AN OPEN LETTER TO DR. WILLIAM BURKE (and the Pillars of Medicine that followed)

Marcellus Francis L. Ramirez

Dec 2022 DOI 10.35460/2546-1621.2022-sp00

Dear Dr. Burke:

Greetings in the Thomasian Spirit, sir!

Today, five years to our centennial year, we celebrate your legacy and we thank you for laying the foundation of the Department of Medicine. The year 1927 must have been quite challenging, not to mention an uncertain time – the world was in turmoil and economic hardship, barely nine years after the end of World War I and the Spanish Flu pandemic, and three decades after the end of the Spanish-American war, and yet, history also described it to be an exciting time for innovation and technological progress. How ironic. And yet we find ourselves in a slightly similar situation today.

The years that came after started a colorful era in the history of Philippine medicine and in the history of the Department of Medicine. In a span of nine and a half decades, the Department has achieved milestones and victories in the field of medicine, healthcare and education. The vision, hard work and commitment given by our past leaders – the pioneers, the pillars and the prime movers in medicine who succeeded you, along with the brilliant minds and great thinkers and doers who came along the way and joined the Department have made it grow and flourish into the premiere department of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery.

We are happy and elated to report to you that in commemoration of our 95th anniversary, we will be proudly showcasing the works from our distinguished faculty and staff through a special issue of the Journal of Medicine of the University of Santo Tomas (JMUST). This issue contains a total of seventeen original articles which include five clinical research articles, six medical education research articles, three perspective articles and two reviews. We are deeply thankful to the editorial team and the members of our peer review committee, and to all authors who contributed to this issue. This is our tribute to you and to all the luminaries and leaders who followed you and led us to where we are today and who will lead us into the next ninety five years.

We hope that we have made you proud as much as we are proud of your legacy in Philippine and Thomasian medicine. Thank you once again sir and may God bless us all! Cheers!

Sincerely,

A Department looking forward to a Revolutionary Future

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