Leonila F. Dans, M.D., M.Sc or ‘Dra. Inday’ to friends and colleagues, an outstanding Filipino beyond excellence and Manila’s Pioneering Educator on Pediatric Rheumatology hails from Bataan. She is one of the 10 recipients of the 2022 Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Filipino Award for Teachers, conferred today, September 5.

Now belonging to the 695 Outstanding Filipinos recognized by Metrobank Foundation since 1985, Dra. Inday is the first Pediatric Rheumatologist and one of the first Clinical Epidemiologists in the Philippines. She is currently a professor at the University of the Philippines Manila.

“As I was completing my specialty training in pediatrics, two things actually struck me. First, no one was really taking care of children with arthritis and other rheumatic conditions. Young kids can be completely bedridden, disabled, and even deformed without proper care. The second thing that I noticed is that there were very few clinical researchers at that time … so I chose my subspecialty training in pediatric rheumatology, and initiated, developed, and offered the first training program in 2004.” She said during the announcement of winners last August 4 via Zoom.

Through her help and expertise, they have graduated 18 pediatric rheumatologists in the country practicing from La Union to Davao, and scientific research productivity has increased from less than 10 papers being published in a year to about 300 scientific publications in a year.

“This pandemic spotlighted the importance of healthcare in our lives, especially in the fields of evidence-based medicine, scientific research, and public health. This might be the best time to join the healthcare field. The field of medicine is not just about being a clinician or seeing patients. We need more public health practitioners, epidemiologists, and health policy experts.”

Metro Bank Foundation Outstanding Filipinos is an awards program that has recognized hundreds of teachers, soldiers, and police officers for their exceptional work in their chosen field and values the abilities and potential of people to excel and bring about change in the country.

Each awardee will receive a gold medal, the flame trophy, and P1,000,000.00 in cash incentive.

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