Two faculty members were recently appointed as new directors of two academic support offices of UP Manila. They are Prof. Erlyn Sana, former dean and faculty, National Teacher Training Center for the Health Professions (NTTCHP) as director of the Information, Publication, and Public Affairs Office (IPPAO) and Dr. Iris Thiele Isip-Tan, endocrinologist and head of the UPM College of Medicine (UPMCM) Medical Informatics Unit, as director of the Interactive Learning Center (ILC).
Prof. Sana, holder of a PhD in Philippine Studies and Master of Arts in Teaching Social Studies both from UP Diliman, served for two terms as NTTCHP dean from February 2009 – January 2015. During these years, she steered the NTTCHP to greater heights of leadership in health professions education not only in the Philippines but in the Asian region. Her administration paved the way for collaboration with the World Health Organization, leading to the training of faculty from Cambodia and Lao-People’s Democratic Republic and offering of the Master of Health Profession Education degree in Cambodia. The Center’s increased collaboration with the Department of Health has led to various projects in the fields of disaster management and child protection, among others. With these accomplishments, NTTCHP was recognized as WHO Regional Education Development Center in the Western Pacific Region starting in 2012.
Prof. Sana is NTTCHP’s first Most Outstanding Teacher in 2001 and editor and primary author of the country’s first textbook on health professions education. She served as consultant to various institutions and groups.
Dr. Isip-Tan, faculty for the Master of Science in Health Informatics, has more than 20 years of clinical, teaching, and research experience. She is into health informatics and has been a blogger since 2010. She is also a multi-awarded researcher for her work on diabetic foot infections and gestational diabetes.
She is one of the very few Filipino health professionals who uses social media and other information technology tools to educate her students and positively influence the general public about health issues. Her social media handles, Endocrine Witch and Doc Bru, reflect both her higher educational background and advocacies. Aside from being a faculty at UPMCM where endocrinology teachers are called “witches” due to their strictness, the health informatician in her loves to concoct new ways to present teachings with ICT. Doc Bru marked also Dr. Isip-Tan’s decision to communicate in Filipino with her thousands of Facebook followers.
Dr Isip-Tan is the first recipient of the Gawad Pangulo: Competition for Progressive Teaching and Learning Award in 2015 given by the Office of the UP President.
The third director, Prof. Sarah Johnson, professor of physics at the College of Arts and Sciences, has been serving as Learning Resource Director starting in August 2015. She took over the post from former director, Prof. Anna Theresa Santiago, who migrated to Canada. Prof. Johnson’s specialization is Teaching, Training, and Development. She took both her Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in Physics at UP Diliman in 2003 and 2009, respectively. She is a member of the Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas.
Cynthia Villamor | Published in UP Manila Newsletter July – August 2016
