Dr. John Michael Lopez, a cardiothoracic surgeon at the UST Hospital (USTH), died on Sept. 13 following septic shock. He was 36.
His death was confirmed by his sister, Lizette, to the Varsitarian.
Lopez had been a USTH consultant since 2019 under the thoracic and cardiovascular surgery section of the hospital’s surgery department.
Lopez specialized in surgical procedures of the heart, lungs, esophagus and other organs in the chest.
He was a member of the Philippine Association of Thoracic, Cardiac and Vascular Surgeons, Inc. and the chief of the thoracic and pulmonary medicine section of Sacred Heart Hospital in Malolos, Bulacan.
He obtained his bachelor’s degree in biology from the University in 2007. He then finished his master’s degree in 2011.
Lopez became president of the USTH House Staff Organization in 2016 and completed his medical training at USTH in 2018.
Lizette recalled Lopez as a loving and thoughtful sibling who had a “wonderful sense of humor.”
“[He’s] an excellent surgeon who was there whenever someone needed him, even if it meant entering the Covid ward to put in catheters emergently for critically ill covid patients, among many others,” Lizette said.
Lopez’s remains were cremated on Sept. 17 at the St. Peter Memorial Chapel on Commonwealth Avenue.
