THE Research Center for the Health Sciences of the University of Santo Tomas inaugurated its Human Performance Laboratory earlier this week.

Through a research grant from the Department of Science and Technology, the laboratory is built to ramp up research with state-of-the-art modern equipment and field rooms.

It will also be used to assess the condition of the athletes to aid them in recovery after injury and keep track of their performance.

RCHS Supervisor Prof. Consuelo Suarez shared that the laboratory is the first of its kind in the country.

Suarez also envisioned the laboratory “to be a niche of research innovations where they can forge ties with researchers from various walks of life to gain a multitude of inputs, and then serve as a venue for seminars and workshops to empower medical and paramedical personnel, athletes, coaches, and educators alike.”

Meanwhile, Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation Rev. fr. Jannel N. Abogado emphasized that the UST research centers are guided by the anecdote that “science must be felt by people”, to give light to others.

“We want research projects and our research programs to have an effect in the lives of people and the community… we do so because this is our job, this is our role, this is our mission,” Abodago said.

“We constructed this laboratory because we know that the works and the technologies that will come out of this will be beneficial to people,” he added.

For Faculty of Medicine and Surgery Dean Assoc. Prof. Ma. Lourdes D. Maglinao, MD, the new facility aims to be the niche of groundbreaking research works that are envisioned to change people’s lives.

“This center represents a symphony of expertise, a collaboration between the healers who mend and the coaches who push us to soar,” Maglinao said.

The academic units that are primarily involved in running the laboratory are the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, the Faculty of Pharmacy, the Faculty of Engineering, and the College of Rehabilitation Sciences.