[Bailey K. Ashford, more in his remembrance]

The military physician Bailey K. Ashford (Washington, D. C., September 18, 1873--San Juan, Puerto Rico, November 1, 1934) is mostly remembered for having identified in 1899 the cause of fatal anemia prevalent among Puertorican peasants, but he was also a distinguished investigator of other diseases, and organizer of mass medical services, in peace and in war. In spite of Ashford's own sober statements, the great influence of his scientific work in Puerto Rico and the impact of his personality in patients and colleagues have helped cast him as a mythical figure. His personal archives (kept at the library of the University of Puerto Rico's Medical Sciences Campus) make clear that his autobiography presents only a selection among the episodes that would form a complete biography.