According to an article published by Medscape, Dr. Jacinto Convit is considered one of the most influential physicians in the history of humanity, next to other renowned Doctors such as Ramón y Cajal and Nobel winners Severo Ochoa de Albornoz, Albert Schweitzer, among others.
With a career spanning more than 70 years, Jacinto Convit García, a leading figure in the fields of public health and tropical diseases, is lauded worldwide-but especially in his native Venezuela, where he is a considered a national hero-for his contributions to the understanding of leprosy, leishmaniasis, parasitology, and immunotherapy.
As a young medical graduate in 1938, Convit García decided to dedicate his career to seeking a cure for leprosy and caring for leprous patients. He was responsible for removing the social stigma associated with the condition, replacing compulsory isolation with ambulatory care while also studying the causative agent of leprosy, Mycobacterium leprae, and the clinical and epidemiologic characteristics of the disease.[18]