UST’s Henry Sy Sr. Hall to boost health education

MANILA, Philippines — Pursuing its objective of driving Philippine social development by fostering the youth and the culture of excellence through education, the Henry Sy Foundation Inc. (HSFI) recently inked a partnership with the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Research and Endowment Foundation to construct a building that elevates health education in the country.

Named in honor of the late SM founder, the Henry Sy Sr. Hall of UST will rise on the main campus in Manila to respond to the needs of digital medical education.

The hall will feature technologically advanced facilities and equipment that complement UST’s teaching, learning and research practices. Focused on interdisciplinary collaboration in medical studies, it will also house the simulation and research facility of the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery.

Fr. Richard Gaw Ang, OP, rector of UST, thanked the Sy family as they work together to provide the best education to future physicians and increase UST’s research productivity to fill the gaps where communities are disadvantaged.

“Your family consists of industry leaders who have visions for the Filipino community. Your choice to support this endeavor of the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery is a significant stamp of approval to the work and tradition of this medical institution,” Fr. Ang said in a letter to the Sy family.

“Your family’s patriarch, Henry Sy Sr., had principles in life that we, as an institution, give our best to also follow. We aim to lead as paragons with passion, integrity, far-reaching and optimistic vision, sensible priorities and discipline. At the core of this is a deep sense of charity for God, the church and the nation,” Fr. Ang added.

Rising as an intellectual hub for future physicians, the building has a dedicated floor for the Faculties of Medicine and Surgery Research Center and the Medicine and Surgery Graduate Programs and Ethics Review Board. Here, medical education research and various medical-related specialty research will be reviewed and conducted.

The building will include specialized centers, rooms and laboratories, such as Medical Simulation Centers and Care Ultrasound Institute, and Otorhinolaryngology Laboratory. These will be equipped with cutting-edge tools and technology to develop medical students’ competencies in multiple simulated health care settings across the human lifespan.