Manuel de la Pila Iglesias

Dr. Manuel de la Pila Iglesias
"One of the giants of Puerto Rican medicine"
Born	16 November 1884 Cádiz, Spain
Died	5 October 1950 Ponce, Puerto Rico
Nationality	Puerto Rican
Education	University of Barcelona Mayo Clinic
Years active	1917 - 1950
Known for	Co-founder of the University of Puerto Rico Medical School First X-ray machine in Puerto Rico First EKG in Puerto Rico Founder Hospital Dr. Pila
Relatives	Marina Valdecilla (wife)
Medical career
Profession	Physician
Institutions	Hospital Tricoche Hospital Damas Hospital San Lucas
Specialism	Surgery, electrocardiography, otorhinolaryngology, allergy, others
Notable prizes	"Physician of physicians" Order of the Knights of Saint Gregory Order of Saint Gregory

Manuel de la Pila Iglesias (November 16, 1884 – October 5, 1950) was a Puerto Rican physician practicing in Ponce, Puerto Rico, who specialized in a half-dozen medical specialities. He founded a medical clinic in Ponce that grew into a large medical center. Pila Iglesias is considered "one of the giants of Puerto Rican medicine". He was also one of the leaders behind the development of the School of Medicine of the University of Puerto Rico.

Manuel de la Pila Iglesias was born in Cádiz, Spain, on 16 November 1884. His parents were Manuel de la Pila Mantes, a Spaniard, and Asuncion Iglesias Geneviera, a Puerto Rican woman. After the death of his father and brother, he moved to Ponce with his mother. He was brought up in the home of his uncle on his mother's side, Dr. Iglesias, whom he came to admire and on whose footsteps he later follow. He studied at the Colegio Central Ponceño (Ponce Central High School) and upon graduation traveled to Spain to study medicine at the University of Barcelona.

After receiving his medical degree, de la Pila Iglesias (or Pila Iglesias, as he is more commonly known) started his journey through specialization into many areas of medicine. He went to the San Antoine Hospital in Paris, the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, the Laboratory for Technical Surgery in Chicago, the Philadelphia Hospital in Pennsylvania, and the Hamburg Hospital in Germany. Afterwards, he studied electrocardiography in Berlin, otorhinolaryngology in Vienna, and allergy in Venezuela and Cuba.

In 1917, Pila Iglesias returned to Ponce to start his prolific professional career. He first worked as a municipal government physician at Ponce's Tricoche Municipal Hospital, which had been built in 1875. He also practiced at the San Lucas Hospital and the Ponce Santo Asilo de Damas Hospital, where he became medical director. An X-ray machine Pila Iglesias purchased in the United States in 1913 was the first such machine in Ponce. He also later acquired an EKG machine in Germany. It is believed this was the first EKG in Puerto Rico.