MMSU med students bag awards at APMC Luzon confab
By Jedd Bryant Boado
Student delegates of the MMSU College of Medicine (COM) emerged among the top performers in several academic competitions at the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges–Student Network (APMC-SN) Luzon Regional Assembly hosted by Cagayan State University on March 7–8.
In the Health Care Innovation Competition, Jasper Soriano, Steffi Nota, Marcus Glindro, and Sharina Perez emerged as champions with their Project CLARA: Care and Lactation Rapid Assistant, which aims to strengthen lactation and breastfeeding support services through information drives, assistance, and community support.
Speaking on behalf of the team, Ms. Nota expressed gratitude for the award, noting that their hard work and dedication led to the victory.
“We are deeply grateful and overjoyed as a team to finally see the fruits of the hard work we have poured into this project for our community. We are excited and honored to bring this project to the national level and represent COM and Region 1,” Ms. Nota said.
Meanwhile, Justin Lauren Paradiang, Leonarc Vincent Abellon, and Ma. Delfin Novencido finished as first runner-up in the Interscholastic Medical Debate Competition. The team also posted the highest overall average speaker points across the three elimination rounds, besting the University of Northern Philippines, Saint Louis University, and CSU.
They covered topics such as health influencers on social media, gender-affirming health services, artificial intelligence, and climate change.
Paradiang and Abellon secured the 1st and 5th Best Speaker Awards in the debate competition, respectively.
While surprised, Paradiang shared that his award as the debate competition’s Best Speaker inspired him to continuously research about public health concerns.
“In every debate, I always try to connect my arguments to current issues and broader social realities. Because I know that more than being topics for competitions, they are problems that Filipinos face and that we intend to solve as future physicians,” Paradiang said.
Aside from the said awards, COM student Jeanne Mariel Odoño was recognized as one of the awardees of the Natatanging Mag-aaral ng Medisina ng Pilipinas. Moreover, COM finished second runner-up in the Overall Academic Competitions.
COM’s Health Care Innovation and Interscholastic Medical Debate teams will represent Region 1 at the APMC - SN National Convention, which will be held from April 9 to 11 at the De La Salle Medical and Health Sciences Institute in Dasmariñas, Cavite.
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