UP professors named National Scientists

MANILA, Philippines - Dr. Mercedes Concepcion, the first recognized demographer in the Philippines, and Dr. Ernesto Domingo, a pioneer in internal medicine and former UP Manila Chancellor, are the country’s newest National Scientists.

The two were nominated by the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), one of the two advisory bodies of government in matters of Science and Technology. Both had been Academicians of the NAST since 1992.

Concepcion and Domingo are the 32nd and 33rd National Scientists from UP, out of a total of 34 National Scientists.

Domingo’s vital work on liver cancer remains the major source of information on the disease’s etiology, manifestation and treatment. With the help of Dr. Augusto Lingao, he organized the Liver Study group engaged in research on viral hepatitis, especially epidemiology and vaccination in the Philippines. The Department of Health utilized their findings in developing the policy on hepatitis B immunization.

In the field of medical education, Domingo designed and implemented the specialty fellowship program in the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) with the aid of a grant from the China Medical Board of New York. The format of this training program was subsequently adopted by other training hospitals in the country.

The Clinical Epidemiology Unit (CEU) of the UP College of Medicine was another significant program established by Domingo. Created in 1982 as part of a global network supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, it has now grown to become a national and regional training center in the Asia-Pacific Region.

Domingo is a graduate of Medicine from the UP Manila, Class 1961. He currently holds the highest rank of university professor emeritus.

Concepcion was the first director of UP’s Population Institute (UPPI) when it was set up in 1964. UPPI was instrumental in the enactment of the Population Act of 1971. Concepcion is also the first and only Filipino representative to the UN Population Commission, the first woman to chair the Commission (1969 to 1977), and the first Asian woman elected president of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (1981 to 1985).

The Vatican invited her to be one of two Asian members of the special committee for studies on problems of population and birth control in November 1964, which led to the promulgation of the famous encyclical, Humanae Vitae, in 1968.

She was also selected by the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (now the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) to be a member and later chair of the preparatory committees for the Asian Population Conferences of 1963, 1972, 1984, and 1994. 

In 1986, Concepcion chaired the committee to review the Philippine Statistical System, which led to the reorganization of the country’s statistical offices and establishment of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).