Sta. Ana Charry Mae

Being a pulmonary fellow in training in the Philippines has been a challenge for me as I am sure it is for every trainee around the world. I got into pulmonary training hoping to learn more about pulmonary diseases and critical care medicine. However, with the emergence of COVID-19, I was one with all of my consultants into studying a totally different disease while trying to stay careful against getting infected. Almost two years into the pandemic, with most of my months in training in the middle of it, I always reminded myself that training would be the top priority to be the best pulmonologist. However, apart from this, I wanted to produce research that I loved, and not just get by with the requirement. Despite my research being difficult and time consuming, I knew I was contributing an outcome that mattered to the medical community, and mattered to me personally.

In an attempt to reach out to other medical communities and share valuable knowledge on how other countries in the world are handling COVID-19, I have subscribed to various international medical conventions and groups. I took advantage of some courses that would have been too expensive or too time intensive for me to take if they were physically done abroad. I took advantage of the courses and materials that the ERS had to offer, since I could not travel to Europe as during normal times.

The APSR 2021 Congress has been an equally enriching experience for me. Learning from Asian countries and being with Asian medical specialists who share the same culture and medical situation as the Philippines, made me feel much more at home. This made learning more engaging for me. The experiences shared in COVID-19 by the different research outputs were in a way comforting to me as a healthcare worker in a country that may be considered “third world”. All countries, first world or third world, were hit hard by the pandemic and we were not alone. The APSR Presidential keynote speech highlighted the disadvantages countries needed to face in the middle of the pandemic such as global warming, gender inequality, and unequal access to basic needs such as clean water or a clean living environment. This could not have been met with more welcome to my thoughts, as this is the situation in my country. Following safety protocols such as staying home, social distancing, frequent handwashing, and vaccination access were physically impossible in the Philippine slums, for the homeless and in the far away islands.

I was particularly interested in the topics in the convention involving COVID-19 and the aftermath of the infection. As the Philippines continuously navigates through the pandemic, topics regarding how the rest of Asia is experiencing the pandemic with us, interested me the most. However, it was also refreshing to attend sessions with the more “traditional” lung diseases such as COPD and asthma. It would have been a great honour to have attended all these lectures in person and have physically presented my research in a foreign country. Despite not having attended physically, my research being recognized by such a prestigious organization was a great milestone in my young professional career and in my life in general. Being able to attend the congress, winning the APSR / ESR young investigator award, and to virtually present the research that I worked so hard for, was a breath of fresh air in my COVID-19 stricken pulmonary training. Thank you APSR.

Sta. Ana Charry Mae