Cuban vaccine doctor keeps children smiling

A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The most beautiful smile is a child's smile, but how can children smile if they are sick?

Keeping babies and children happy and healthy is the main motivation for Cuban Prof. Vicente Verez-Bencomo, who has developed a synthetic vaccine to combat Haemophilus Influenza Type B, which can cause pneumonia and meningitis among infants and children.

"We have dedicated our research to the health of infants. The smile of a child is important," Verez-Bencomo said after a lecture at the University of Indonesia recently.

For the 51-year-old doctor, a child's smile is also an important diagnostic tool -- a sign to measure the degree of health of children in a given country.

Keeping children well was an essential part of the social commitment of a scientist from a developing country, he said.

"We need this kind of mentality -- not just science for science's sake," he said.

Verez-Bencomo, who received a Master's Degree in chemistry from the Moscow Institute of Fine Chemical Technology in 1977, later earned his PhD in 1983 from the University of Orleans, France. Now he is the director of the Center for Synthetic Antigens at the University of Havana.

He says many scientists from developing countries, who graduated from top universities in America and Europe, felt hopeless and did little after returning home because of a lack of facilities there.

"I received many offers from top universities and large companies from developed countries, but I chose to stay in my country. It's not only about money," he said.

Verez-Bencomo was invited to Indonesia by the Dharmais National Cancer Center to give a series of lectures. Center director Samsuridjal Djauzi told the audience Verez-Bencomo could have become rich if he lived in a developed country as he and his colleagues had patented three important synthetic vaccines.

One of the vaccines, the Haemophilus Influenza Type B, is currently produced on a massive scale in Cuba and competes globally with conventional organic vaccines.

Conventional vaccines are generally made from weakened pathogens, and are produced by large companies in developed countries. Vaccines are used to stimulate antibodies to fight diseases.

Veres-Bencomo and his team developed the vaccine between 1996 and 2000. He said they had experienced many difficulties before developing an effective tool.

"The sweetest memory we have was finding that our vaccine had a positive (human) response. It's sweet, as sweet as the material used for the vaccine, polysaccharide," he said with a smile.

A similar method of producing synthetic drugs could also be applied to develop medicines to treat other diseases such as cancer or HIV/AIDS.

He said Indonesia and Cuba should cooperate in medical research.

"We have much in common, including the types of diseases our people suffer."

Married to Violeta Fernandez Santana, a doctor who specializes in chemistry and the center's deputy director, Veres-Bencomo has a 20-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter.

He has received many awards, including Cuban Academy of Sciences honors in 1993, 1994 and 1999, and the Carlos J. Finlay distinction in 1996.

He is also an accomplished academic and writer, producing 57 papers, which have been published in local and international scientific journals, and three books, including the well-known Introduction to Carbohydrate Chemistry, in 1983.

With all his work, life is hectic for the scientist. He frequently speaks at universities around the world -- most recently in Spain, Germany, Canada and the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, his busy tour schedule for Indonesia took him to the University of Indonesia, the Dharmais Cancer Center, the Bandung Institute of Technology and Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

However, despite the work, Verez-Bencomo does admit to having some hobbies. His most important -- growing orchids in a small garden outside his house in Havana.

"I love orchids and I've heard that there are many kinds in Indonesia. After this lecture, I plan to visit the orchid center at the Indonesia miniature park (Taman Mini)," he said.