The Past of PH Today: Fe Del Mundo, National Scientist died

 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. She was also the first Filipino diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics (1947), which introduced the Filipino women and physicians to the world.
4. 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.
5. She was a pioneering force in child health care in the Philippines.
6. She was the founder and first woman president of the Philippine Pediatric Society, wherein she served from 1952 to 1955.
7. She founded the Philippine Medical Women's Association and became its first president.
8. In 1972, she became the first woman president of the Philippine Medical Association, a first in the association's decade-long history.
9. She was the first Philippine delegate to the World Academy of Science in Trieste, Italy (1993).
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.

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