August 6, 2011, Fe Del Mundo pass away of cardiac arrest
Fe Del Mundo, the country's single out Pediatrician and National Scientist who conducted important pioneering
researches on infectious diseases and devote attention of her life to the cause
of pediatrics in the country, died of cardiac arrest on August 6, 2011. She died 3 months earlier on her 100th birthday on November 27, she was born in Intramuros, Manila on
1911. She was the sixth of eight children of Bernardo del Mundo, a well-known lawyer from Marinduque and Paz Villanueva.
At age 15 after the completion of two years, she received Associate in Arts at University of the
Philippines. She then go in medical school at the same foundation. After five years in 1933, she received her medical degree with elevated honors in her class
of 70 graduates. That year she was awarded a medal as the "Most
Outstanding Scholar in Medicine" by the Colegio
Medico-Farmaceutico de Filipinas. In 1936, she was guarantee scholar of President Manuel Quezon and obtained post-graduate training in pediatrics
at Harvard Medical School aimed for five years. In 1940, she received her M.A. in
Bacteriology from Boston University in Massachussets.
Her most relevant researches deal with viral
diseases, specifically those on polio-myelitis, rubeola, rubella, and
varicella. These clinical researches served as recommendation in the use of vaccine
and immunizations in the country. The lack of well equipped laboratories for
analysis did not stop her from studying the nature of the illness. Dr.
del Mundo would send specimens or blood samples for polio to New York, measles
to London, rubella to Switzerland, and chicken pox to Japan. In 1954, she
aid dengue fever at the clinical and laboratory levels, which
support to a better knowledge aand interpretation of the disease.
Dr. del Mundo also developed two devices to assist and aid people in
the rural communities. In 1973, she invented a simple cheaper incubator
made of bamboo that can be easily produced artificially for rural communities. She also
work-out an improvised bamboo radiant warmer and a photo therapy device that
could heal babies with jaundice. These inventions reflected her interest in
rural health, specially those in underserved or unreached rural areas.
She also formulated strategies to incorporate the ways of
the hilot or traditional midwife to the family planning and birth
attending framework of health services in rural communities. Dr. del Mundo
pioneered the building up of indigenous health workers and organized rural
extension teams to advise mothers on breastfeeding and child care. She promoted
the idea of linking hospitals to the community through the public immersion of
physicians and other medical personnel to facilitate greater coordination among
health workers and the public for common health programs such as immunization
and nutrition. She called for the greater integration of midwives into the
medical community, noting their more visible presence within rural communities.
Dr. del Mundo, established the Children's Memorial
Hospital (later renamed Dr. Fe del Mundo Medical Center) in 1957 . To do this, Dr. del
Mundo sold her own home and personal effects. The hospital was expanded in 1966
with the establishment of an Institute of Maternal and Child Health, the first
of its kind in Asia. The said hospital continues to admit thousands of children
requiring quality medical help.
The National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) of the
Philippines lists Dr. del Mundo as a woman of many firsts:
- She was the first female and first Asian to be enrolled in Pediatrics at the prestigious all-male Harvard Medical School (1935-1940) as a Philippine Commonwealth scholar.
- She was also the first woman to head a government general hospital in the Philippines when she was appointed as director of the Manila Children's hospital (later renamed Dr. Jose R. Reyes Memorial Hospital) in 1943.
- She was also the first Filipino diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics (1947), which introduced the Filipino women and physicians to the world.
- She was also the first Asian president of the Medical Women's International Association, holding this post from 1962 to 1966. In 1967, she became an Emeritus Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
- She was a pioneering force in child health care in the Philippines.
- She was the founder and first woman president of the Philippine Pediatric Society, wherein she served from 1952 to 1955.
- She founded the Philippine Medical Women's Association and became its first president.
- In 1972, she became the first woman president of the Philippine Medical Association, a first in the association's decade-long history.
- She was the first Philippine delegate to the World Academy of Science in Trieste, Italy (1993).
- Dr. del Mundo joined the faculty of the University of Santo Tomas as an associate professor of pediatrics from 1943 to 1954. She then transferred to Far Eastern University (FEU) as professor of pediatrics and chairman of pediatrics department from 1954 to 1974. She eventually became Professor Emeritus of FEU in 1974. The Philippine Women's University, the Medical Women's College of Pensylvania, Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and the University of the Philippines (1996) conferred on her Honoris Causa degrees. Part of her commitment to quality medical education was her acceptance of students from different schools to be trained at her hospital, an idea she adapted from the Harvard Medical School.
- She was admitted to the NAST in 1979, in recognition of her important contributions to science and the community as a pediatrician, teacher, researcher, humanitarian, and grand dame of Philippine Pediatrics and medicine. In 1980, Dr. del Mundo became the first woman National Scientist when she was conferred the Rank and Title of National Scientist, the highest honor that the Philippine Government can bestow on a Filipino scientist for her outstanding contributions to science and technology.
- Her undeniable devotion to child care earned her numerous prestigious national and international awards, including the Elizabeth Blackwell award for outstanding service to mankind in 1966, the distinguished Ramon Magsaysay award for public service by a private citizen in 1977, the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Award in 1980, and recently, the 2010 Order of Lakandula with the rank of Bayani by the Philippine Government.
Dr. Fe Del Mundo was buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani,
Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.
Refernces:
Kahimyang
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