Cerna, David

Dr. David Cerna was born in San Buenoventurea, Coahuela, Mexico, date unknown. He attended school in Philadelphia, PA, graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a medical degree on May 14, 1879. He practiced in San Buenoventurea, Coahuela, Mexico from 1880 - 1889; Galveston, Texas from 1893 – 1897; and Monclova, Coahuela, Mexico from 1900 – 1914. His Texas physician’s certificate was issued in June, 1914, and he practiced in San Antonio as a General Practitioner until he moved to Mexico City in 1944. He was an honorary member of the Bexar County Medical Society and was honored in May 1935 along with 10 other physicians by the Bexar County Medical Society for having practiced medicine for 50 years or more. He was married to Mithilde Lorenz de Cerna. The date of his death is also unknown.

While at the University of Pennsylvania, he served as an Assistant in Physiology and Demonstrator of Physiology. He served on the faculty at the Texas Medical Branch in Galveston during the 1890’s when medical research in Texas was just beginning. Nearly all of the original faculty published clinical case reports as a way of advancing the diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities of their fellow professionals. A few of these early professors performed some experimental studies, including Cerna who determined the effects of certain drugs on various physiological functions of dogs. Dr. Cerna published over 50 articles and books including a pharmacology reference text published in 1893 by Saunders entitled Notes on the Newer Remedies, Their Therapeutic Applications, and Modes of Administration . The 2nd edition published in 1895 is owned by the P. I. Nixon Medical Historical Library at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio and may be viewed in the Portal to Texas History . He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Science and received a prize from the Medical Society of the County of New York in 1890 for his essay entitled Physiological and Therapeutical Study of Hydrastis Canadensis, which was published in Ther. Gazette 15, v.7:289-305, May 15, 1891; and 361-370, June 15, 1891.

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