Cuban vaccine doctor keeps children smiling

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.