Ventura Carvallo
Ventura Carvallo Elizalde (8 September 1854 – 16 November 1917) was a Chilean physician, surgeon and politician who served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile and as Minister of Justice and Public Instruction.
He also pursued an academic and medical career, serving as dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy from 1894 to 1906.
Early life
Carvallo was born in Santiago on 8 September 1854 to Ventura Carvallo Gómez and Teresa Elizalde Jiménez. He studied at the Instituto Nacional and later medicine at the University of Chile, qualifying as a physician and surgeon on 29 January 1879.
He married Adela Berdía Balbastro; the couple had no children. Carvallo began his academic career as an assistant in surgical medicine and in 1880 was placed in charge of the obstetrics ward at the San Borja Hospital.
During the War of the Pacific, Carvallo was appointed an extraordinary assistant surgeon of the Chilean Army of Operations in Peru in January 1881. Attached to a hospital in Lima, he treated soldiers wounded in the Battle of Chorrillos and the Battle of Miraflores. After the war, he served as a surgeon at the Hospital de Sangre in Santiago.
Political career
A member of the Liberal Party, Carvallo was elected substitute deputy for Lebu for the 1885–1888 term. He was subsequently elected substitute deputy for Cañete for the 1888–1891 term.
President Federico Errázuriz Echaurren appointed Carvallo Minister of Justice and Public Instruction on 14 March 1901. He remained in office until 1 May of that year.
Alongside his political activities, Carvallo continued his medical and academic career. He became a professor and was transferred to the new San Vicente de Paul Hospital in 1889. In 1894, he became dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, a position he held until 1906.
Carvallo represented Chile at the International Medical Congress in Rome in 1894 and traveled through Europe to further his studies in clinical surgery. In 1906, he attended the International Congress of Surgery in Brussels and studied the organization of medical education in Europe. He later contributed to medical publications and wrote several scientific works.
Carvallo died in Santiago on 16 November 1917.