a small laboratory that would be the origin of the Department of Experimental Pharmacology, and a true School of Pharmacology. Furthermore, iatrogenesis was a major concern in his life, and from his chair, he focused on teaching the difficult art of prescribing accurately and prudently, especially through the subject of Clinical Therapeutics in the sixth year of Medicine — which he promoted, changing the curriculum — and on his defence of the need for clinical and experimental pharmacology services in hospitals — in 1919, for the first time in the world and by Royal Decree, he succeeded in connecting the chairs of Pharmacological Therapeutics to hospital clinical services. This was the seed of Spanish clinical pharmacology.

After establishing his laboratory, Professor Hernando increased the experimental activities and practice hours. A large number of students and doctoral candidates passed through his department, and he advised them to continue their studies abroad. He was convinced that scientific practice would awaken some vocations, as indeed happened. His laboratory produced some of the most prominent Spanish pharmacologists, who would later establish schools of pharmacology throughout the country — and even in other countries — and further develop this science. Without being exhaustive, it is worth mentioning some of those who continued Teófilo’s work by creating their own schools of pharmacology: Gabriel Sánchez de la Cuesta (Seville School), Francisco García Valdecasas (Barcelona School), Rafael Méndez (Mexico School) and Benigno Lorenzo Velázquez (Madrid School).

In Madrid, Professors Perfecto García de Jalón (Complutense University of Madrid) and Pedro Sánchez García (Autonomous University of Madrid) continued along the path of Teófilo’s School as disciples of Benigno Lorenzo. In 1981, Professor Sánchez and some of his disciples, such as Professor Antonio García (Autonomous University of Madrid), had the idea of honouring the memory of Teófilo Hernando with a biennial (now annual) commemorative lecture, which has since been given by some of the world’s most distinguished scientists. It was Professor García who began to name his pharmacological research group after Teófilo Hernando. With the increase in the numbers of staff and of research areas covered, the group became the Teófilo Hernando Institute (THI) for R&D in Medicines — officially recognized as a university institute of the Autonomous University of Madrid in 2007 — and whose activities are supported by the Teófilo Hernando Foundation (THF), established in 1996. The THF researches and trains personnel in all phases of the development of medicines. Since 2018, the THF has collaborated with the Royal National Academy of Medicine to promote the “Teófilo Hernando Forum”, which supports young Spanish researchers.