Pia D Bagamasbad, PhD shares her journey to healing the Philippines during the pandemic

Tatler Asia’s Most Influential 2022 honouree Pia D. Bagamasbad, PhD led the charge to the Philippines’ recovery through her research in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology

A professor at the prestigious University of the Philippines Diliman since 2014, Pia D Bagamasbad, PhD now heads the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology as its director. But before taking up this honour, she walked a long road to get here. After graduating from the Philippine Science High School, she immediately set her sights on UP, earning a degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology as a cum laude. Four years later, she pursued her doctorate in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan.

With years of studying, researching, and teaching experience under her belt, Bagamasbad was able to spearhead the only RT-PCR training programme accredited by the Philippine Department of Health.

What projects in the last two years are you most proud of?

Pia D Bagamasbad, PhD (PDB): My contributions to the COVID-19 Pandemic Response in the Philippines. Being the head of one of the very few laboratories with technical expertise and extensive experience in performing RT-PCR, I, along with faculty, research assistants and students of the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (NIMBB) at UP Diliman, developed and implemented a hands-on SARS-CoV-2 Testing Training Program that was funded by the UP System. The hands-on training program which started on April 20, 2022 and ran for six weeks was the only DOH-accredited training program on RT-PCR testing and played a crucial role in training medical technologists in RT-PCR testing at the time when there were only four testing labs in the entire Philippines. The 2-day intensive training program paved the way for significantly increasing the testing capacity of the country by training 113 medical technologists from over 28 testing labs and hospitals, such as the UP-Philippine General Hospital, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, Hi-Precision Lab, Qualimed, and Philippine National Police testing lab, to name a few.

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PDB: Recognising the need to provide access to even more medical technologists across the country, we transitioned the hands-on training program to the UP COVID-19 Online Learning Laboratory (COLLab) for RT-PCR testing. UP COLLab then became the 2nd course of 3-part course series of the DOH-funded and accredited UP TRAINS Project implemented in collaboration with UP Manila- National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Philippine Genome Center in Visayas and Mindanao. The first part of the UP TRAINS Project, entitled UP NIH NTCBB Online Biosafety Education and Awareness Training against COVID-19 (BEAT COVID-19), is an online training program designed to provide the core concepts of basic biosafety and biosecurity practices for laboratory personnel. Medical technologists who pass the BEAT COVID-19 course are then eligible to take the UP COLLab course composed of 6 modules covering the basics of SARS-CoV2 Biology, RT-PCR testing workflow, theoretical principles behind RNA extraction and real-time PCR, instrumentation, data interpretation, and RT-PCR troubleshooting. Laboratorians who complete the BEAT COVID-19 and UP COLLab online courses are endorsed for hands-on molecular training held in any of the subnational laboratories deputized by DOH. The Philippine Genome Center Visayas and Philippine Genome Center Mindanao provide hands-on training for Visayas and Mindanao, respectively. By the end of UP TRAINS, which ran from June 2020 to December 2021, UP COLLab was able to provide online RT-PCR training to 2,236 laboratorians from hundreds of laboratories across 17 regions of the Philippines. This enabled more laboratories to capably perform much-needed testing during the critical period of the pandemic. In addition to designing and implementing training programs on RT-PCR testing, I also served as a member of the DOH COVID-19 Laboratory Expert Panel (CLEP) that was tasked to provide technical guidance in crafting guidelines implemented by DOH and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF) in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

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PDB: I’m also proud of working towards having researchers and students back on campus. As a researcher and professor in the field of molecular biology and biotechnology, our work highly depends on technical skills that can only be learned in a laboratory setting. Through my leadership and the hard work of colleagues and administrative staff, we have effectively and efficiently managed the operational challenges related to the pandemic, and refine policies and plans that allowed for the safe conduct of face-to-face (F2F) laboratory-based research and classes for researchers and students. Since there was a minimal disruption in our conduct of research, our research institute is able to continue with our mandate to mentor the next generation of scientists and implement research programs that expand our understanding of the life sciences.

What challenges do you see now in your respective industry? How do you intend to help address these challenges?

PDB: Doing life science research in the Philippines is extremely challenging and is really a test of one’s patience for several reasons. First, the cost of doing life science research is more (2-10x) expensive in the Philippines compared to first-world countries. Since science and technology have not been a major priority in terms of government funding, one can just imagine how the lack of funds and higher cost of reagents and equipment can be very limiting in terms of what we can accomplish. Second, the government procurement process, though designed to curb graft and corruption, has become a major barrier to the progress and implementation of research programs. The bidding/procurement process alone may take from 3-12 months and in other countries that is already sufficient time to come up with a major breakthrough. Third, to address the outstanding need for our country to build a critical mass of STEM Professionals to usher social and economic development, we have to mentor and retain Filipino talent in the country. And yet, because of the dearth of PhD-level mentors, most of our accomplished scientists are buried neck-deep in administrative work instead of having more time for mentoring and research. Most of our outstanding students and scientists find very little motivation in staying. These challenges can be addressed if we put the development of STEM professionals and research programs a top national priority, and amend the laws that will eliminate these barriers to developing high-impact, progressive research programs in the country. As we witnessed during the pandemic, priority really needs to be given to developing STEM talent and infrastructure. In our little way here in UP, we nurture a small pool of talented, extremely intelligent, socially aware students and scientists who we hope will decide to stay and serve the country.

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What can you say to those who want to follow in your footsteps?

PDB: Pursuing a STEM career requires hard work, resilience, and not giving despite multiple failures. In the Philippines, pursuing a career in STEM can be very challenging but it is for this very same reason that accomplishments become even more meaningful and rewarding. More importantly, due to the lack of STEM professionals in the Philippines, our contributions can make a big impact and we have the rare privilege of mentoring the next generation of scientists who we hope will make a bigger difference towards national development.

Who do you look up to for guidance, inspiration or mentorship?

PDB: I am lucky to have been mentored by strong Filipino women scientists here at UP, who I admire and who continue to give me advice in juggling my multiple roles as mentor, researcher, and administrator. I am especially thankful to my PhD adviser, Dr Robert Denver, and Post-Doctoral mentor Dr Diane Robins, both from the University of Michigan. They played a significant role in nurturing my love and passion for the sciences, my growth and development as a scientist, and serve as inspirations and role models of how to be a successful and compassionate mentor. Lastly, I am lucky to have the support of family, my husband especially, and friends who provide the “life” in the work-life balance, and have become a major consideration in my decision to stay and continue my career here in the Philippines.

What are your plans for the coming years and what keeps you going?

PDB: My plan is to continue the work I am doing which is to focus on developing research programs that will allow me to support and mentor more students and scientists. We are working towards expanding the academic programs of NIMBB-UPD to attract more students to pursue a career in molecular biology and to bridge the gap between the academe and industry. We are also working on developing extension programs that will increase the awareness and appreciation for molecular biology and biotechnology as a field of expertise that can provide solutions to the various biomedical, agriculture, and biotechnology needs of our country. My goal and vision is for our country to get to a point where we have eliminated most, if not all, barriers to scientific progress, and prioritized the development of STEM professionals to give them enough motivation to stay. There is a feeling of loss whenever I send off my talented and smart students to pursue their PhD abroad. My hope is that I get to see the day that most of our young scientists will no longer see the need to pursue better opportunities abroad, that they will get to feel that the work they do is being valued here in the Philippines and that they will find enough reason to stay and serve the Filipino people.

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