20 February 2013

Memo to:  The University Community

Subject:  Appointment of Dr Manuel M Dayrit as Dean of ASMPH
 

As announced earlier, Dr Manuel M Dayrit (Manolet), has been appointed Dean of the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPH) for a 3-year termfrom 1 May 2013 to 30 April 2016.  This is upon the recommendation of the Search Committee for Dean of the ASMPH, and unanimously approved by the Board of Trustees at its meeting held on 2 February 2013.

Our incoming Dean has been a public health practitioner for 36 years, serving in civil society, academia, government, the private sector, and most recently in an international organization (World Health Organization). He completed his Bachelor of Arts from the Ateneo de Manila, Doctor of Medicine from the University of the Philippines and Master of Science (with Mark of Distinction) from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK.

For the last seven years until his retirement last December, Dr Dayrit was based at the WHO headquarters in Geneva as Director of the Department of Human Resources for Health. His office undertook technical and policy work on global health workforce issues, and the WHO Code on International Recruitment for Health Personnel was developed during his term, negotiated and adopted by Member States at the World Health Assembly in May 2010.

From 2001 to 2005, he served as Secretary of Health, one of the many posts he held in the Department of Health where he worked for 17 years. Some of these posts included being Assistant Secretary, Director for Public Information Service, and Head Executive Assistant to then Secretary Dr. Alfredo R A Bengzon (Alran). For his work in AIDS, cholera, and red tide, he was named Outstanding Young Scientist by the National Academy of Science and Technology of the Philippines in 1990. He has authored and co-authored over 50 publications that include articles in international journals and textbooks.

Dr. Dayrit began his medical career by training community health workers in the rural areas of Southern Mindanao. After passing the Board in 1978, he
served as Community physician in Tagum, Davao for three years. Concurrently, he was faculty of Community Health for the Davao Medical School Foundation, Ateneo de Davao for five years from 1979 to 1984.

On behalf of the Ateneo de Manila, I would like to thank Manolet for his generosity in accepting this new mission to lead the ASMPH. I take this opportunity to thank Alran also, who pioneered the ASMPH and saw through our first batch of doctor-leaders in their remarkable performance in the recent medical board exams.

We are grateful to the Search Committee led by Dr Mari-Jo P Ruiz and composed of Mr Benjamin T K Ching (former ADMU Trustee), Dr. Marita V T Reyes          (former Chancellor of UP Manila), Fr Jose Mario C Francisco SJ (ADMU Trustee), Dean Albert L Buenviaje of AGSB, Mr Luisito G Montalbo (AGSB faculty), Dr Norman Dennis E Marquez (Loyola Schools faculty), and Dr Roberto C Tanchanco (ASMPH faculty and administrator). They readily gave their time to examine, interview, and discern the potential candidates for the deanship of our medical school.

The ASMPH has already made its mark in medical education in our country. Let us welcome Dr Dayrit to our community, offer our support and best wishes to him and the ASMPH team that we may continue transforming the landscape of health in our country, for the common and greater good of our people, ad majorem Dei gloriam.

Jose Ramon T Villarin SJ
President