Biography
Carlos Monge Medrano, Peruvian physician (Lima 13 December 1884 – Ancón, Lima 15 February 1970)
Authored over 150 scientific works on medicine, parasitology, biology, Andean pathology, anthropology and history
Described Monge disease or chronic mountain sickness (1925) its simptomatology and pathogeny
Defined physiological and anatomical mechanisms of adaptation to high elevations
Showed that coca leaf chewing played a role in aiding the metabolism in high-altitude populations
Proposed the concept of Andean Biology
HONORS
Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Chicago (1948)
His son Carlos Augusto Monge Cassinelli, physician (Lima 01 September 1921 – Lima 25 February 2006)
Authored over 600 publications on diverse fields such as renal disease and biology of animals adapting to the high altitudes
Regarded as world authority on high altitude diseases
ACHIEVEMENTS
First presented the lactate paradox (1948)
With G. Whittembury & A. Cazorla first to study the pulmonary blood volume in altitude inhabitants (1950s)
First demonstrated that anurans show adaptation to the high altitude environment
Developed a classic log-log graph relating the P50 to the animal weight
Distinguished phenotypically adapted animals from genotypically adapted animals relative to life in high altitudes
Showed that hematocrit rises significantly with age at high altitudes
Defined quantitatively the physiopathological mechanisms that gave rise to the appearance of Chronic Mountain Sickness
Enunciated the concept of concentration of optimal hemoglobin for life at high altitudes
Showed an inverse correlation between the hematocrit and the renal plasma flow
Developed a method for the measurement of hexametonium in blood showing its extracellular distribution
Developed sensors that enable continuous measurement of arterio-venous content of oxygen and P50 (1980s)
HONORS
Honorary Member, American College of Physicians (1978) & University of Alabama (1980)
IX International Hypoxia Symposium, Lake Louise, Alberta (1995) dedicated to him
