Twenty-five years ago, we ventured off on a journey via separate paths. To work closely with lives which have signaled their ending or are just barely beginning, and commit to a mission of caring for others with courage and humility, is a responsibility we are honored and proud to have signed up for.
The culmination of our individual experiences and our continuing stories has now drawn us, the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Medicine Class of 1991, to celebrate our silver jubilee.
For this journey back we take only a single road—to the 2016 UPMAS Homecoming to give life to the theme, “Mulat sa UP, sa UP Muli!”
“Mulat”: to awaken, to discover, to have learned, to have come of age.
Since graduating from the UP College of Medicine, we have come to understand that we must commit ourselves academically and professionally to what gives our lives substance and joy.
While earning our Medicine degree was a major accomplishment, using that degree and finding a place outside of the academe where we could flourish and contribute meaningfully to health care was our true measure of success.
“Muli”: to return, to remember, to give back. Our individual experiences in medicine have allowed us to fulfill many roles. We have become mentors, caretakers, cheer captains and scientists.
We are humbled by the knowledge that with this success comes the commitment to pay things forward.
By doing so, we show our appreciation for where we started and how far we have come.
“Mulat sa UP, sa UP Muli” has found us rekindling old ties and working together for the past many months to put together a year’s worth of homecoming activities designed to enrich the mind and soul of both doctors and students, toward the goal of serving our patients better.
Among the activities are regular live webinars on current health issues facilitated by doctors from UPCM 1991 who are leaders in their fields. Subjects will range from medical informatics, infectious and chronic diseases, oncology, immunotherapy, genetics, to other system-based topics.
There will be informal and interactive lecture series, designed to literally detoxify and draw the mind away from the harried routines of daily living.
Aptly dubbed as de-Talks, this is our lighter, more laid-back and possibly irreverent take on non-academic topics relevant to students and their future roles as health care workers, educators, leaders, family men and women.
In de-Talks, we shall discuss the science behind happiness, the difference one can make through social advocacies and finding spirituality in the workplace. We shall explore the interesting facets of being married to a fellow doctor, of making the choice to come home after training abroad and of how some of us found fulfillment in careers not in medicine.
Celebrations culminate in December, in a homecoming parade and ball with family, friends from the academe, and our special honorees, the Golden Jubilarians of the UPCM Class of 1966.
Our 2016 homecoming celebration brings us back to the UPCM campus, to the Basic Science Lecture Rooms, our nest. Immortalized in our homecoming logo, the nest bears the colors of the UP sablay. It has since seen its day, and has now become the beneficiary of our special project.
On Feb. 20, at Fleur de Lis Auditorium of St. Paul’s University Manila, we stage the Hay Buhay Medisina! Concert for the benefit of the new UPCM Academic Center.
The concert presents the best talents of the UPCM—alumni, faculty or medical students.
For tickets, call Jonas del Rosario (0917-8456627) or Gary Mercado (0917-8490902).