The Department of Science and Technology - Philippine Council for Health Research and Development will mark its 40th founding anniversary in a three-day virtual celebration on 16-18 March 2022 via Zoom and Facebook live streaming.

With the theme, “PCHRD @ 40 and Beyond: Transforming Lives through Health Research and Development,” the event will provide a platform for participants from the academe, policymakers, private sector, and civil society representatives to converse on advancing the landscape of the country’s health research in the next decade.

“In the past 40 years, the DOST-PCHRD, together with its partners, worked to provide research-based solutions for health. Recognizing the dynamic field of healthcare, we continuously expand and assess the scope of our services to respond to the changing needs of our communities,” said DOST-PCHRD Executive Director Jaime C. Montoya.

Among the activities include the ceremonial launching of the 2022 National Ethical Guidelines for Research Involving Human Participants, ceremonial book launching of Tuklas Lunas: A Decade of Research, Innovation, and Technology Advancement in Health Products, a plenary session entitled, “Then, Now, and Future of Health Research in a changing world,” and sessions on new R&D Programs and research utilization.

“Before PCHRD was founded 40 years ago, there was no organized body that would provide leadership to all health research initiatives in the Philippines. What is normal today - a coordinated framework, and an enabling environment for health innovators - was just a vision in 1982 that required determination and vigor to make every Filipino’s life better,” said DOST Secretary Fortunato de la Peña.

Dr. Carmencita D. Padilla, University of the Philippines Manila Chancellor, will deliver the keynote address. A pioneer in genetics in the Philippines and the Asia Pacific region, Dr. Padilla is a Professor of Pediatrics at the College of Medicine and the Founding Director of the Institute of Human Genetics and the Newborn Screening Reference Center at the National Institutes of Health. Recognizing her varied contributions to the academic growth of genetics in the Philippines, she was conferred Academician of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) in 2008. 

“In the new normal, PCHRD’s new life will begin at 40. The Council will take bolder strides moving forward to support our health researchers,” Dr. Montoya added.

The Department of Health (DOH) and the University of the Philippines - Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC), in coordination with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), announced on Tuesday that it is now closer to strengthening the country’s biosurveillance capacity with the approval of the Php 295.7M budget needed for the expansion of the PGC in Visayas and Mindanao.

Aside from detecting COVID-19 variants, genomic biosurveillance plays a big role in detecting possible outbreaks of diseases, tracking how a virus is transmitted, and guiding the overall public health response and disease surveillance even beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The current capacity of the UP-PGC is sequencing approximately 750 samples a week, but logistical limitations pose a challenge for regions to regularly send their samples to Manila.  The availability of the highly-technical equipment and tools for the whole genome sequencing in Visayas and Mindanao is beneficial for the regions’ current COVID-19 response and for surveillance of other diseases. The sequencing effort takes off from the molecular biology equipment that the DOST-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development has initially put in place in PGC Visayas and Mindanao.

“We have been working with the DOH, DOST, and the UP-National Institutes of Health since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our partnership with the DOH and the DOST has highlighted the importance of the country’s biosurveillance capacity in disease prevention and control. May this partnership lay down the foundations of further improving our biosurveillance capacity,” said UP-PGC Executive Director Dr. Cynthia Saloma.

“This partnership between the DOH, UP, and DOST has always helped us deliver a better COVID-19 response for our kababayan. Whole genome sequencing is vital to our COVID-19 response and we could not have detected variants without the assistance of the UP-PGC, the UP-NIH, and DOST. We will continue to assist the UP-PGC in any way we can. Additionally, we could not have done this without the help of the DBM who is kind enough to provide us with this budget. By strengthening the country’s biosurveillance capacity, we hope to prevent future outbreaks of diseases in the Philippines,” said Secretary of Health Francisco Duque III.

As part of the biosurveillance activities for COVID-19 response, whole genome sequencing is vital to the COVID-19 response of the governments. It can be used to detect presence of new variants in the country, if the variants are causing the spikes in cases in certain areas, and if there are already local transmissions of the variants.

UP President Danilo L. Concepcion lauded the move, saying that UP and its research units, including the Philippine Genome Center and its satellite facilities in Visayas and Mindanao, stand as a national university always at the ready to serve the interests of the Filipino people. 

"This is no less than our mandate under RA 9500--that we harness the expertise and resources we have to support national development and the improvement of lives. We in the University and the PGC will do all we can to help the country win this fight against this pandemic. I thank and commend all our scientists, researchers, and healthcare workers who continue to work round the clock to track and monitor this virus and to save lives,” said President Concepcion. 

The work to build the country’s preparedness against pandemics began twelve years ago, with the establishment of the Philippine Genome Center in UP Diliman on July 31, 2009.  By building on cutting-edge genomic tools and by nurturing the capacity of Filipino scientists, researchers and technical personnel, the Center has provided significant inputs to the implementation of evidence-informed strategies by the DOH and local government units. “The DOST and UP are determined to strengthen the country’s capabilities in emerging technologies which include GNR- Genomics, Nanotechnology and Robotics—which will bring about country readiness in frontier technologies. These are now being realized and we experience first-hand their benefits as in the case of PGC’s role in addressing pandemic concerns,” said Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña of the Department of Science and Technology.

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