Dr. June Bryan de la Peña, a Balik Scientist of the Eastern Visayas Health Research and Development Consortium (EVHRDC) and a native of Capoocan, Leyte, in collaboration with researchers from Eastern Visayas State University aimed to catalyze research in Neuropharmacology during the Health RDE Forum at Office of Research, Development and Extension Services studio room, January 23 at 9:00 am.
The said forum tackled how to avail the programs implemented by DOST- PCHRD through the BALIK-SCIENTIST program; how to increase university’s research productivity; and how to strengthen the university’s linkages, consortia and partnership with other universities for health -related researches.
Dr. June Bryan de la Pena is a M.S. and Ph.D in Pharmacy (Neuropharmacology) holder, and currently a Research fellow in the Department of Anesthesiology , School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. His research interests protract from Neuropharmacology to Molecular Biology, specifically function genomic and RNA Control.
The goal of neuropharmacology is to develop compounds that offer therapeutic benefit for psychiatric and neurological disorders.
It is Dr. de la Peña’s advocacy to promote mental wellness in the context of neuropharmacological lens. He reported that in the Philippines, there is lesser allocation for health care expenditures, yet more and more Filipinos are suffering from mental health problems, and this partnership with EVSU is just a beginning of a more vibrant and fruitful research outputs by which communities can benefit from. “I am very glad to see that EVSU, in its university research agenda, has a very big focus on nutrition and health research, and this is something that we can really partner on, especially that EVSU is one of the region’s leading research institutions,” Dr. De la Pena stated
The Health RDE forum further elicited collaboration with the faculty members and students of the programs related to health and sciences such as BS Nutrition and Dietetics and BS Chemistry of the university.
Being a visionary president with holistic brand of leadership, Dr. de Paz felt the need to escalate research and development in the university. He said, “such an opportunity is very much vital to our university as we innovate and transform our research culture for wider engagement in areas critical to knowledge generation, human development, regional progress and national recovery”.
He went on to commend government’s initiative to promote Balik Scientist Program (BSP) in such a way that it strengthens Science and Technology capability of researchers in the academe.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Research & Development and Extension Services, through the leadership of Dr. Analyn C. Españo, grabbed the opportunity to establish partnership with DOST and Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) as it tries to traverse the encompassing acclimatization of research that will surely benefit the university and community alike.
The Health RDE forum became more engaging with the open forum facilitated by Dr. Pearl Aphrodite B. Carnice, the Director for Research, Development and Extension Services.
