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On October 4, 2018, at the Mark Athias Amphitheatre, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon and the Santa Maria Hospital paid a heartfelt tribute to Professor Jorge Draper Mineiro (Sr.), in order to mark the centennial of his birth.
It was an intimate celebration attended by the family and disciples of the late Professor.
Born in Lisbon on September 3, 1918, Jorge Draper Mineiro, lived in Tramagal until he was 15 years old. He graduated in 1943 at the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon, then located at Campo de Santana. After obtaining his degree, at the height of World War II, he was granted a scholarship by the British Council, and went on to spend some time between England and Scotland.
After a period at the Wingfield Morris Orthopaedic Hospital, in Oxford, he was an intern in Chicago and worked at the Orthopaedic Institute of Tuscany and the Orthopaedics and Traumatology Centre of Florence, before returning to Lisbon in 1948.
In Portugal, he worked in the Orthopaedics Department of the S. Roque Children's Hospital, in the Santa Marta Teaching Hospital and, in 1966, he was hired as 1st Assistant of the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon and Assistant of Clinical Surgery of Professor Cid dos Santos.
His PhD Dissertation was focused on the structure and vascularization of the human spine and earned him a grade of 19 out of 20; he was appointed as Director of the Orthopaedics Department of the Santa Maria Hospital in 1967.
He was responsible for the creation of the Portuguese Journal of the SPOT (Portuguese Orthopaedics and Traumatology Society).
He died suddenly on May 28, 1978, while riding a horse.
The tribute began with a speech by Professor Fausto Pinto, Director of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, who welcomed the attendees. He said it was a great honour to host a tribute to Professor Jorge Draper Mineiro whom he referred to as "one of the great historical figures of our Faculty."
This was followed by a speech by Professor Jacinto Monteiro, Full Professor of Orthopaedics at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon and Director of the Orthopaedics Department of Santa Maria Hospital, one of Professor Mineiro's last interns, who highlighted the remarkable work he developed and the major influence he had, and still has, in the current scenario.
He was followed by Dr. Manuel Cassiano Neves, also a disciple of Professor Mineiro, who began by reading a letter sent by Professor Rodrigues Gomes and, in an emotional speech, referred to this Mentor by quoting English philosopher and writer Gilbert Keith Chesterton - "There is a great man who makes every man feel small. But the truly great man is the man who makes every man feel great."
Professor Jorge Draper Mineiro (Jr.) said some words of thanks to the attendees and to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon and announced the creation of the Professor Jorge Draper Mineiro Prize, which will be awarded by the Faculty of Medicine to the best Master's thesis in an area related to the musculoskeletal system.
We also heard the words of Professor Fernando Fonseca, current President of the SPOT, who mentioned that the legacy left by Professor Mineiro is extremely important in terms of the recognition of national orthopaedics at the international level.
At the end, one of Professor Mineiro's daughters shared with the attendees some memories of when she was 10 years old, and accompanied her father in England; these family memories demonstrate, once again, what an extraordinary person Professor Jorge Draper Mineiro was and how much he strived to help the victims of World War II.
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