Dr. Ana Noelle Monisit: Cebuana lands 9th place in Medical board exam

CEBU, Philippines - Who says only bad news lands on the front page of a newspaper?

Here’s a piece of good news and something that Cebu can be proud of.

Ana Noelle Monisit, a graduate of the Cebu Institute of Medicine, landed in the top ten of the just released Physician Licensure Examination bringing honor not only to her alma mater, but Cebu as well.

Monisit ranked 9th out of the 1,680 who passed in the examinations given last August 16. A total of 2,357 took the test in Manila, Cebu and Davao.

Twenty-six year old Monisit claims that hard-work, studiousness and focus helped her attain her goal.

She revealed to The Freeman that she poured a lot of effort in the exam saying that she spent 10 to 12 hours each day just to study for the licensure examination.

Studiousness has been her habit since in school as she said that she would opt to spend her free time at the library with her friends so she can go over her notes.

Monisit said that her one year experience as an intern in a hospital in Cebu has also helped her expand her knowledge and motivated her more to pursue the career.

Monisit is the eldest child of Jose Antonio Monisit and Norma Monisit, both civil engineers.

In their family, only Monisit took a medical course while her brother and sister took electrical engineering and chemical engineering respectively.

Science has always been her interest, she said, and she was driven by her passion to provide service to the people.

Her success in the recent licensure exam, she believes is a fruit of her hard work combined with her faith not only to her human capacity but mostly to the Lord who is her source of divine strength, she said.

Just like other aspiring doctors, she was just an ordinary graduate who had experienced challenges and trials while still reviewing.

These are financial challenges in her family and emotional struggles.

But she said that despite the challenges, her determination did not stop her to aim high. She believes that everything is possible even for an ordinary girl like her if they would work for it.

As of the moment, Monisit has no plans in working yet because she is planning to take a break to prepare for another exam which is the United States Medical Licensure to qualify her to train and work abroad.

She told The FREEMAN that she wants to develop expand her knowledge more and enhance her skills in medicine and go back to the country when she knew she could do better for her fellowmen.

She wishes to extend her gratitude to the Lord first, to her family who has always been supportive of her, to her friends and to the Cebu Institute of Medicine for the exceptional training it has provided.

This is not the first time for Monisit to land among the top passers of a licensure exam as she was also fifth in the Medical Technologist board in 2003. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/NLQ   (THE FREEMAN)