June 30, 2019 — Two new deans of UP Manila appointed by the UP Board of Regents during its meeting on June 10, 2019 bring their wide health leadership, academic and research experiences, and qualifications to the governance of their respective colleges to fulfill their vision and goals in the next three years. They are Dr. Vicente Belizario, Jr. as dean of the College of Public Health and Prof. Bienvenido Balotro as dean of the College of Pharmacy.
Dr. Belizario, a medical parasitologist and researcher, served as Undersecretary for Technical Services of the Department of Health from 2015-2016; Technical Officer (Neglected Tropical Diseases) Malaria, Other Vector-borne and Parasitic Diseases Unit at the World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office in 2014; and Member, Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases; and Member, Research Strengthening Group, WHO-TDR from 2008-2013.
At UP Manila, he served as Vice Chancellor for Research and Executive Director of the National Institutes of Health from 2011-2014 and is currently Professor and University Scientist III. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Global Health, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Dr. Belizario is also a member of the following: Soil-transmitted Helminthiasis Advisory Committee, Task Force for Global Health/ Children without Worms, USA; Steering Committee, Forum for Ethics Review Committees in Asia and the Western Pacific (FERCAP); Editorial Board, Geospatial Health; and Editorial Board, Acta Medica Philippina. He is Editor of the Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health.
Among other plans, the new dean is keen on enhancing the relevance and contributions of CPH as a leading public health academic, research, and service institution in the country and region by promoting interdisciplinary public health policy researches focused on issues of national and regional importance such as the health-related UN Sustainable Development Goals and Universal Health Care (UHC).
To help him achieve this goal, his administration will pursue the active recruitment of local and international students for the PhD in Health Sciences by Research being offered by UP Manila since 2017.
CPH, as a contributor to national public health goals, will bank on rationalization and strengthening of its academic programs, particularly the graduate programs in order to fully respond to national and regional needs. At present, CPH is the academic partner of DOH in implementing the Master of Public Health for its Doctor to the Barrios program, Health Leadership Governance, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, Public Health Emergency Management in Asia and the Pacific, and Health Policy and Systems Research program.
Significantly, CPH is also the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Tropical Medicine (SEAMEO-TROPMED) Regional Center tasked with training and capacitating public health workers from Southeast Asian countries.
Dr. Belizario is a recipient of various national and university awards for excellence in teaching, research, and publications, among which are Distinguished Parasitologist from the Philippine Society of Parasitology, Outstanding Research in Tropical Medicine from the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Outstanding Young Scientist Award from NAST, and many others.
Balotro as new CP dean
Dean Balotro is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Industrial Pharmacy where he has taught pharmaceutical dosage forms and drug delivery systems, pharmaceutical product development, and pharmaceutical marketing. He is completing his Doctor of Business Administration degree at De La Salle University (DLSU). He obtained the Master of Science in Pharmacy (Industrial Pharmacy) from UP Manila in 2010; Master of Business Administration from DLSU in 1990; and BS Industrial Pharmacy from UP in 1981.
In the next three years, his plans are geared towards addressing the needs of the College as identified in the Internal Academic Assessment Development System report in three performance areas namely: Teaching, Research, and Extension Services.
There is a need for close monitoring of the implementation of the revised undergraduate BS Pharmacy and BS Pharmaceutical Science programs by using appropriate measures to ensure that intended outcomes are attained and the high quality of graduates maintained.
Another of his thrusts is to obtain approval from the University Council and UP Board of Regents to offer the PharmD-MS Clinical Pharmacy and MS Pharmaceutical Sciences degrees. For the quality assurance for its programs, the College will apply as a Commission on Higher Education Center of Excellence in Pharmacy Practice and/or Pharmaceutical Sciences and push for international assessment (ASEAN University Network-Quality Assurance). It will tap the DOST PCHRD-Niche Center in the Region for Research and Development (NICER) to fund the above projects.
To strengthen CP’s research contributions, the following measures will be taken: encourage the faculty and students to conduct basic and applied researches that are translatable to patents, policies that can be published in peer reviewed ISO/Scopus publications; channel the research agenda towards the expertise of the faculty as each faculty is expected to develop his/her research focus; utilize agreements/MOUs with local and international institutions while establishing new ones relevant to the research agenda of the College; and establish research mentoring program between senior faculty with PhDs/MS, junior faculty members, alumni, and former faculty members who have the graduate degree and experiences.
Dean Balotro believes that sustaining partnership and leadership in professional and international organizations and encouraging the participation of the junior faculty in this area is important because the contributions will have significant positive impact on professional pharmacy organizations, the industry, health institutions, and the regulatory agencies.
Another area that will be strengthened is the clinical pharmacy services of the PGH. Compounding preparations for the hospital as an income generating operation of the College will be explored.
Cynthia Villamor | Published in UP Manila Healthscape July – August 2019
With inputs from their respective flagship programs and curriculum vitaes
