Eduardo Lopes da Silva was the director of the sanitary commission formed by the São Paulo state government in Santos at the time that Oswaldo Cruz was there to combat the bubonic plague in the second half of 1899. Originally from Queluz (now Conselheiro Lafaiete), in Minas Gerais, Lopes received his medical degree in Rio de Janeiro. He took up residence in São Paulo, where he joined the state’s Sanitary Service. He became head of the Santos Sanitary Commission in October 1898, replacing Militão Pacheco; he held this post until July 1901, when physician Francisco Cavalcanti took over. He was later appointed to head the Sanitary Inspectorate of Ribeirão Preto, where he also served as the local municipality’s Health Delegate. He died in the 1930s.