PROF. PhD. LUIZ ROHDE: FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE BRAZILIAN COLLEGE OF DIGESTIVE SURGERY

The German immigration to the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil, began in the 1920s. Between 1824 and 1922, 142 German colonies were created in Rio Grande do Sul, and it is estimated that, in this period, about 50 thousand Germans arrived in the state.

In this group of immigrants, Augusto Heinrich Rohde, Luiz Rohde's great-grandfather, arrived in 1857. On January 14, 1936, Luiz Rohde was born, the youngest son of Augusto Emílio and Erna Rohde, fruit of a union that generated eight children, in the locality of Paraíso do Sul, in the municipality of Cachoeira do Sul, 200 km from Porto Alegre (RS), in the central region of the state¹.

After an initial school education in his region, in Cachoeira do Sul, Luiz completed the high school and soon the inclination to study medicine arose. Since then, it could be noted in the young Luiz Rohde marks that would be perennial in his character and in the example he would set for all those who were his students in the future: discipline, rectitude, education, and concern for the well-being of all with whom he had the opportunity to know and relate to.

He studied medicine at Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, where he joined in 1955 and concluded in 1961, having been chosen valedictorian of the class. At the same institution, another characteristic of Rohde was already evident: in the graduation speech, he drew attention to the need for creating a local university hospital to improve the training of doctors. Therefore, very early on he had the vision of what would be most important for the education of medical students. After completing the medical course, he was accepted, by a public tender at the University of São Paulo (USP), in the state of São Paulo (SP), in the residency in General Surgery, from 1962 to 1964.