Dr. Ramón M. Suárez Calderón[note 1] (1895–1981) was a scientist, cardiologist, educator and hematologíst whose investigations led him to identify the proper and effective treatment of a specific disease known as tropical sprue.
He also refined the protocols for numerous diagnostic procedures, such as electrocardiography and radioisotope, for the clinical identification and treatment of the disease which causes heart rheumatism.
[2] He returned to Puerto Rico in 1920, and in 1928 he was named Medical Director of San Juan's Municipal Hospital and faculty member of the Tropical School of Medicine.
Together with the University of Puerto Rico campus at Rio Piedras, Ashford helped to plan and build the Institute of Tropical Medicine.
A tireless clinician, Ashford conducted an exhaustive study of the anemia caused by hookworm infestation, which was responsible for as many as 12,000 deaths a year.
In 1945, Suárez Calderón published his findings in the effective treatment of Tropical Sprue associated anemia with the application of complex methods, such as the use of folic acid, electrocardiography and radioisotope in the American Journal of Medicine.