Doctor Rafael Minondo Scholarship for Excellence

Rafael Minondo Herrera was a Guatemalan surgeon and physician, and also a philanthropist. He dedicated his professional life to volunteer work, research, and teaching. He was recognized for his contributions to endocrine surgery, especially thyroid. He first introduced primary closure of the common bile duct (1959), lymphangiography (1961), cardiac pacemaker implantation (first in Central America) (1965), and catecholamine dosing in the vena cava for the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma (1968).

A scholarship fund was established in his name to assist Guatemalan UFM medical students, with a grade point average of more than 80 points, who have already completed the first two years, and face financial difficulties in finishing their degree.

The fund was created in 2000 and covers 50 percent of tuition costs. More than forty outstanding students have benefited from this help in order to complete their studies. Most of them managed to study their specialization abroad.