Dr. Alfredo Suarez-Sarmiento

SUÁREZ-SARMIENTO, ALFREDO, 71, Pioneer Penile Implanter, Urologist, died of cardiac failure at Kendall Regional Hospital on Saturday, October 29, 2022. Suárez-Sarmiento was born on July 9, 1951 in Havana, Cuba, the son of a renowned Marine Biologist and a professor at the University of Havana. As a child he was raised between the towns of Havana and Güines. In 1961, after Fidel Castro rose to power, Suárez-Sarmiento left Cuba, with his father Jose Alfredo Suárez-Caabro, and his mother Maria de los Angeles Sarmiento. Once emigrating to Miami, Alfredo would attend Shenandoah middle school, where he gained a love for sandlot football, a passion which would lead him down the path of being a stand-out middle linebacker at Coral Gables Highschool on the 1967 and 1968 State Championship teams. Suárez-Sarmiento was part of a special group of Cuban-born linebackers that would dominate the position for several years past his graduation. Known as tough, dependable, and unbeatable on the field, later in life he would share his passion for football with his 3 sons who he supported during their respective football playing careers. In 1971, Suárez-Sarmiento would attend medical school, in Zaragoza Spain, where he began his medical training and would garner friendships that he treasured until the very end. Once graduating medical school in 1977, he was accepted to the surgery residency program at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, and would later complete his urology training at the University of Miami. Dr. Suárez-Sarmiento dedicated his 40-year career to helping those men suffering from erectile dysfunction, founding the first impotence center for Hispanic Americans in the United States in 1987, at Coral Gables Hospital, the leading hospital for impotence treatment and penile implants globally. Pioneer of the infrapubic technique, Dr. Suárez-Sarmiento was one of the leading penile implanters in the world. With over 15,000 implants performed during his storied career, he helped coin the phrase “la bombita,” a common nickname for the prosthesis. Among his many publications, Dr. Suárez-Sarmiento has written extensively on a number of important topics, including penile implantation under local anesthesia and female urinary incontinence. Patients and family members remember Suárez-Sarmiento as an honest, caring, dependable person, who loved his family and lived for his children. Suárez-Sarmiento is survived by his four children, Alfredo Jr., Alexandra, Joseph-Alfred and Michael Alfred, and grandchildren, Max, Olivia, Luke and Alfredo, III. Services will be held today, November 9, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. at St. Augustine Catholic Church, 1400 Miller Rd, followed by burial at Caballero-Rivero North Cemetery