Prof. Teresita De Guia

Dr Teresita S De Guia is an extraordinary woman who possesses a strong determination, commitment and avid devotion to her craft. She has a remarkable career as a physician, leader and teacher of pulmonary medicine.

A pioneer of pulmonary and critical care medicine in the Philippines, Dr De Guia is looked up to by colleagues as a leader committed to excellence. She established the first respiratory care unit in the country in 1973 at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center. She also started the first structured fellowship training in adult pulmonary and critical care medicine in the Philippines in 1976 at the Philippine Heart Center. This became the model of subsequent training programmes in pulmonary medicine in various medical centres accredited by the Philippine College of Chest Physicians (PCCP). Dr De Guia also started the PCCP convention and became its organizing and scientific chairperson. Thereafter, the annual convention was gradually built up and is now a major activity of the College.

As she continued to make an indelible mark as chair of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine of the Philippine Heart Center, Dr De Guia initiated the first pediatric pulmonary training program in the Philippines in 1981, the first pulmonary rehabilitation unit in the country in 1990 and a Sleep Medicine training programme. She also spearheaded the establishment of the Philippine Foundation for Lung Health Research and Development in 1993. Then as now, she participates actively in the scientific and outreach programmes of the foundation.

Her retirement in 2005 as chairman of the pulmonary division did not wind down her passion for teaching and research. As a tireless teacher, she finds time for pulmonary fellows-in-training for an intellectual journey through her clinical teachings. She is endowed with a unique genre of mentorship that motivates trainees to strive for excellence. Despite her age, Dr De Guia still conducts research. Through the years, she has authored and co-authored several scientific papers which were presented in national and international conventions. Many of these papers were published in both local and international journals. She also became an international editor for the CHEST journal until 1993 and the Respirology journal since 1995.

The exceptional leadership of Dr De Guia has not been limited to the major medical societies in the Philippines. She has been appointed by the Executive Committee as a National GOLD Assembly representative by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease organizing committee. She was also the congress president of the 15th Congress of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR) in 2010 and Treasurer of the APSR in 2015-2017.

Her relentless pursue for improvement in the field of pulmonary medicine, coupled with her passion in all her undertakings, makes Dr De Guia truly an icon and deserves the recognition as "mother of pulmonary medicine" in the Philippines.