Very
few physiscians live to practice their medical career
for half a century, much less 70 years. But one grand
lady is an exception. This pediatrician, national scientist,
researcher, hospital administrator and medical leader
broke every record among her peers in the medical school,
during her residency training, in practice and in medical
politics, here and abroad. She is an international figure,
a well-recognized and most decorated icon. She is indeed
an exceptional breed, a phenomenon. Born November 27,
1911 in Manila, she was christened Fe. Nobody knew that
she was to be a giant in medicine, the children's angel
"of the world," as her name suggests. But
91 years later, Fe del Mundo M.D. is even more luminous,
still actively caring for her "beloved children"
every day at the Fe del Mundo Children's Medical Center
Foundation in Banawe, Quezon City, where she has been
hospital president and chief pediatrician since 1957,
more than half her life.My admiration, pride and love
for this great mentor, which has been shared by a classmate
of mine in the medical school, Farida Quiambao Isip
(later a pediatrician herself and my lifetime roommate),
started in the late 1950's when we were both students
attending pediatric classes under Dr. del Mundo. Our
reverence for her grew more intense as the years went
by. When Farida and I left for the United States at
the end of 1962, a year after our graduation from medical
school, we lost touch with Dr. del Mundo as the fast-paced
lifestyle in the United States and our residency training
had engulfed us. To our amazement, however, when we
met her in Chicago during one of her visits to the United
States about three decades later, she still remembered
us, and started recalling memories of us as her sudents.
As always, she was lavish with her praises, sometimes
to our embarassment. When she gave a talk, her wry sense
of humor was consistently fantastic, but second only
to her superior public speaking prowess. When
i visited Dr. dek Mundo on Macrh 5, 2003 at the Children's
Medical Center Foundation, on my way from Cebu to Indiana,
she twice repeated a motherly advise for me "not
to come home to the Philippines very often, because
of the potential threat of terrorism, like the explosion
in Davao recently. "She knew that I fly to Cebu
from Indiana every month as a chairman of Cardiovascular
Surgery of the Cebu Cardiovascular Center at Cebu Doctor's
Hospital. Her somewhat frail voice and concerned look
was indeed touching. I told her that my mother, who
lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, had given me the same
advice. Dr. del Mundo's practice of Pediatrics was not
confined to the hospital. It branched to the countryside
years ago to serve the children of the poor. Because
she is unable to walk a lotanymore, she has sent various
teams into villages in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao,
constantly sharing her wisdom, expertise and guidance
with younger pediatricians and residents. She has adopted,
and provided complete health care to 12 barangays (villages),
areas that are deprived. She still visits and supervises
those barangays that are within 70 kilometers from her
hospital. For several years now, she has travelled to
the United States to attend the medical reunions of
her former students and medical meetings of Filipino
physicians in America, succesfully rallying them to
each support and adopt a barangay. At 94, Dr. del Mundo
has a mind still as sharp as a razor, matched by her
great power of persuasion and her extreme devotion to
providing health care to children in the Philippines,
especially those in doctor-less areas.
I
can say without any fear of contradiction that Dr. Fe
del Mundo, to date, is the world's greatest pediatrician,
whose 70-year active career is still going strong, and
whose record obviously can be broken only by herself.
Most of us, her students, have now retired from practice,
but Dr. del Mundo is, like the Duracell TV commercial
says, "still going and going and going and going..."
Many of her early pediatric patients are now great grandmothers
themselves, giving her the joy of having ministered
to four generations of countless families. Space would
always be lacking if I were to list all her accomplishments
and the honors, awards, recognitions and accolades Dr.
del Mundo has recieved since her medical schooling in
the late 1920's and early '30s. but allow me to tease
you with a sample of her laudable lifetime achievements.
Dr. Fe del Mundo graduated as
the "Most Outstanding Scholar in Medicine,"
a valedictoria, University of the Philippines in 1933,
and travelled to the United States with a Fellowship
Grant from the Commonwealth of the Philippines, completing
Pediatric courses A, B and C at Harvard Medical College
in 1937, earning an M.A. degree in Bacteriology from
Boston University in 1940. She is a woman of superior
intellect, a lady with many "firsts." She
is the first Filipino woman, and the first female, to
be enrolled at Harvard Medical School. She is the first
Filipino Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics;
the first lady president of the Philippine Pediatric
Society; Founder and first president of the Philippine
Woman's Medical Association; the first woman to be elected
president of the Philippine Medical Association in it's
65-year history; the first Asian to be voted president
of the Medical Woman's International Association. Dr.
del Mundo has been a highly decorated physician, having
received countless awards, some of which are as follows:
Elizabeth Blackwell Award as a Woman Doctor
of World Renown; the Most Outstanding Woman in Medicine,
International Federation of Women Lawyers; Distinguished
Pediatrician and Humanitarian Award, International Pediatric
Association; Honorary Doctorate in Science, Women's
Medical College of Philadelphia and the Smith College,
USA; Ramon Magsaysay Award for the public service; Academician,
National Academy of Science and Technology; and the
National Science Award.
Her great contributions to Pediatrics, including her
internationally-adopted BRAT (Banana, Rice, Apple, Tea)
diet for the treatment of diarrhea, have benefited and
saved hundreds of millions of children around the world.
sDr. del Mundo was chairman of
Pediatrics at the Far Eastern University, and founder
of Children's Home in Manila, the Children's Medical
Center, and the Institute of Maternal and Child Health.
She was director of the city of Manila Children' s Hospital,
which later became North General Hospital (now Jose
Reyes Memorial Hospital). She has authored more than
150 scientific articles, and became the editor-in-chief
of the Textbook of Pediatrics and Child Health. For
20 some years, she has written a weekly health column
for the SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE. All her life, she has
been married only to her profession and to her career
in medicine. On October 11, 2002, President Arroyo presented
to Dr. del Mundo the Outstanding Citizen Award in Medicine
at the Celebrity Sports Plaza in Quezon City, one of
the 11 awards she recieved that year alone.
I
would like to conclude this accolade for my beloved
teacher by quoting an international historical figure,
C.W. Nimitz, Fleet Amiral, United States Navy, who,
about 50 years ago, gave Dr. del Mundo a passionate
tribute, a excerpt of which is as follows:
"Doctor Fe del Mundo began her medical career with
an endowment of ability which made it obvious that she
could be one of the very famous physicians of her generation....in
this fascinating young Filipino woman, who came to Harvard
University for her medical training 18 years ago, there
were seeds of greatness.... Refusing to be merely a
famous physician, she became something infinitely finer.
She became a great physician... This very gallant woman
is still working against incredible handicaps, and succeeding.
She does not cry out for help, but the very nature and
scope of her aspirations cry out to us in a voice that
should not fall on an uncaring heart nor an unhearing
ear... it is a voice that cannot be denied."
Philip S. Chua, M.D.
Chairman Cardiovascular Surgery
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