UST Central Student Council President Robert Gonzales has been named one of the country’s 10 most outstanding medical students by the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges (APMC) and the National Conventions Board.
Gonzales was conferred the “Natatanging Mag-aaral ng Medisina ng Pilipinas” title in the fourth APMC-Student Network National Convention, whose winners were announced on March 20.
The medicine student topped the National Capital Region – Southern Luzon branch of the competition last March 3.
“As future medical doctors, we have the capacity to also be social mobilizers who can participate in policy-making and effect changes in the government’s broken systems, together with our prime duties of caring for our patients,” Gonzales said.
Gonzales also bagged the “Natatanging Mag-aaral sa Larangan ng Panlipunan” special award for his engagement in civic engagement and community service.
Twenty medical students from different regions qualified for the national search. They were ranked based on their performance in the regional level and in the final interview.
The criteria for judging were pre-screening performance (60 percent) and interview score (40 percent).
“They posed several questions tackling timely healthcare issues, how we can help the underprivileged communities with regard to their health, battling vaccine hesitancy and many more,” Gonzales told the Varsitarian.