Javier Arias Stella | |
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Occupation | Pathologist |
Javier Arias Stella (born August 2, 1924) is a Peruvian pathologist who discovered the eponymous "Arias-Stella reaction" (or "phenomenon").
Arias Stella's undergraduate studies were done first at the San Marcos National University's School of Science in Peru from 1942 to 1944 and then at the Faculty of Medicine from 1945 to 1951, from which he earned his bachelor's in 1951. His doctorate was also earned from that faculty in 1959.
Arias-Stella found that a reaction previously thought of as a cancer in the endometrium was rather a normal reactions of hormones from placental tissue. It can also refer to changes occurring in the cervix.
Later in his life, he became involved in researching how altitude changes in the Andes affected anatomy and histology in human beings, men specifically. It had long been thought that the multiple cases of pulmonary hypertension in Andes men came from the altitude they lived in. Arias Stella's research showed that "hypoxia-induced thickening of the pulmonary arteriolar walls" was the main cause for the hypertension. Considering that the natives had no access to vasodilators, their cases of hypertension were found to be different from known cases of acute hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction.
Arias Stella began teaching as an instructor in pathology by 1949 in the same university and faculty that he already was attending. Over time he became a senior lecturer in clinical pathology. In 1961, he founded the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, where he began as an associate professor of pathology. By 1969, he was the principal professor and then head of the pathology department by 1975. He became the consulting professor for the National University of Caracas in 1974 and then the same for the Central University of Venezuela in 1975. He continued to have various professional standings in many hospitals in both South America and the United States. He also traveled as a visiting professor to many universities in the United States.