A Performing Arts Medicine Weekend in Cebu

Last Thursday, I flew to Cebu to fulfill one of the “deliverables” for the Balik Scientist Program award grant: consulting work to help establish a Performing Arts Medicine clinic in the city. Something along the lines of what we have at the UP College of Music, but a little more multi- and inter-disciplinary since we […]

Chairman’s Rounds at St. Luke’s Medical Center Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

Two talks in March and April 2026 with the St. Luke’s Medical Center Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation faculty and residents, through support from the Balik [returning] Scientist Program of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development. We discussed Performing Arts Medicine in March, and Functional Outcomes in Spinal […]

Medicine Meets the Performing Arts: A Tuesday Conference in Four Acts

The University of the Philippines College of Medicine has this regular Tuesday morning conference for “anything under the sun that is related to medicine but can’t fit in the curriculum”. In preparation for the annual variety show Tao Rin Pala (TRP) next month, our Performing Arts Medicine team from the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine collaborated […]

Hellohello from Iloilo

I am in Iloilo as part of the Balik Scientist Program “give as many talks as possible while we are funding you till May 2026” task. Iloilo positions itself as a cultural, heritage and culinary destination in the Visayas. The Iloilo trip organizers took my “I am a museum geek” statement to heart and ran […]

Chinese Lion Dancers – Without the Costume!

I saw this post today from photo blogger Jan Sy, while looking for a clip of lion dancers to get into the lunar new year vibe. These lion dancers from Manila’s Chinatown (Binondo) are practicing their dance steps. Interesting to see their movements without the costume! #performingartsmedicine commentary: Aside from the usual dance-related concerns, there […]

Playing the Recorder, and other Similar Instruments

Today I watched a video from Ensemble Amarilli, a group of musicians who mostly play music from the Renaissance, Baroque and early Classical periods. This particular video had a recorder ensemble playing the Christmas carol, Ding dong Merrily on High. I wrote the following and posted it on Facebook along with the video: #performingartsmedicine commentary: […]

Slay and Sashay Away Part 2: We Held a Webinar on Drag Queen Health

Following our recent publication about the health of drag queens, we presented our findings and discussed their health and healthcare access in a webinar hosted by the Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA). It featured three of our authors: If you missed it, the webinar was recorded and should be available on the PAMA website soon. […]

Health Screening at the UP College of Music (DIVA Protocol)

We were busy this week! Thank you very much to the University of the Philippines College of Music (UPCMu) for hosting our group last September 9 and 10 for the students’ health screening event. We saw dancers and musicians, undergrads, postgrads and even some staff and faculty during the two days we spent in Diliman. […]

Slay and Sashay Away: We Wrote a Paper on Drag Queen Health

From data collection and analysis in 2017, to poster presentation in 2018 and oral presentation in 2023 at the Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA) Annual International Symposium… our paper on health issues in drag queens is finally published! What a long and winding road, but here we are. And a webinar is in the works […]