{"id":65162,"date":"2018-12-20T08:38:15","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T13:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/busm\/?p=65162"},"modified":"2018-12-20T08:38:15","modified_gmt":"2018-12-20T13:38:15","slug":"renowned-physician-inspiring-alumna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/2018\/12\/20\/renowned-physician-inspiring-alumna\/","title":{"rendered":"Renowned Physician, Inspiring Alumna"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google Doodle Immortalizes Pediatrician with BUSM Roots<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\"\"<\/a>
A Google Doodle honoring renowned physician Fe del Mundo on Tuesday, Nov. 27<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fe del Mundo\u2019s incredible story spans nearly nine decades and involves living and working at a hospital she founded and financed until her death at the age of 99.<\/p>\n

\"\"But did you know the Filipina pediatrician has alumna roots at Boston University School of Medicine? After a residency in Chicago, she returned to Massachusetts in 1939 to earn a Master of Arts in Medical Sciences from BU.<\/p>\n

Dr. del Mundo is celebrated as the first female student admitted to Harvard Medical School. After graduating as a physician (and valedictorian) from the University of the Philippines Manila in 1933, then-President Manuel Quezon offered her a full scholarship \u2013 anywhere in the world \u2013 to further her medical training. She chose Harvard, approximately 8,400 miles away from home, without realizing it was all-male at the time. Ironically, they did not realize she was a female.<\/p>\n

Her biography, written around the time when she received the Ramon Magsaysay Award (Asia\u2019s Nobel Prize counterpart), recalls arriving in Cambridge and being sent to a men\u2019s dormitory. It appeared that Admissions assumed she was a man; but with her impressive record, the pediatrics department head accepted her into the program anyway.<\/p>\n

That minor bump in the road pales in comparison to her clinical achievements, which include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Being honored as a National Scientist of the Philippines for her work with children (especially those from poor families) in 1980;<\/li>\n
  • Running hospice as part of the International Red Cross at an internment camp in the Philippines during Japanese occupation;<\/li>\n
  • Developing the BRAT diet (banana, rice, apple and tea) to treat children with upset stomachs and other children\u2019s immunization strategies against diseases like polio, measles and chicken pox;<\/li>\n
  • Creating a low-cost incubator made of bamboo for impoverished children suffering jaundice;<\/li>\n
  • Authoring Textbook of Pediatrics, <\/em>a fundamental medical text used in Philippine medical schools;<\/li>\n
  • Financing and founding the Children\u2019s Medical Center in Quezon City in 1957, the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines. She lived on the second floor and made rounds in a wheelchair until her death at age 99 in 2011.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Dr. del Mundo\u2019s journey brought her to Boston, but her impact is international. She embodies BUSM\u2019s commitment to the practice of medicine, the underserved, and diversity and inclusion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The pediatrician’s life of work embodies BUSM\u2019s commitment to the practice of medicine, the underserved, and diversity and inclusion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12772,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[154,89,91],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65162"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12772"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65162"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65171,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65162\/revisions\/65171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}