TYKFI-ABI medical scholars return from overseas training

MANILA, Philippines — Five scholars of the Tan Yan Kee Foundation Inc. have returned to serve the country after taking special advanced studies in various medical fields in different institutions overseas last year, according to Dr. Lucio C. Tan, chairman and president of TYKFI.

The scholars, all licensed and practicing medical doctors, were selected and screened by a team of medical experts under the TYKFI-Asia Brewery Inc. (ABI) Medical Specialty Scholarship Program.

The 2023 batch of doctors included Ma. Hanna Monica Sollano, who trained in autoimmune diseases and musculoskeletal ultrasound; Bryan Christopher Lao, advanced therapeutic endoscopy; Mabel Angela Sarita, advanced endoscopy and pancreaticobiliary diseases; Marie Abigail Chan, advanced minimally invasive and robotic surgery in digestive, general and Bariatric surgery, and Hasmin Hannah Lara-Layno, pediatric otorhinolaryngology.

Sollano took her training at the Department of Rheumatology of the Keio University Hospital in Tokyo, Japan on a full scholarship.

Lao trained at the Chinese University of Hongkong-Institute of Digestive Diseases and the Prince of Wales Hospital where he handled advance therapeutic endoscopy procedures.

Sarita also trained in advanced endoscopy, specifically pancreaticobiliary diseases at the Kobe University Hospital in Kobe, Japan.

Chan learned new techniques and had hands-on experiences in advanced minimally invasive and robotic surgery from exceptional mentors from the IRCAD in Taiwan and bariatric, metabolic surgery from the China Medical University Hospital in Taichung, also in Taiwan.

Lara-Layno attended a training program in pediatric otorhinolaryngology at the KK Women and Children’s Hospital in Singapore.

Meanwhile, the TYKFI-ABI Scholarship Program sent a new batch of three doctors to various overseas institutions in 2023. They are John Alfred Raphael Pangilinan (Graduate School of Medicine in Kobe University), Juan Franco Felipe (Funabashi Orthopedic Hospital in Chiba), and Anthony Philip Calimag (Cancer Institute Hospital of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research in Tokyo, Japan).