A THOMASIAN doctor was given the 2017 “Gusi Peace Prize” last Nov. 22 for her outstanding work in medical health education research and patient care service.
Dr. Leilani Asis, a full professor at the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, received the award for medical research at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay.
Asis, an endocrinologist at UST Hospital, said she collaborated with the US National Institutes of Health in Maryland for her project, which allowed her to treat patients with rare diseases for free.
Asis said she continues to do medical research because she wants everyone to receive the same quality of health care regardless of social status.
“To serve is a human nature, whatever race, whatever culture. But to serve with equality is putting ourselves in the very essence of our Lord God,” Asis said in her acceptance speech during the awarding ceremony.
Asis and former health secretary Paulyn Ubial represented the Philippines among 15 other “laureates” from Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, Greece, Haiti, India, Iraq, Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.
In 2011, Thomasian architect Felino Palafox, Jr. was given the award for his advocacy of mitigating the effects of climate change through architecture and urban planning.
The annual Gusi Peace Prize recognizes the efforts of individuals in promoting peace and respect for human life. It is organized by Barry Gusi, and named after World War 2 guerrilla leader Gemeniano Javier Gusi.
