Velez College Medtech graduates unite!

When I opened my Facebook account, I was surprised to know that a Facebook group has been put up and I was added to its members. (I am thankful that I was added). The group is "Velez College BSMT grads". The FB Group account was set up by Nanette Jabonero Robles of Batch '73 according to the Organization Notes. Thank you Ma'am Nanette.

It is about time!

A Published Article, Thank You Lord!

Having my first scholarly article published in vol. 44 no. 3 2010 issue of a reputable journal is a good way to cap my month before entering Christmas week.

In CIM, Year 2010 is the year for singers!

A good year for singers indeed for CIM.

December marked the return of the CIM choir who had their debut live performance during the CIM Alumni Day 2010 singing the liturgical songs during the Holy Mass, the Pambansang Awit, CIM Hymn and some intermission numbers.

See those smiling faces? That's because a lot in the audience liked their performance.

Well, the CIM choir has good reason also to be happy for one of their physician members is the 2010 Most Outstanding CIM Alumni Awardee (MOCA), the person who is also smiling in the picture, none other than Dr. Manuel Emerson Donaldo.

One of his colleagues promptly referred to him as, "A Doctor with A Song in His Heart".

He is known to have a golden singing voice on top of his other achievements as a rheumatologist, teacher, researcher and as the CIM Clinical Epidemiology Unit head.


He was handed the MOCA Award last Saturday, December 4 during the CIM Alumni Day celebrations.

(Hmmmmm....I'm also into singing...I'm also into research...I'm also into teaching.....Does this mean I'll be a MOCA in the future?Hahaha....Just kidding!)

See You at the 5th CIM Medical World Congress

Details of the 5th CIM Medical World Congress on December 9 and 10 are found in the poster below.

Registration is ongoing.

CIM Upcoming Activities This December

Every year, December is a month to remember for CIM students and alumni.

For this year, here are the lineup of activities for this month:

December 4, a Saturday is CIM Alumni Day. The activity will start at 9AM with a Holy Mass at The Jacinto Velez Memorial Hall. Aside from a chance to renew ties with classmates and friends, the highlight of the activity is the opportunity to win a 4-year scholarship at CIM for children of CIM alumni.

December 6 is the CIM Student's Night with the theme, "Heroes and Villains" led by batch Connexon at the Casino Espanol. Students get to experience cosplaying wearing their favorite hero and villain costumes while getting acquainted with their fellow students in a party that serve as an early Christmas celebration. Below is their poster.

December 11 is the 2nd Dr. Jacinto Velez Sr. Memorial Fun Run at the SM City Cebu, Radisson Blu Hotel grounds. Assembly time is 5AM. Categories are 3k, 5k and 10k. Proceeds will go to the CIM charity and Scholarship Fund. Race director is Dr. Dennis Entera.

CIM alumni and students especially are invited to these activities.

CIM at 53: Come Celebrate the Changes

An educational institution related to the medical field which makes Cebu proud is the Cebu Institute of Medicine.

Carrying the name of Cebu, it is one of the best medical schools in the country as shown by its excellent performance in the Medical Board exams especially in recent years under the PBL curriculum.

This year, the school is now on its 53th year and a lot has changed in a span of just one year with the help of its able alumni officers led by Dr. Pek Eng Lim.

For those alumni who have not been to CIM for a long time, CIM now boasts of a new Research office and Clinical Epidemiology Unit office where students for one can visit their research advisers for research consultations. Meetings by the Publication Committee and the Institutional Review Board are also held in these offices.

The Research Unit office is found in the 1st floor near the Administration offices while the Clinical Epidemiology Unit (CEU) is found across the CIM-Pfizer Virtual Library and is adjacent to the Research Unit office.

On the second floor just on top of the Research Unit is the Medical Education Unit (MEU) office. 

Planning of projects, seminar-workshops and researches related to medical education are some of the things done in the MEU office.

Then there's the CIM choir with mostly students as members. Regular practices are held with severl musical pieces that include some classics, Filipiniana and Christmas-related. They are to perform this coming December during the Founders' Day celebration.

Of course, not to be left in the research aspect, CIM now has an online subscription of MDConsult which can be accessed through the library.

As CIM celebrates its 53rd year during the Founders' week this December, let us celebrate these welcome developments.

Physicians are invited to the coming CIM World Congress, Research contests and CIM Alumni Day this coming December.

2010 CIM Research Paper Contest

In connection with the Cebu Institute of Medicine's annual Founder's Day Celebration every month of December, CIM invites CIM Students and Alumni to participate in the 2010 Research Paper Contest which has an Undergraduate and Postgraduate Category as well as a Case Poster Presentation.

For details, contact the Dean's office at telephone number 254-3385.

Deadline of submission is November 15, 2010.

CIM alumnus William Larida needs your support

Dr. William Larida, an alumnus of Cebu Institute of Medicine who finished training in Cebu Velez General Hospital's Family and Preventive Medicine training program is recovering from Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and still needs your support.

Sometime last August, he was admitted in the ICU of Chong Hua Hospital and received IVIg which we know is very expensive. Thankfully, the response was good.

However, full recovery will take time. He may be out of the ICU but GBS has left him unable to resume work yet. He is expected to undergo physical therapy for some time.

William is a fellow alumnus who helped me before in my thesis. This is the least I could do for him right now.

For those interested to give support of any kind or any financial help, just contact Dr. Florence Malou Watin-Siao or Dr. Nanette Noel-Odilao by sending them a message on facebook. These two have been working hard to get help for their batchmate especially during the critical times when Dr. Larida was in the ICU.

God bless!

Performance of Cebu Medical schools in the August 2010 Board Exams

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announced that 1,597 out of 2,300 (69.43%) passed the August 2010 Board Exams.


Below is the statistics for Cebu Medical schools in the most recent August 2010 Board Exams:

Cebu Institute of Medicine - 40 passed among 40 who took the exam or 100%
Cebu Doctors' University College of Medicine - 41/50 or 82%
Southwestern University (listed as Southwestern University and Southwestern University College of Medicine combined) - 28/52
University of the Visayas Mandaue - 12/62

Congratulations to the new doctors!

CIM Alumnus awarded Teacher of the Year abroad

A clinician can be a good teacher at the same time sharing his time and knowledge to medical students despite the busy schedule. This was proven by David Veloso Lardizabal, M.D., a neurologist and medical director of University of Missouri Health Care’s Epilepsy Program who has been awarded the Teacher of the Year for 2010 at the University of Missouri.

 In 2005, Dr. Lardizabal was also the Teacher of the Year in Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Dr. Lardizabal graduated with a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1991 from Cebu Institute of Medicine and prior to his adult neurology residency in the Philippine General Hospital, he finished his internal medicine residency training at Cebu Velez General Hospital.

This online publication promptly documents this achievement by our fellow CIM alumnus.

Congratulations to Dr. Lardizabal. May there be more people like him not just abroad but also locally.

CVGH Held Successful Postgrad Course as Lakers win

Yesterday was the culmination of a two day activity hosted by the Cebu Institute of Medicine and Cebu Velez General Hospital (CVGH) Department of Family and Community Medicine held at the Grand Convention Center in Cebu City.

The event was well attended with particpants coming as far as Zamboanga and as near as Ramos street.

I was the assigned moderator for the afternoon sessions yesterday. And since this is my first time as a moderator, I have to come in the morning to secretly observe other moderators as to how they did their jobs.

I was particularly scared (Was it obvious?) because I was told that I should also fire the first question in the open forum if nobody asks a question and one of the topics was on neurology and the speaker was my teacher back in medical school. It was indeed my first "public" appearance.

Good thing the other speakers were my classmates.

I had to do a "big" sacrifice really... Going there meant missing Game 1 of the NBA Finals but the Lakers won so good thing I missed the game. hehe.

Anyway, the topics in the postgraduate course were interesting. To name a few, the course had neuropathic pain, diabetes education and nutrition, GERD and yesterday it had pneumonia updates and proton pump inhibitors to name a few.

I would like to congratulate Dr. Thelma Fernandez, Dr. Cebrecus and Dr. Gravador for holding a successful event. Of course, the same goes to the residents of the Family Medicine Department and the other behind-the-scenes people. (Wait!I am sounding like a moderator giving out the certificate of appreciation).

I suggest for the next year maybe invite speakers form the public health sector, the government health officers and have topics on preventive medicine or public health to help in the campaign of the programs of the DOH.