Erika Marie C. Gacus, MD, DPBS
Scholarship: 2015 Hugh Greenwood Fellowship
Current Position: Pediatric Surgery Consultant, Maria Reyna – Xavier University Hospital,
Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines. Volunteer Pediatric Surgeon – World Surgical Foundation Pediatric Surgical Missions in the Philippines (since 2013).
Biography:
Erika Marie C. Gacus, MD, DPBS is a pediatric surgery consultant practicing in her hometown of Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines. She is a 2004 graduate of the Dr. Jose P. Rizal College of Medicine, Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan. In 2006, she started General Surgery Residency Training at Northern Mindanao Medical Center then went on Pediatric Surgery Fellowship Training at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center from 2011-2013. She is a Diplomate of the Philippine Board of Surgery. She is currently taking up Masteral Studies double major in Health and Hospital Management and Health Profession Education.
In 2014, during the 9th Asean Society of Pediatric Surgeons Clinical Conference in Yangon, Myanmar, I was awarded the Hugh Greenwood Fellowship. In the following year, I went to Oxford Children’s Hospital and Birmingham Children’s Hospital for my observership. I have gained insights and opportunities during my rotation, but the greatest challenge for me was how can I bring world class / state of the art surgical management to pediatric patients especially to a third world country like the Philippines particularly in our province.
We already started doing pediatric surgery cases particularly the neglected cases e.g. PSARP on a 32-year old, ERPT on a 16-year old. Hopefully in the next few years, we will be able to establish a Pediatric Surgery Program that is relevant to our setting, but without compromising health care delivery.