UP-PGH surgeon named honorary ASA member

MANILA, Philippines – Serafin Hilvano, Chair of Surgery at the University of the Philippines (UP) and Chief of Surgery at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), was recently given the rare distinction of Honorary Membership in the American Surgical Association (ASA), the oldest and most prestigious surgical organization in America.

The ASA, founded in 1880, is composed of a select group of professors and chairs of various academic medical institutions in the US. Membership is by invitation only, upon nomination of a member. Foreign honorary members are nominated and screened by the Honorary Membership committee. To date, there are only 70 honorary members.

At the conferment ceremonies held at the Hyatt Grand Champions golf resort in Indian Wells, California, Hilvano was introduced by ASA president Prof. Anthony Whittemore, who is chief medical officer of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School.

Whittemore said Hilvano “led surgery into the 21st century, by introducing laparoscopy in 1990 and serving as the No. 1 surgical diplomat of the Philippines over the last two decades.

“More importantly, Dr. Hilvano introduced endoscopic surgery and laparoscopy to the Philippines, and became one of the leaders of laparoscopic surgery in South Asia. He was a co-founder of the Endoscopic and Laparoscopic Surgeons of Asia. He has emerged as the leader of hepatopancreatobiliary surgery in the Philippines, and helped create the Asian Hepatopancreatobiliary Association, a chapter of the international organization.

“A son of the Philippines, Serafin Hilvano understands the need for community service, for giving back to the community from which he emerged. He has raised money to buy endoscopes for his hospital, to bring it up to date, when internal resources were lacking. He persuaded pharmaceutical companies to deliver millions of dollars of much-needed medicine to the poor, who would otherwise have remained untreated for common curable infectious diseases.”

Hilvano received his bachelor’s and medical degree from the University of the Philippines in 1971. Following his surgical residency at the PGH, he spent time in further training at MD Anderson, Sloan Kettering, and UCLA hospitals in the US. 

Returning to Manila, Hilvano rose through the ranks at the UP College of Medicine, becoming a professor in 1996, and assuming the Chair of Surgery in 2007. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and has contributed broadly to the international peer-reviewed literature in biliary and endoscopic surgery.

Hilvano admits in an email that he “didn’t know the existence of this organization until I asked Dr. Tony Oposa, the respected and well-known surgeon in the Philippines, if it will be worth my while to spend and travel to Indian Wells, to receive the award.”

His high school classmate at the San Beda Delfin Amorsolo, son of the late National Artist Fernando Amorsolo, drove him to Indian Wells from Los Angeles and accompanied him to the ceremony, while another classmate, Ruben Alfonso, paid for his stay at he resort, and even arranged for a round of golf at the fabled Indian Wells course, where the annual US PGA Skins Game is held.