Inquirer
Last updated 03:03am (Mla time) 10/28/2007

MANILA, Philippines—The man whose research led to a groundbreaking medical discovery—a drug a thousand times more potent than morphine but without its drawbacks—will be conferred an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, the University of the Philippines.

Dr. Baldomero M. Olivera, who has been named 2007 Scientist of the Year by the Harvard Foundation at Harvard University, will receive the degree of doctor of science honoris causa on Jan. 16 at the UP Film Center, where he will also deliver a lecture as part of the UP Centennial celebrations.

Olivera and his research team, which includes National Scientist Dr. Lourdes J. Cruz of the UP Marine Science Institute, studied toxins in poisonous cone snails collected in the Philippines and discovered biomolecules called conotoxins.

Prialt, a chronic pain-relief drug, is the result of this study. It is a synthetic compound derived from conotoxins and is widely prescribed to cancer patients.

Significance

The significance of this discovery is that while conotoxins are more powerful than morphine, they do not induce tolerance. (Cancer patients who take morphine for chronic pain develop tolerance for the drug, so in the long run, increased amounts of morphine are prescribed to treat the same amount of pain.)

Because of his contributions to biochemistry, particularly his breakthrough research in conotoxins, Olivera is acknowledged and recognized by the international scientific community.

This year alone, apart from being named Scientist of the Year by the Harvard Foundation, he was also elected to the American Philosophical Society and became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

‘He never really left’

Olivera has “never really left UP,” according to UP President Emerlinda R. Roman.

Since he obtained his bachelor’s degree in chemistry summa cum laude in 1960, and despite having lived in the United States for many years as a sought-after professor and researcher, he has continued to maintain his relationship with his alma mater.

He still comes to UP twice a year to deliver lectures and conduct training seminars for students and faculty.

And as a distinguished professor of biology at the University of Utah, he makes his laboratory available to UP’s budding scientists.

Olivera recently accepted from UP the position of adjunct professor. This will enable him to continue doing research with the university’s students and faculty.

Olivera obtained his doctoral degree in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1966 and did postdoctoral work at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo, Contributor

http://asbb-foreignexchange.blogspot.com/2007/10/final-word-in-desperation.html
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I will end my commentary on the whole issue by simply asking why we
think it is perfectly alright for us to do this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QusLouQhEfo

and this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDQJGIFzV1Q&mode=related&search=

and even for one of our most respected politicans to say this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBEuhLlNYTY

but when anyone dares to poke fun at a segment of our population like
this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYB4H0Po0A0

everyone immediately cries racism and discrimination?

Thanks for your balanced view of the world. Your are indeed very sensible and level headed. You can think clearly & deeply without color and prejudice. And you always try to be as objective as you can. I’m impressed!

Regards,
Dr. Herm Javellana

Thanks again!

When I enrolled in the Proper Medicine Course at the University of the East (UERMMMC), we had classmates who had their Pre-Med courses from the best schools in America…Yale University, University of California-Berkeley, etc. And I was surprised to see white classmates from the best schools in America falling behind the batch, if not eventually kicked out of medical school.

When I did my Post-Graduate Medical courses in Harvard Medical School, Stanford University School of Medicine & Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, I was even more surprised. These are supposed to be the best schools in America and I was very appalled and dismayed to find out that they can’t even spell their own language correctly. I expected too much from these elite & Ivy League schools and was only frustrated to find out that horrible spelling errors were common in e-mails, hand-outs, and slide presentations. It was plain disgusting! They didn’t even care enough to edit the lines before sending or printing it out. It was like jumping into conclusion without giving the premise a much deserved thought. And I have concrete evidence of these shortcomings which I kept in my “Believe it or not” Archives.

And to note that although English is just our second language in the Philippines, I never encountered spelling errors in any of my courses at the University of the Philippines (U.P.)

The message I learned from here is that we are only human beings and we are not perfect. From my experience, even the best medical schools in America also commit mistakes, which I was shocked for awhile and caught me in complete disbelief. So the scriptwriter of Desperate Housewives should have not generalized the standards of the Medical Schools in the Philippines. What if I generalized the mistakes of a few people in Harvard, Stanford & Johns Hopkins? What would I think of the whole American system of Medical Education?

1st para… I’ve never postED….
3rd para. 2nd sentence…. That does NOT include just RNs…
5th para. last sentence… average and above average schools in the PHILS. are somewhat comparable to average schools in the US.

… and probably more!

Have a wonderful night/day to everyone!

You said “The prevalence of filipinas in the U.S. nursing industry has no bearing on this issue. Those are individuals who have studied and passed exams according to U.S. standards. A doctor’s medical license in the Philippines does not entitle the bearer to practice as a doctor in the U.S”. I don’t exactly understand what you meant by this.

FYI – for most, if not all, professionals from any foreign country who wanted to practice their profession in the US, they need to pass qualifying exams. That does include just RNs, it applies to teachers, doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. SO, you can’t just rule out the nurses.

I’m not too sensitive with the DH show as others here. If I have to compare myself, I think I’m like Macky (see post # 11, para 2) that it didn’t really affect me much. And that’s probably our level of sense of humor is different from others. Just like others said, it could have been substituted with other countries/cultures.

However, if I’ll be sensitive to the issue, though the DH situation refers to the MD’s diploma, it did imply to a certain degree questioning the integrity/quality of education in the Philippines. And that’s a sensitive issue to degree holders and professionals. That’s why you get all this reactions. Though, true, there are some mediocre school in the Philppines, so does other countries and US including; average and above average schools in the US are somewhat comparable to average schools in the US.

I studied in MSU-IIT and MSU Gensan in the Philippines. These schools have limited funding from Phil. govt. but there were several instances that we top the engineering exams in the Phils. And when I took some classes in University of Michigan, though I’m not the smartest, but trust me I’m not way too far either compared to some of my classmates.

So, bottomline, only an ignorant person will believe what DH is implying, which unfortunately quite a few. As I’ve said it doesn’t bother me much because lucky for me, I don’t have to deal with that, it’s not even a news here in my part of the US! Aside, from the fact that I work with people that always believe in professional skepticism.

I am rambling here… though Pinoys are the second largest immigrant in the US, I think we’re politically underrepresented, hence, we don’t really have a major impact. That’s why I’m glad when the guy who initiated the online petition and made ABC apologize, for me that’s an accomplishment .