As a result, he received the Presidential Award of Recognition for Organ Transplantation in 2000 and the Distinguished Service Award from the Philippine Medical Association in 2004. For more than a quarter century, his vision, leadership, and hard work have resulted in immeasurable improvements in the care of patients who require transplant surgery.

He has also served as the president of the Transplantation Society of the Philippines since 1989. Professor Ona is the founding transplant surgeon of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in the Philippines and served as its executive director for 11 years before being appointed the Secretary of Health. He received the Outstanding Health Research Award from the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development in 2010. Professor Ona has been the editor of several peer-review journals, the editor of the Philippine Textbook of Surgery, and the author of 64 peer-review publications detailing his research in transplantation.

He has delivered many invited and honorary lectureships, which are too numerous to list here. He provided leadership at all levels in the department of surgery and was named the Enrique Garcia Professor of Surgery. Ultimately, he created the division of organ transplantation in 1986. For more than 30 years, he has been a professor of surgery at the University of the Philippines and has served as chair for sections of surgical education, general surgery, thoracic surgery, and cardiovascular surgery. Professor Ona is recognized as a master surgeon, a dedicated teacher, and an innovative researcher. The focus of his professional life has been on transplantation surgery and the impact of organ failure on public health. Professor Ona went on to become the Colombo Scholar in Organ Transplantation at Cambridge University in England under the mentorship of Sir Roy Yorke Calne, MD, FACS. Next he completed a research fellowship in experimental surgery in New York under the mentorship of the late John Madden, MD, FACS. He then pursued a fellowship in surgery at the Lahey Clinic in Boston, MA. He completed his internship at Buffalo General Hospital, NY, and surgical residency at Long Island College Hospital.

Professor Ona received his doctor of medicine degree from the University of the Philippines in 1962. So as early as then, I already knew that many of those dying were kids, for lack of care and lack of education in care.” Professor Ona recalls that as a child, “Our house…was in front of the church and every day I would see dead people being brought there, and the coffins were so small. His father was a physician who served as the first provincial health officer of Zamboanga while his mother was a nurse dedicated to the nutrition, growth, and development of infants and children. His family made their home in Pagadian City in Zamboanga, one of the southernmost provinces in the Philippines known for its natural beauty and multicultural population. Professor Ona was exposed to health care and the medical field at an early age. Professor Ona is the current Secretary of Health for the Republic of the Philippines. Ona of Manila for Honorary Fellowship in the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Madam President, it is my distinct privilege and honor to present to you Prof.

Dr ona