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| Source: Amazing Women of History link below |
Fe del Mundo (1911–2011) was a Filipino pediatrician who was the first woman to be admitted to Harvard Medical School in 1936 — over ten years before the school officially began admitting women. She was also the first woman to be named National Scientist of the Philippines in 1980, and founded the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines.
Born in Manila in the Philippines in 1911, Fe decided to become a doctor when her older sister died from appendicitis at the age of 11. She enrolled in the University of the Philippines in 1926. While earning her medical degree, she decided to pursue pediatrics. *
Fe del Mundo, OLD ONS OGH, (November 27, 1911 – August 6, 2011) was a Filipino pediatrician. The first woman admitted as a student of the Harvard Medical School,[1][2] she founded the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines.[3] Her pioneering work in pediatrics in the Philippines in an active medical practice that spanned 8 decades[2][4] won her international recognition, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service in 1977. In 1980, she was conferred the rank and title of National Scientist of the Philippines while in 2010, she was conferred the Order of Lakandula.
Del Mundo was noted for her pioneering work on infectious diseases in Philippine communities. Undeterred by the lack of well-equipped laboratories in post-war Philippines, she would not hesitate to send specimens or blood samples for analysis abroad.[12] In the 1950s, she pursued studies on dengue fever, a common malady in the Philippines of which little was then yet known.[12] Her clinical observations on dengue, and the findings of research she later undertook on the disease are said to "have led to a fuller understanding of dengue fever as it afflicts the young".[5] She authored over a hundred articles, reviews and reports in medical journals[5] on such diseases as dengue, polio and measles.[16] She also authored "Textbook of Pediatrics", a fundamental medical text used in Philippine medical schools.[17]
Del Mundo was active in the field of public health, with special concerns towards rural communities. She organized rural extension teams to advise mothers on breastfeeding and child care.[11] and promoted the idea of linking hospitals to the community through the public immersion of physicians and other medical personnel to allow for greater coordination among health workers and the public for common health programs such as immunization and nutrition.[17] She called for the greater integration of midwives into the medical community, considering their more visible presence within rural communities. Notwithstanding her own devout Catholicism,[2][5][11] she is an advocate of family planning and population control.[11]
Del Mundo was also known for having devised an incubator made out of bamboo,[17] designed for use in rural communities without electrical power.[11] Wikipedia
* Amazing Women in History: Dr. Fe del Mundo
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