A quick acceleration of UP Manila’s newly launched digital health startup served as the highlight of Dr. Arnulfo Rosario Jr.’s visual Exit Report Presentation last April 22, closing his third engagement with the DOST-Balik Scientist Program.

The start of the program with the opening remarks delivered by Dr. Jose Joven V. Cruz validated the success of Dr. Rosario’s engagement with the concretization of UP College of Medicine’s virtual campus, which had then become envy for other colleges in the UP System.

Thereafter Dr. Cruz’s message was Dr. Rosario’s ERP proper, where he started to narrate his journey.

Dr. Rosario’s passion for public health informatics started through the Association of Public Health Conference that was held in the US Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) where he became the first Filipino fellow in CDC.

Not only did Dr. Rosario made the Filipino proud through his specialization in public health informatics but he was also the one who introduced Filipino movies to Netflix.

It was not long when Dr. Rosario returned to the Philippines, his first engagement with the Balik Scientist was in 2018 with the National Telehealth Center, while his second engagement was with the UP College of Medicine in which he focused on the college’s digital transformation.

The ERP held was his third engagement that focused on public health, medical informatics, and making eHEALTH a reality in the Philippines through two startup companies – Pivotal Peak and SeeYouDoc.

Not only did the local and private hospitals adopted the telemedicine application but also students, private businesses such as PLDT, and several restaurants, further Dr. Rosario made sure that these institutions’ human resources were properly capacitated in using the said technology through online training.

More so, the telemedicine application also reached the community through a home-based teleconsult as well as the frontlines at home that resulted in a Tagalog presentation of the application that helped kasambahays on COVID-19 care.

Dr. Rosario also improved the UP College of Medicine’s web portal with additional features such as the Manage Theses making it the total package of a one-stop-shop website, he also trained doctors, interns, and students to properly utilize the website.

The presentation of accomplishments concluded with Dr. Rosario’s plan with his host institution which is to maintain the UPCM’s website, strengthen linkage with stakeholders, and establish stronger network and linkages.

“Isipin natin yung mga kababayan natin sa Pilipinas. I am destined to the Philippines because I wanted to help. Let’s help each other,” Dr. Rosario answered when he was asked his advice to potential Balik Scientists during the open forum.

Dr. Jaime C. Montoya, director of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development ended the ERP with the challenge for the country to be competitive in the medical field and that the role of Balik Scientists is to help the country recover. He wished the program more success and collaborations.