Margarita Tamargo-Sanchez

Who was Margarita Tamargo-Sanchez?

Dr. Margarita Tamargo-Sanchez was a prominent pharmacist and bacteriologist in Cuba.

Dr. Tamargo-Sanchez was the daughter of Domingo Tamargo-Bautista and Gloria Sanchez-del Monte. She never married but had three siblings, Ana Gloria, Domingo Alberto, and Alberto.

She graduated from University of Havana in 1939, obtaining a Doctorate degree in Pharmacy, and became the Director of the pharmacy department of the anti- tuberculosis Children's Hospital in Havana. In 1949 she won a scholarship to further studies specialized in Bacteriology with Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered the Penicillin, becoming the first Cuban woman to obtain this scholarship. She studied under the direction of Dr. Fleming at St. Mary's Hospital in the University of London, and later Dr. Fleming and his wife visited her and her family in Cuba, where at her request, he lectured at the University of Havana.

She came to the United States in 1968, and worked at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York until her retirement in 1980. She then spent her last 22 years in Miami with her family.