2008 TOFP Awardees, Judges, Orlina Trophy

View complete profile of the awardees

Championing the cause of Filipino excellence in the 21st century by JCI Sen. Reggie Yu

DR. LORENZO ROMMEL G. CARIÑO
“Ace Heart Surgeon is RP’s Miracle Doctor”

His life-long career as a government doctor had gone unnoticed until last year had it not for one accidental patient, First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo whose successful heart operation eventually earned for Dr. Lorenzo Rommel G. Cariño the monicker  “The Miracle Doctor” and further helped enhance the image of Filipino doctors as  being at par with world’s best, thus boosting the sunrise medical tourism industry.
Unknown to the general public, Dr. Cariño, a heart specialist, has had 19 long years of medical training, mostly as general surgeon and later, as a heart specialist. The low-key heart surgeon would have quietly done his services to government and Filipinos with heart problems
By the year 2008, he has successfully performed over 1,300 open-heart surgeries, a feat he started performing since he passed the cardio-vascular licensure examination in 1992, of which close to a third, or 30 percent of those surgeries were undertaken for free as part of his continuing lifetime advocacy to help the poor. He has recently formed the Heart Matters Foundation with the Rotary Club of Cubao West to give free lectures on heart ailment prevention as well as offer heart surgical operation to indigent patients with acute aortic dissection and other heart ailments particularly the children.

DR. VICTOR ROMULO G. DUMAGUING
“Rain-or-Shine Doctor in the Cordilleras”

He has earned the title “rain-or-shine doctor” having served in the Cordilleras where Dr. Victor Dumaguing spent and dedicated his health services. His brand of “rural mountain medicine” was extended to the ethnic tribes where he did circumcisions, lectured on maternal and child health, indigenous herbs with medicinal values plus child delivery, on top of bringing basic medicines for cough, colds fever, diarrhea, antibiotics, among others.
Through the years, he climbed steep mountain paths, crossed rivers, ate canned goods and freshly cooked camote with the mountain folks, until an ankle surgery in 1991 slowed him down. He established the MOM Foundation (Medics on Mission) composed of volunteer doctors, nurses, dentists and other allied health professionals, whose main mission is to reach out to as many people and spread the value of preventive medicine to the poor. Lately, his biography was chronicled in the 2511 Silver Edition of Marquis international Who’s Who in the World 2008 for his love and passion for selfless Community Service.

DR. EGIDIO P. ELIO
“Antiqueños PUMP for Public Health”

Dr. Egidio P. Elio made a study on the status of urologic doctors in the Philippines and found out that there were only a few. In response, he organized and led the Philippine Urologic Manpower Program (PUMP) from 1995 to 2000. During the first five years of the PUMP, the urologic training programs increased from 9 to 11, the number of regions with urologists increased from 11 to 14 and the number of provinces with urologists increased from 25 to 32. Dr. Elio developed long-term programs that promote the equitable distribution of specialty services in the country and sustained delivery of medical and surgical care for the indigent patients in a depressed rural community. He has also engaged in projects and activities that support public education, development of the youth and the local church in the province of Antique. This led to five big medical and surgical missions in the past six years that performed over 20,000 consultations and 1,300 operations. He pioneered a research project on the use of rice bran and onions in the control of urinary stones and infections and built the biggest school library in Antique.

R. ELVIRA L. HENARES-ESGUERRA
“Joan of Arc for Breast feeding”

Dr. Elvira L. Henares Esguerra is in a class all of her own among this year’s The Outstanding Filipino Physicians (TOFP) awardees. She made a name for herself and her country in the arena of breastfeeding and is winning a lonely war against some of the most powerful infant milk manufacturers in the world.
In 2006 in partnership with the City of Manila, she broke the Guinness World Record for the most number of women breastfeeding simultaneously in one site (3,541 mothers); and in 2007 together with the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the same world record in multiple sites (15,128 mothers in 295 sites). Again in partnership with the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, she conducted a Synchronized Breastfeeding Worldwide at the same local time, for a period of 24 hours of the same day around the world. She was recently in Beijing to launch The Breastfeeding Olympics.
She established the Grand Coalition Against Corporate Greed to counter the financial might of Milk and Tobacco companies. She also inspired SM Supermalls to be the first breastfeeding-friendly mall in the country, with a project to put up breastfeeding stations in all its 32 malls nationwide. No one has ever achieved so much in so short a time.

DR. MARK RICHARD C. KHO
“Pioneer and Only Filipino Oncologist”

Dr. Mark Kho is the first and only Filipino to have full formal training, in both research and clinical, with accreditation from the Society of Surgical Oncology Inc., USA, in the field of Surgical Oncology (the study of cancer with surgery as the main modality of treatment), in the U.S. He has unselfishly brought home to his native land this knowledge and skill after five years of training. Instead of practicing privately, Dr. Kho continued working at PGH, the premier hospital for the country’s poor.
Dr. Kho has helped establish and maintain the Philippines’ first Surgical Oncology Division in the country at the Department of Surgery of the UPCM-PGH Medical Center which has the first of only two training programs in this field. He also served as the Chairman, for several years, of the Committee on Cancer of the Philippine College of Surgeons and the Vice-Chairman of the Cancer Institute of the Philippine General Hospital, for free.
Being the first and only Filipino Surgical Oncologist, Dr. Kho has contributed to this field and to the world by publishing his research works in internationally known peer-reviewed journals like the Journal of Molecular Biology and writing a chapter in the book Cancer Management: A Multidisciplinary Approach.

DR. ANTHONY C. LEACHON
HE.R.O. Advocatein our Midst”

He is an expert proponent of universal and preventive health care or better known as the Health Education Reform Order of 2006 (H.E.R.O. of 2006).
Dr. Atnhony C. Leachon is the principal author of the Policy Recommendation to the Senate that aimed to reduce the burden of illnesses in the Philippines through comprehensive health education and disease prevention. On December 27, 2006, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved and signed the Policy Recommendation as Executive Order 595, known as the Health Education Reform Order of 2006 (H.E.R.O. of 2006).
Despite his busy schedule as an Internist-Cardiologist, an active consultant at the Manila Doctors Hospital, and as the Medical and Regulatory Affairs Director of Pfizer-Philippines, Dr. Leachon finds time to meet with different medical associations, government officials, non-governmental organizations, and private groups to get their support and commitment for H.E.R.O. as the largest doctor-initiated advocacy now in the country. H.E.R.O. has been launched in different cities and municipalities in the Philippines. The launching includes the Universal Medical and Dental check up of pupils in the elementary and secondary schools. In just a few months, around 500,000 elementary kids have been checked up by volunteer doctors and health workers in the H.E.R.O. launches all over the country.

DR. LEONOR I. CABRAL-LIM
“Advocate for Persons with Epilepsy”

Dr. Leonor Cabral Lim is a neurologist-epileptologist. She has spent the last 25 years not only in clinical practice but also as an educator, leader, researcher and advocate of continuing health education.
As president of the Philippine League Against Epilepsy (PLAE), she has conceptualized and put together most of the component projects of the National Epilepsy Campaign, “Epilepsy: Out of the Shadows.” The projects within the Epilepsy Campaign span from the grassroots to the tertiary level and cover the entire country from North Luzon to Mindanao. As director of the campaign since 2001, she has successfully inspired and empowered PLAE member volunteers to implement programs at the grassroots level with available resources.
She was behind the declaration of National Epilepsy Awareness Week in 2002 and in organizing epilepsy support groups in the country. National Epilepsy Awareness Week is celebrated every first week of September in cooperation with the epilepsy support groups: The group is now known as Epilepsy Awareness Advocacy lnc. (EAA Inc.). It is the umbrella organization for all the epilepsy support groups in the country and is the national chapter of the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE) in the Philippines.

DR. RIMANDO C. SAGUIN
“Medical-Surgical Missionary from Batangas”

The proud son of San Juan, Batangas is noted for his 25 years continuing project that provided surgical rehabilitation to more than 320 indigent Filipinos with deformities and for conducting successful medical-surgical missions which he helped organize since 2004 that benefited thousands of less privileged patients in the countryside.
He founded PROJECT: R.S.V.P (Reconstructive Surgery for Victims of Polio) in 1981, whose aim is to provide surgical treatment to post-polio disabilities to enable them to attain maximum function and become productive members of the society. He is active with the Rotary International where he served as club president and Assistant Governor at District 3780. In 1999-2000, he successfully chaired the Rotary Helping Hand with the Reconstructive Surgery Foundation of Buenos Aires, Argentina that attended to 200 indigent Filipino children with various congenital deformities.
He likewise promoted early detection and prompt treatment of ‘scoliosis’ in coordination with the Department of Education. In 2004, he started in the whole Quezon City the Project Breast or Breast Regular Examination to Attain Successful Treatment. Every year, Dr. Saguin provides a one-stop shop evaluation and biopsy with the support of the Philippine College of Surgeons, the Philippine Society of Pathologist, SM Foundation, Quezon City General Hospital, East Avenue Medical Center and Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center.

DR. BLESILDA S DELA ROSA-SALVADOR
“Health Educator through Media”

Dr. Blesilda de la Rosa-Salvador has made her mark as a health educator through media. For more than 10 years, Doctora Bles continues to bring Medical Information to people from all walks of life through the radio, TV, and the Internet via her Teleradyo program “Doctora Bles at Your Service.” She renders free medical advice on air and gives vital knowledge about medicine and science in our Filipino language. Because of the wide coverage of media, her service reaches Overseas Fillipino Workers’ abroad who benefit from listening and understanding the medical topics she tackles. Most of all, her free consultations via letters, phone patch, or cell phone text messaging effectively help those who cannot immediately see a doctor
Her commitment and dedication to the medical profession is attested to by her continuing medical education, training, and activities to promote her advocacies namely: 1) Quality Primary Patient Care, 2) Patients’ Right to Medical Information, and, 3) Physicians’ Love for Doctoring as a Vocation.

DR. EDWARD H.M. WANG
Trailblazer & Pioneer Orthopedic Physician”

He has popularized the trail-blazing method of “unmatched” bone transplants. As president of the Department of Orthopedics Alumni Association, he has initiated a comprehensive OEP (Orthopedic Exposure Program) to stem the brain drain and convert this to a brain gain. His book “Bone Tumors in Filipinos” (2007) is the first of its kind in East Asia. He won The Outstanding Young Men Award (TOYM) and one of Ten Outstanding Young Scientists in 1997, among his national and international awards.
Recognizing this daunting task could not be a one-man job, he gathered doctors from different disciplines and set up the UP-Musculoskeletal Tumor Unit (UP-MuST Unit), the first of it kind and a model of multidisciplinary medical cooperation. Dr. Wang started a training program at the UPGH where doctors from around the country could come for intensive training. Together with colleagues, he founded the Philippine Musculoskeletal Tumor Society and served as its founding President.
He has embarked and sustained research in his unit to create and share new knowledge. As a result, Dr. Wang and his team have been able to publish a textbook on cutting-edge research. In a meeting held in Beijing last September, the team presented a total of nine scientific papers, all based on Philippine data.

THE TOFP 2008 BOARD OF JUDGES

Dr. Rey Melchor F. Santos

Dr. Rey Melchor Santos is the incumbent president of the Philippine Medical Association under whose position he was chosen as one of the eminent TOFP jurors. He serves as this year’s TOFP Chairman of the Board of Judges.
He holds the distinction of being the Director and Governor of the Philippine Board of Surgery and is also the Governor of the Endoscopic and Laparoscopic Surgeons of Asia, from which came the idea of putting up the Philippine Association of Laparoscopic and Endoscopic Surgeons that he currently heads as its founding president.
As a general surgeon, Dr. Santos devotes much of his time spearheading medical researches for the FEU-NRMF from where he graduated, St. Luke’s Medical Center, the Philippine Academy of Head and Neck Surgery, and the Veterans Memorial Medical Center. He also chaired the Committee on Research of the Philippine College of Surgeons from 1995 to 1998.
Dr. Santos obtained his Doctor of Medicine degree from the FEU-NRMF and graduated as Magna Cum Laude from the School of Medical Technology and as Cum Laude from the Institute of Medical Technology where he came back, years later, to become an Associate Professor. In addition, he has also been an Examiner of the Philippine Board of Surgery since 1992.
Along the way, Dr. Santos has managed to snag fellowships and memberships from different medical associations, colleges and societies, here and there, most prominent of which are the Endoscopic and Laparoscopic Surgeons of Asia, the Gasless Laparoscopic and Endoscopic Surgeons’ Society International, the World Federation of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology and the Asian Surgical Association.

Atty. Gonzalo T. Duque

Atty. Gonzalo “Gonz” T. Duque is the incumbent president of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU) under which capacity he was chosen as among this year’s member of the Board of Judges for The Outstanding Filpino Physicians (TOFP).
Like his younger brother Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III, Gonz is no stranger to public service. He has, in fact, occupied his own high post in national government serving as Deputy Administrator of the Philippine Overseas and Employment Administration. He also served as Vice Governor of Pangasinan (1988-92). During his incumbency, the Pangasinan Press and Radio Club and the YMCA of Pangasinan took notice of his outstanding leadership and awarded him for it. In 1996, he received the “Gold Vision Award,” the highest national award given by the YMCA of the Philippines.
As a public servant, the youth is closest to his heart, which explains his involvement in the private school sector and in anti-drug abuse activities. On the same note, he has attended various youth-related conferences abroad, including the First Asean Congress on Drug Abuse in Malaysia (1991), the World Youth Conference in Colorado and the Asia University Federation Conference in South Korea (2000). His anti-drug abuse campaign continues as Chair of the Anti-Drug Abuse Foundation of Pangasinan and the Dagupan City Anti-Drug Abuse Foundation.
For his contributions in the field of education, Gonz Duque was awarded in 2005 as the “Most Outstanding Bedan Alumni” by the San Beda College Alumni Association. Dr. Duque also received a special award from the YMCA for having served a member of its national and international committees. Today, his public service work continues as a consultant of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Education.
Currently he presides over the Lyceum-Northwestern University in Dagupan City and the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU), after becoming the PACU Director for three consecutive terms (2005-2008). On a national level, he co-chairs the Private Schools Athletic Association of the Philippines (PRISAA).

JCI Sen. Sergio Osmeña Valencia

He is the incumbent Chairman of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. At present. he also serves Director of the Philippine Social Security Association.
A scion of the prominent Osmena clan, Serge studied and graduated at the Ateneo de Manila from grade school to high school. He graduated at the Lincoln University in California, U.S.A in 1972.
Among his business ventures and involvements are as follows: president of the Esperanza L. Osmena; treasurer of the JRC Management & Realty Corporation; director of Intel Global Alliances Incorporated and Gilmore Townhomes Condominium Corporation.
A civic-minded individual, Serge Valencia is a true-blue Jaycee at heart. He began his involvement with the Jaycees in 1982 when he became the chapter president of the Makati Jaycees. He was then only 33 years old.
In 1987, Serge’s affiliation with the Jaycees reached international level when the Jaycees International tapped him as Special Assistant for Training in Asia Pacific. The following year, he was selected to spearhead the Ten Outstanding Young Men or TOYM of 1988 as its National Chairman.
In 1989, his Jaycee involvement reached new heights when was elected as JCI World Vice President. In 1997, Valencia was again selected to become the National Chairman of the Philippine Jaycee Senate’s annual search for the The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) awards, his first year with the Philippine Jaycee Senate.
In 2003, Serge was elected president of the Philippine Jaycee Senate. In 2004, Serge directly involved himself with the Philippine Jaycee Senate Foundation which he served as its Natonal Chair. In 2005, he sat at the Foundation’s Board of Trustees until 2006.
He is, at present, the Presidential Adviser of the JCI Senate Philippines and the Adviser of the Philippine Jaycee Senate Foundation.
To many JCI Senators, Chairman Serge is acknowledged as the “godfather of JCI Senate and regular Jaycees.”

Dr. Kenneth G. Ronquillo

Only one year after becoming Director III of the Human Resource Development Bureau at the Department of Health, Dr. Kenneth Ronquillo got another promotion in January 2006, catapulting him as the bureau’s Director IV. Now serving as one of the top officials at DOH and among Secretary Francisco Duque’s dependable staff, this native of Baguio has a solid background in public health service that began in 1987 at the Atok District Hospital in Benguet.
Interestingly, Atok is a fourth-class municipality literally situated on top of a mountain. At 7,400 feet above sea level, Atok had been hit three times by frost, resulting in millions of pesos of damaged vegetable crops. Under such harsh conditions where Dr. Ronquillo found his calling to serve the district hospital as a volunteer physician, until he became a Senior Resident there in 1989.
It is perhaps this experience of working with a skeletal hospital manpower that inspired the Ilocano doctor to further his studies, first at the Curtin School of Business in Perth, Australia where he earned a certificate in Human Resource Management, and then at the Ateneo de Manila University where, as a top student, he earned a Diploma in Human Resource Development in 2000.
In fact, at least five papers that he wrote can also be attributed to his leaning towards manpower development in the health sector, including: “Maldistribution of Medical Manpower in the Philippines: The Way Forward” (Vrije Universiteit, Brussels, 1995); “Medical Manpower Development in the Philippines” (Universite Libre de Burxelles - SY 1996-97); “Strengthening of the District Hospitals Focus on Resident Physicians” (DoH, 1998); “Human Resources for Health Migration in the Philippines: A Case Study and Policy Directions” (DoH, 2005); and the “The Philippine Human Resources for Health Master Plan” (Health Intel Annual 2007).
As the head of the DoH Health Human Resources Development Bureau, Dr. Ronquillo helps formulate plans, policies, programs and standards that produce, deploy, utilize and develop human resources for the Philippine health sector.

Dr. Jaime Z. Galvez Tan

If his name rings a bell, that is probably because Dr, Jaime Galvez Tan once served as the Secretary of the Department of Health in 1995. To date, he continues to serve the country in the area of health policy development, while assisting local governments in research management. He also currently heads the Health Futures Foundation, Inc. as its president, and travels the world doing consultancy work for various international agencies.
Even in his youth, Dr. Galvez Tan had exhibited evident leadership qualities. For instance, he completed his basic education with honors in 1966 at the San Beda College (Manila); later, he became one of the 10 most outstanding clinical clerks in 1974 as a post-Bachelor Doctor of Medicine at the University of the Philippines – where he serves today as a professor at the College of Medicine.
Right after his medical internship, Dr. Galvez Tan initiated community-based health programs in Leyte and Samar with the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (1975-78). Then, as Assistant Professor of the U.P. School of Health Sciences in Leyte, he pioneered the stepladder curriculum for health sciences curriculum.
Among his peers, Dr. Galvez Tan is acknowledged for his community work, particularly in far-flung, rural areas with no doctors and as an expert in national and international health planning and programming, which combines North American and European medicine with traditional Asian and Filipino medicine.
Amidst all these, Dr. Galvez Tan had found the time to author 40 published papers and co-author at least five books, all of which are health-related. His own life story was incorporated in two books: Beyond the Hospital:  A Concept of Community-Based Medical Practice and Community-Based Health Program (1994) by Grace De La Costa-Ymzon and Revolution from the Heart (1987) by Niall O’Brien.
He is at present the prime proponent of Vita Plus using herbal medicines to promote good health among Filipinos.

Ms. Lorna O. Fajardo

Lorna O. Fajardo is the Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer (EVP/COO) of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, a government-owned and controlled corporation that administers the National Health Insurance Program of the Philippines.
She served as acting Philhealth president and CEO for close to four years replacing then Philhealth President Francisco T. Duque III who was promoted and appointed as Secretary of the Department of Health by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
It was also during Fajardo’s term that PhilHealth has started serving as corporate supporter and institutional partner of the The Outstanding Filipino Physicians.
Under Fajardo, Philhealth had steady and continuous developments in the provision of health care benefits to more Filipinos nationwide. For instance, according to the 2004 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS), the proportion of families with at least one family member enrolled in PhilHealth rose to 42 percent in 2004 as compared to 28 percent in the 2002 APIS.
Moreover, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the PhilHealth reached a Memorandum of Agreement on April 22, 2004. “As such, IPs nationwide were enrolled in the Greater Medicare Access Program of the (national) government and were issued PhilHealth identification cards,” thus supporting the government’s program of making health care more accessible to more Filipinos. More recently, the PhilHealth has begun promoting price transparency to lower consumer prices of drugs.
Prior to her stint with the PhilHealth, Fajardo was the Deputy Administrator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the concurrent Head of the Maritime Training Council (MTC) in 2001.

An Orlina Trophy for Best Filipino Doctors

The TOFP trophy represents excellence and commitment of a physician in his chosen field of medicine.

As started in the 2007 TOFP maiden search, the 2008 TOFP Steering Committee has continued the tradition of giving the prestigious and most coveted TOFP trophy designed by  Ramon G. Orlina, a multi-awarded glass sculptor.
Orlina’s reputation extends to art circles and patrons in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, U.S.A. and the former Czechoslovakia. In his more than 26 years as a sculptor, Ramon Orlina has consistently shown excellence, originality and daring as a sculptor.
For the last three decades, Orlina has been transfiguring glass into art. His masterpieces place him, in international appraisals of the art, among the gurus Dale Chihuly of the United States and Bertil Vallien of Sweden. He has been conferred two prestigious ASEAN Awards in the field of Visual Arts. In 2006, he was bestowed The Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Award for having led a life of excellence in the field of Arts and having contributed immensely to public welfare and national development.
The Orlina sculpture trophy for The Outstanding Physician Award is steeped in symbolism.
A circular rim made of cold cast marble with bronze finish holds within it a ball made of solid transparent glass in the signature green hue of Orlina.
The circle is a symbol of completeness and wholeness.  It also represents the heart of humanity, the seed or the womb where life begins.  The life cycle, of life and death, is symbolized in the circle. Where there is life, the physician is there is there to heal, to prevent sickness and promote a sense of wholeness and well-being.
The glass ball and its green color symbolize the earth.  Etched on it are the popular medical symbols of the caduceus, the DNA and heartbeats to represent the practice of medicine which is now global because a patient can seek treatment in any part of the world, in the same way a physician can treat and diagnose a patient anywhere through modern means of communication.

THE 2007 TOFP MAIDEN SEARCH AWARDEES

Dr. CHARLOTTE CHIONG

A graduate of the University of the Philippines (B.S. Zoology, summa cum laude 1981, Doctor of Medicine 1985), he is at present the Chief of the Section of Otology, Neurotology, Audiology and Lateral Skull Base Surgery at the U.P.-Philippine General Hospital Medical Center.
She completed a post-graduate fellowship in Otology at the Harvard Medical School-Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston and as a clinical fellow in the field of Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery from the University of Toronto-Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center. She returned to the Philippines to share her talents and expertise for the benefit of her countrymen, and to contribute to the field of otology and neurotology as an educator and a dedicated researcher-clinician-scientist.
From pioneering surgical procedures like bilateral cochlear implantation and middle ear implantation, she has certainly put her country at the forefront of the subspecialty of otology and neurotology among its Asian neighbors.
The researches done on newborn hearing screening, which she started in 2000, has won recognition and publication awards from various international agencies. As a Clinical Associate Professor, her untiring efforts have inspired and educated a new generation of committed, passionate and patriotic physicians to practice in the country.
To date, she has eleven publications in International ISI Journals, five of which were original research work done in the Philippines. She has also co-authored book chapters in reference textbooks in Otolaryngology.
From 2003 to 2006, she has worked with the Department of Education’s Health and Nutrition Center to teach public school nurses regarding ear examination and tuning fork testing, which made an impact in succeeding policy implementations for the Department of Education.
She has also worked closely with the Health Policy Committee of the Philippine Pediatrics Society in the formulation on policies for newborn hearing screening and noise-induced hearing loss. Indeed, service to her countrymen has been a defining feature in all her professional, academic and medical career as a physician.

Dr. ENRIQUE ONA

He is a graduate of the University of the Philippines (B.S. 1957, Doctor of Medicine 1962). At present, he serves as the Executive Director of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI).
He has consistently shown leadership qualities even as a young surgeon. His outstanding achievements in the field of vascular and transplant surgery earned him “The Outstanding Young Men (T.O.Y.M.)” Award in medicine for 1979.
His peers, both here and abroad, acknowledge him as one of the top surgeons in the field of vascular surgery and organ implantation, as well as being a dedicated advocate for preventive nephrology in the Philippines.
His corporate leadership is attested by his transforming a government hospital ravaged by fire in 1998, just before he took over as Executive Director of the NKTI, to becoming the first ISO-Certified government hospital in the Philippines in 2002.
Under his leadership, NKTI boasted of having the most modern hemodialysis center in Southeast Asia. Through a Strategic Planning Process and, following the Vision-Mission statement of NKTI, he harnessed teamwork between the Medical and Administrative Staff, such that the institution’s income and profits increased yearly.
He also addressed the effect of “brain drain” by supporting the development of high potential surgeons and establishing the Institute of Advanced Nursing and Allied Healthcare Professionals, graduates of which immediately fill up vacancies created by frequent migration of healthcare professionals.
He also championed many projects of the Department of Health, such as the Preventive Nephrology Program and the Renal Disease Control Program.
These undertakings involved free urinalysis for 10.7 million school children aged 11 to 14, in the fourteen regions of the Philippines.
Moreover, he is at the forefront of the establishment of the Philippine Organ Association Program for the evaluation of Living Non-Related Kidney Donors, based on moral and ethical guidelines acceptable to the Philippine public and the international transplant community.
Together with his classmates from the U.P. Class of 1962, where he is the president, he recently led a medical mission in Maramag, Bukidnon and conducted surgeries to about 3,000 to 5,000 rural folks free of charge.

DR. WILLIE ONG

He is a graduate of the University of the Philippines (B.S. Botany1988, Master of Public Health 2001) and the De La Salle College of Medicine (Doctor of Medicine 1992).
He is a cardiologist, columnist, book author, television host and advocate for encouraging health workers to stay in the Philippines.
In 2004, together with the Philippine College of Physicians, he started the “Doctor’s Covenant,” which asks physicians to stay for at least three years in their mother country. The Covenant garnered 1,800 signatures from specialist doctors.
His advocacy on the medical “brain drain” has been featured in Reader’s Digest Asia, The Lancet, and The Associated Press and in various local newspapers and television stations. In 2005, he started the Movement of Idealistic and Nationalistic Doctors (M.I.N.D.), which now has a network of 2,000 young doctors and medical students.
He has lectured over fifty times in medical schools and hospitals about the health crisis in the country. In order to widen his influence, he has produced and hosted two television shows with the help of media guru, Mr. Boy Abunda, from 2005 to 2007. The first is “Makabayang Duktor,” a public service television show at PTV-4 and now at RPN-9; while a second health show is “Doc Willie and Liza Live” at RJ TV.
He has also written and published eight books, including the Medicine Blue Book, which is the best-selling medical book in the Philippines with 130,000 copies sold. He will be publishing an upcoming book, Survival Guide for Doctors, which aims to teach young doctors and health workers how to practice and survive in the Philippines.
His family has also established the Co Tec Tai Medical Museum, which is the first and only medical museum open to the public. Through nine years of painstaking collection of antique materials from the United States, Spain and Japan, this museum is now a frequent destination spot for nurses and doctors alike. The museum’s goal is to inspire health workers to stay and help their motherland.
He is currently a columnist for the Philippine Star and has two weekly television shows. He and his wife, Dra. Liza Ong, have now devoted their time completely to their new MD Foundation, which helps poor Filipinos.<