TWO scholars of the Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development will share their experiences in Italy at the Talakayang HeaRT Beat on February 23, 2023.

Doctors Loraine Kay Cabral and Noel Salvoza were the first two Filipino scholars under the PhD in Molecular Biomedicine Scholarship Program created through an agreement between the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development and the University of Trieste and Fondazione Italiana Fegato.

They will be joined by DOST Secretary Renato Solidum, Jr., Undersecretary for Research and Development Leah Buendia, and Institution Development Division head Paula Jane De Leon.

The two scholars published research papers and presented their works in international conferences since they started in 2019. Recently, Salvoza and his co-authors Dr. Pablo Giraudi, Dr. Claudio Tiribelli, and Dr. Natalia Rosso were given the “Highly Cited Paper Award of 2022” for their review paper entitled, “Sex differences in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: hints for future management of the disease” published at the Exploration of Medicine journal in 2020.

The three-year PhD program is focused on molecular hepatology.

PCHRD Executive Director Dr. Jaime Montoya highlighted the objectives of the program and its significance in developing a pool of high-quality human resources in molecular biomedicine.

“We want to open opportunities to deserving Filipino students to study and obtain their PhD degrees in a reputable institution abroad and we are confident in them that they will be able to contribute to the country’s global competitiveness and economic development, come up with health research, and boost technological innovation capabilities through training on biomedical research in the future,” he said.

FIlipino scholars under this program will receive school fees, living and book allowances, outright dissertation grant, travel/health and accident insurance and round-trip fare from the Philippines to Italy.