Pinoy Kasi By: Michael L. Tan Philippine Daily Inquirer

The commencement exercises were held last June 2, somewhat atypical in the Philippines, where these rituals are usually held in April. The togas and capes were different, too: as befitting the medical graduates, they had the color green, but this was combined with gray, associated with a business degree.

The graduating class was from the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPH), the first of a unique program that allows these new doctors to add MD as well as MBA (master of business administration) after their names.

The brain behind the medical school was Dr. Alfredo Bengzon, who wanted a new medical curriculum that would produce not just excellent clinicians but also public health experts and administrators. It was a 21st-century vision that began in the 20th when Bengzon was building up Medical City from a small hospital to the large medical complex that it is today. Other ideas came in when he was health secretary, the first after the 1986 Edsa revolt, when he had to fight many battles around inefficiency and corruption.

Our panganay (eldest), said Dr. Ma. Eufemia Yap, one of the associate deans, with pride and a bit of relief. It wasnt just taking care of the students through the five years of medical school, but also the many years of planning that went into the medical school.

The Ateneo Board of Trustees approved the creation of the school in 1997, after much discussion. But it was to take another 10 years before the school opened its doors to this first batch. There were numerous meetings and workshops all through those years, literally from one millennium into the next, to discuss how this medical school would be different, and what dual degrees could be offered. An MPH (master of public health) was considered, as well as an MM (master of management). In the end, the choice of the MBA was partly out of convenience: Ateneo already had years of experience with its MBA programs offered in its Makati campuses, including degrees specific for health professionals with strong exposure to public health and management.

I was roped (or, I felt at times, lassoed) in to help think of the inputs for the social sciences and to train teachers and mentors to lecture, with the aim of developing cultural competence, which isnt just sensitivity to peoples cultures but also the ability to harness peoples own knowledge, and practices, to keep healthy and fight disease.

MBA oath

I was initially uncomfortable with the MBA degree, in part because of public perceptions that an MBA produces business people, and that doctors are already too good at making money. But interactions with the Ateneo MBA staff have convinced me that we need more of these MBA programs for other professionals as well, to run government as well as private companies. The trajectory of todays MBA is well summarized in an MBA oath first crafted by the 2009 graduates of Harvard Business School and which has since been signed by thousands of other MBA graduates around the world, including, I hope, the new ASMPH graduates.

The oath begins with a recognition of MBA graduates role in society: first, to lead people and manage resources to create value that no single individual can create alone, and second, that their decisions affect the well-being of individuals inside and outside [their] enterprise, today and tomorrow. The oath has several promises concerning ethical conduct and the protection of human rights and dignity in the pursuit of value creation. How appropriate, I thought, for todays physicians, who create value by keeping people healthy.

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Medical pioneers