Draft:Esteban Campodónico

Dr. Esteban Campodónico
Portrait of Esteban Campodónico (1924)
Born	Stefano Campodonico (1866-08-02)August 2, 1866 Chiavari, Liguria, Kingdom of Italy
Died	October 23, 1938(1938-10-23) (aged 72) Ancón, Panama Canal Zone
Resting place	Cementerio Presbítero Matías Maestro
Citizenship	Italian and Peruvian
Alma mater	Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru
Occupation(s)	Medical doctor, university professor
Spouse	Ethel C. Graff (m. 1938)

Esteban Campodónico (August 2, 1866 – October 23, 1938) was a Peruvian medical doctor, university professor, and philanthropist. He left a monetary legacy that funds the annual Esteban Campodónico Prize for an individual or organization that has benefited Peruvian society by their work.

Early Life and Education

Stefano Campodonico was born in Chiavari, Italy, on August 2, 1866, to Michele Campodonico, an Italian businessman, and Angela Figallo. He was the eldest of their nine children, and the only son. When he was 13, the family emigrated to Peru, settling in Lima. His Italian given name of Stefano was adapted to Spanish as Esteban, and an accent was placed on his surname according to Spanish orthography. In 1880 he enrolled in the Seminary of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo to complete his primary and secondary education.

Campodónico studied medicine at the National University of San Marcos in Lima from 1887 to 1896. He pursued a specialization in ophthalmology at the University of Bologna in Italy in 1908, and another in radiology at the University of Vienna in 1909. In 1917 and 1918, he traveled to the United States for internships in ophthalmology and radiology at hospitals in Philadelphia and New York.

Medical and Teaching Career

Campodónico opened a private practice in 1895, where he continued to see patients for some forty years, till near the end of his life. In 1898, he began working in the ophthalmology department of the Italian Hospital Victor Emmanuel II in Lima. He also taught in the School of Medicine of the University of San Marcos, becoming an adjunct professor in 1916. He was promoted to professor of the newly created department of radiology in 1923. He retired from the university in 1930.

He pioneered the practice of radiology in Peru, and imported his own X-ray apparatus, which he used in his private practice. He wrote a textbook Radiología Clínica (Clinical Radiology), which appeared in 1923. During his career he traveled frequently to medical and scientific conferences in the Americas and Europe and wrote numerous scholarly as well as popular articles.

Philanthropy

Throughout his life, Campodónico displayed a serious commitment to public service. According to his great niece, already during the Peruvian civil war of 1894–1895, Campodónico and his fellow medical students, as volunteers, attended to the wounded on both sides of the conflict. In 1893 he joined the Italian Welfare and Assistance Society in Lima, which served the Italian immigrant community. Also, during his years working in the Italian Hospital he operated an ophthalmology clinic free of charge to the needy. In 1914–1915 and again in 1922–1924 he served as a councilor for the city of Lima. He played a major role in a campaign by the Public Welfare Society of Lima to eliminate tuberculosis in 1931–1934.

Final Years and Legacy

Campodónico participated in various businesses and investments with his relatives in Peru, and became quite wealthy. He had no children, but most of his sisters were married and had children. In August 1937 he established in his will that his assets would be left to his relatives, except for a trust fund deposited at what was then City Bank Farmers Trust Company of New York (now Citibank). This trust fund would be used to award a series of annual prizes for contributions to the advancement of Peruvian society. However, a complication intervened that would lead to a delay of more than five decades in the establishment of the prize. Later that year, he traveled to the United States, and while there (although a lifelong bachelor up to that point), on June 30, 1938 he married Ethel C. Graff of Oakland, California. He amended his will to provide for her support after his death from the earnings of the trust fund. In October the couple took a steamer from New York for Lima. During the voyage, Campodónico contracted bronchial pneumonia. He was taken to the Gorgas Hospital in the Panama Canal Zone and died there on October 23, 1938 at the age of 72.

Campodónico's widow was 52 at the time of his death, and lived until 1984. Following her death, Citibank began efforts to implement the terms of his will regarding the prizes. The first Esteban Campodónico Prize was awarded in 1995, and the prizes have been awarded annually since then.