Dr. Jose D. Arana, 52, was professor of psychiatry

Dr. Jose D. Arana, a professor of psychiatry who studied mentally ill homeless people, died suddenly Sunday while visiting his native Lima, Peru. He was 52 and lived in Lutherville.

Services for Dr. Arana were incomplete.

"Dr. Arana was a wonderful man and one of the hardest working persons I have ever known," said Dr. John A. Talbott, chairman of the University of Maryland Department of Psychiatry. "He was well loved as a teacher and was a nationally recognized leader in his field."

Dr. Arana was an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Maryland Medical Center, where he had worked since gaining a residency in psychiatry there in 1969.

In 1977, he was named associate professor.

Three years later, he was named clinical director of the Walter P. Carter Community Mental Health Center, a 194-bed, state-funded facility operated by the hospital.

Dr. Arana had recently been appointed the Hispanic-American representative to the American Psychiatric Association Assembly.

In 1967, he received a medical degree from the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima.

He is survived by his wife, Clara Ines; a son, Sebastian; and a daughter, Claudia, all of Lutherville.