Raoul Ignacio Fournier Villada (February 1, 1900 - September 9, 1984) was a gastroenterologist,professor and director of the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Raoul Ignacio Fournier Villada (February 1, 1900 - September 9, 1984) was a gastroenterologist,professor and director of the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
He studied primary school at the Lycée Fournier, founded and directed by his paternal grandfather Adrián Fournier. He did his upper secondary studies at the National Preparatory School and the professionals at the National School of Medicine. In Paris, he carried out a postgraduate degree at the Cochin Saint Antonie and La Salepetriere hospitals, with a specialization in gastroenterology.
Friend of Manuel Rodriguez Lozano, Abraham Ángel, Julio Castellanos, the friendship with Abraham Ángel was fruitful when the painter illustrated the doctor's thesis: «The pathophysiology of nephritis. Current state of play. Physician's Conduct." Raoul maintained a very short-lived relationship with Manuel Rodríguez Lozano, which resulted in a strong friendship, which can be seen at the moment when Raoul lifts the death certificate of Abraham Angel, something imprecise because of the belief that the young painter had died of a heart attack, hiding what was later known: Abraham Ángel had committed suicide in the workshop of Manuel Rodriguez Lozano.
Between 1926 and 1929 he was assistant to the chair of physiology and pathology and the first course of medical clinic at the National School of Medicine and, in this last year, he was appointed professor of gastroenterology at that school and later at the Graduate School.
In the 1930s in Mexico, physicians, teachers, accountants, journalists and other professionals stood to lose more than their clientele if exposed as homosexual in the press, as such exposure would result in banishment to the Islas Marıas Penal colony. Poet Salvador Novo and playwright Xavier Villaurrutia sought to join other Mexican sexiles in the United States or Europe, including artists José Mojica, Ramón Novarro, Roberto Montenegro, Agustın J. Fink and Enrique Asunsolo, or scientists studying abroad, like Elías Nandino and Raoul Fournier. Seeking ‘to avoid a fate as a cook, waiter, or dishwasher in New York’, Villaurrutia accepted a one-year fellowship at Yale in 1935–36, while a frantic Novo wrote to Federico García Lorca, asking him to procure him lodgings in Madrid.
From 1941 to 1944 Fournier was general director of Assistance in the Federal District and the following year, he received the appointments of head of the Clinical Section of the Institute of Health and Tropical Diseases, and of the Service of the General Hospital of Mexico. He served as president of the National Academy of Medicine, the Medical Society of the General Hospital of Mexico and the Franco-Mexican and Mexican Medical Associations of Gastroenterology. He was director of the National School of Medicine, from 1954 to 1962. During this period, in 1960, it became a faculty. Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Medicine. Appointed on August 30, 1966. He carried out multiple research works on intestinal problems, diarrhea and ulcers. He published articles in journals of national circulation and presented the results of his research in numerous congresses inside and outside the country. Highlights include his Mexican Bibliography of Liver Abscess and Miguel Jiménez and his contribution to the study of liver abscess published by the National Academy of Medicine and the articles: "The education of the teacher in public health" and "The human exercise of medicine". He founded and directed the magazine La Prensa Médica Mexicana
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