Academic Adventures in Cebu
Earlier this year, I received an invitation to speak at the University of the Philippines Medical Alumni Society (UPMAS) 24th Grand Scientific Symposium (GSS) about integrating the Medical Humanities in the medical school curriculum. I was going to be part of a panel whose topic was new innovations in medical education: the other speakers were co-alumni Dr. Enrico Gruet (patient safety) and Dr. Winlove Mojica (gender sensitivity). Of course I readily said yes – always happy for the opportunity to talk about the Medical Humanities and present about our experience at St. Luke’s Medical Center College of Medicine. And the symposium was going to be in Cebu City – the Queen City of the South which I last visited in 2000 for a wedding. Great excuse to travel!
Session moderator Dr. Steven Seno, also an alumnus, then had a brilliant idea: since I was in town, I should speak to the students at the Cebu Institute of Medicine (CIM) as well. He is a Lecturer at the school, and CIM was celebrating Mental Health Week so a talk about the Humanities would be perfect. Sure! I’ll talk on Wednesday before the Grand Scientific Symposium starts on Thursday morning. Because… why not catch the 6:00 AM flight from Manila, arrive in Cebu at 7:35 AM, check into the hotel (thankfully a room was available for early check in), have some really strong coffee and give a talk at 11:00 AM to the 2nd and 3rd year medical students! Steven was also gracious enough to give me a short driving tour of the Cebu city center before heading to CIM, which helped me orient myself within the city. Dr. Emmalyn “Jaja” Reveldez warmly welcomed me to the lecture hall. She treated me to lunch as well along with Dr. Irelan Amores-Evasco – whom I haven’t seen in many years; Irelan and I were dorm-mates during pre-medical studies at the University of the Philippines Manila. Irelan and I also had a bonus dinner with Dr. Elsa Espino-Aquino, another blast from the past dorm-mate.
The GSS started out with an incredible welcome dinner – which included Cebu’s famous lechon (roast pig). Yes you can find lechon all over the Philippines, but the Cebu lechon is somehow more flavorful… no sauce necessary, unlike elsewhere. Thursday was chill for me, since my talk was on Friday. I joined two of my medical school classmates for breakfast – Dr. Carlo Panelo and Dr. Ricky Tiongco were both speaking at Thursday sessions and leaving Thursday evening. While I’ve already met fellow physiatrist Dr. Renald Ramiro in the past, I finally met his ballerina/physical therapist/medical student daughter Anika here in Cebu – she is the other half of their Cebu performing arts medicine duo. The culminating event for the GSS was the fellowship night – more food, plus I won a Starbucks card in the raffle draw! All in all these events were great for learning new things, and also networking with physicians – both local and visiting doctors (visiting physicians were mostly from Metro Manila).
