Perla Dizon Santos-Ocampo

Perla Dizon Santos Ocampo, MD ONS was a Filipino pediatrician.

Early life and education

Perla Santos-Ocampo was born in Dagupan, Pangasinan on July 25, 1931. She pursued a medical degree at the University of the Philippines and graduated in 1955. She also pursued post-graduate pediatrics training at the UP-Philippine General Hospital, and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio in the United States.^[1]

Career

The policy of the Philippine Department of Health on diarrhea-related health concerns was based on Santos-Ocampo's research on diarrheal disease. Her research on the relation of malnutrition and child growth and development was instrumental to the country's fight against child malnutrition.^[2]

Santos-Ocampo also served as the Chancellor of the University of the Philippines Manila where she was noted for developing academic programs to increase the quality of health education offered by the university. She was also instrumental to the establishment of the National Institutes of Health, the National Graduate School of the Health Sciences, and the National Telehealth Center.^[2]

Santos-Ocampo was honored as a National Scientist of the Philippines on 2011.^[2]

Death

Perla Santos-Ocampo died on June 29, 2012. She died of respiratory failure due to colon cancer.^[3]

References