63. Hello from Doreen after a Long Time, and (the lack of) Bone Density
Hello from me and Doreen the Breast Cancer Mascot this Saturday morning, on the way to the hospital for my checkup She also kept me company while waiting to be seen in clinic. Breast surgeon Dr. Aldine Basa met Doreen in real life for the first time today, and like most people she was surprised […]
2024 Grand Alumni Homecoming Launch
Many schools in the Philippines have this tradition that the silver jubilarian alumni class (i.e., the alumni who graduated 25 years ago) organizes and hosts the alumni homecoming for that year. Since we graduated from medical school in 1999, that would be us and here we are hosting a year’s worth of events for the […]
World Health Organization and Self-Care
From the World Health Organization (https://who.int/health-topics/self-care) Self-care is the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health worker. WHO recommends self-care interventions for every country and economic setting, as a critical path to reach universal health […]
62. Busy with Virtual Choir and Vocal Changes (Bizz-y, VC, VC)
Our medical school class is putting together a music video as part of our homecoming celebrations next year – 2024 will be 25 years since we graduated from the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in Manila. The song accompanying the video was arranged in four voices for choir: soprano 1, soprano 2, alto […]
A night of Dance, Medicine, and Dance Medicine
December 10, 2023 What an awesome multidisciplinary panel discussion on a dancer’s ankle sprain – physiatry, orthopedics and rheumatology specialists at the Philippine Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine National Capital Region (PARM-NCR) quarterly scientific conference tonight. The case conference discussion ended, and Dance Medicine Philippines was formally introduced to all of us tonight at PARM Mabuhay! […]
How lucky we are to be alive right now!
I’m young, scrappy and hungryAnd I’m not throwing away my shot! Dreams do come true. September 17 to November 26, 2023. Special thanks to the Performing Arts Medicine Association, “understudy” Frances, and the person affiliated with the production who found me. Grateful for the opportunity to have supported the performers from Hamilton Manila tour 2023! […]
Support PAMA, support me! (and our efforts to build Performing Arts Medicine in the Philippines)
A few weeks ago, the Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA) asked me to write a bit about my experiences with PAMA and how it has enriched my life in Performing Arts Medicine. They used a snippet for social media (no, that is not me in the photo!), but here is my entire treatise… enjoy! Grateful […]
Bye, bye piano. End of an era.
Bye bye, piano. End of an era. I was 5 years old when mom and dad bought it in 1980: an investment towards my musical education as we realized piano playing wasn’t going to just be a phase I was going through. Thank you to my first piano teacher Charisse Gonzalez for helping us choose […]
#ASPAH2023 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
November 25, 2023 Made it to Brisbane for the the Australian Society for Performing Arts Healthcare annual conference. First in-person meeting since 2019, and learning from the pandemic: it’s a hybrid conference that is also available online! As with most formal Australian gatherings, there was a Welcome to Country ceremony from a representative of the […]
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 […]
