Anatomic Pathology

Dr. Manuel Guerrero was appointed Chairman until 1917 and Dr. Proceso Gabriel was the other member of the staff. Dr. Gabriel succeeded him until 1922 as the second Department Chair. Then, Dr. Jose Hilario was appointed head of the Department of Pathology and at the same time, head of the Clinical Laboratory of the San Juan de Dios Hospital. With his dual position, Pathologic Anatomy, Surgical Pathology and Clinical Pathology were taught under one Department. However, with the appointment of Dr. Proceso Gabriel as dean of the Faculty of Medicine, the 3 responsibilities in Pathology were separated. Dr. Hilario remained head of the department. Dr. Liborio Gomez as consultant in Surgical Pathology. After liberation, with the resignation of Dr. Hilario due to illness, the Department was reorganized with Dr. Juan Sta. Cruz as next department head. After the war, the only member of the Department who was able to continue was Dr. Manuel Penas.

He was appointed assistant head until the time he died. When Dr. Sta. Cruz passed away in 1959, Dr. Covadonga del Gallego Romualdez became his successor. She became chairman until 1964. Dr. Elias Pantangco took over this time as Chair until 1969. From 1969 until the centennial celebration of the Department, Dr. Augusto Ramos served as Chair. Picking up the cudgels from his predecessors, Dr. Ramos complemented the achievement of the past chairs by adding service, training and research to the Department mission. He strengthened the training of both graduates and undergraduates in the field of Pathology. He encouraged research among the staff. A post-graduate course on Neoplasms was sponsored by the Department as part of its contribution to the Centennial Year celebration.

In keeping with the times and adapting a new curriculum in the teaching of Pathology, Dr. Francisco Narciso introduced case discussion as part of the learning methodology of second year students taking General Pathology and third year students studying Surgical Pathology. More modern microscopes were added to help develop the students’s skill in looking, identifying, and analyzing tissues by microscopic studies. Hands-on experience by students complemented the lecture series and case studies. When his term ended, he passed on the responsibility to Dr. Generoso Basa who took over as Department Chair. Recognizing the academic innovations started by his predecessor, Dr. Basa continued the undergraduate program and this time gave more impetus to research. He established connections with funding agencies so that researches in the Department might push through. Dr. Ramon Sin did not only continue the academic program, research thrusts of his predecessors, he also improved the infrastructure of the Department. He also sent faculty members for further training abroad. For someone who has a soft spot in his heart for the poor, Dr. Sin also encouraged the staff to render service to our marginalized members of society. He had 2 concomitant positions for a time namely, Department Chairman and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.

It was during his term that the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery got an electron microscope, making USTFMS and STUH the only medical school that have an electron microscope. Later though another medical school procured one. With his hectic job as Dean, he passed on the torch to Dr. Emmanuel R. dela Fuente as the Department Chair. Following the chairmanship of Dr. dela Fuente is Dr, Normando C, Gonzaga who also served the Faculty of Medicine as asst. dean before he was elected Chairman ecame Chairman. He introduced the section of ultrastucutral pathology in the department and strengthened immunopathology to improve the diagonostic tool in anatomic pathology. During his time renal biopsies were referred back to the department.instead of being sent to the National Kidney Institute and other outside institutions because of the improvement in the diagnostic skill in renal pathology.

At present, with Dr. Normando C. Gonzaga as Head, the Division functions with the following specialty sections: