GAIM 2021 Featured Woman: Fe del Mundo, Pediatric Doctor
Dr. Fe del Mundo buried her head in her hands, frustrated by the government-run hospital she had been asked to lead. Dr. del Mundo always provided the best care for her patients, and the hospital’s strict rules made that increasingly difficult. When she saw that her youngest patients were suffering, she reached the end of her rope. “I’m building my own hospital,” she thought, “for the children.” With that, she sold her home and everything she owned to build the first children’s hospital in the Philippines, The Children’s Medical Center in Quezon City.
“I’m glad that I have been very much involved in the care of children, and that I have been relevant to them. They are the most outstanding feature in my life." - Dr. Fe del Mundo
Fe Villanueva del Mundo was known for her determination. She grew up in Manila as one of eight children, but most of her siblings did not make it to adulthood due to ignorance around pediatric health at the time. Her younger sister Elisa wanted to be a doctor for the poor before she passed away at the age of ten. Mobilized by grief, Fe decided to take her place and studied medicine. She graduated at the top of her class at the University of the Philippines and earned a scholarship to travel all the way across the world to the United States, where she became the first woman to attend Harvard Medical School. After years of study, she returned to the Philippines eager to share what she had learned.
Sadly, an occupation by Japanese forces soured her homecoming. She immediately volunteered for the International Red Cross, where she was tasked with caring for the children of foreigners held in an internment camp at the University of Santo Tomas. She cared for over 400 children until the camp was shut down, earning the moniker, ‘The Angel of Santo Tomas’. After the camp’s closure, the Mayor of Manila invited Fe to run a government-funded children’s hospital, but the scarcity of hospital beds during wartime meant that they had to convert it for general use. Dr. del Mundo ran the hospital until she left to begin construction on her own hospital, The Children’s Medical Center.
In her teaching, studying, and practice, Fe greatly expanded the medical industry in the Philippines, connecting the islands to the international medical community. She published 100+ medical articles, traveled regularly to international conferences, sent samples out of the country for testing, and improved patient care by creating innovative treatments based on her own research. She lived by her mission to help children and the poor, bringing medical care to people in rural areas, creating programs to fix widespread health issues, and giving all of the money she made back to the hospital’s charity ward. Until her death at age 99, she lived on the second floor of the hospital and visited patients every morning. In spite of her numerous firsts, awards, and publications, those who knew her remember her most for her compassion.
“I feel that if you give the world the best that you can, the best will always come back to you.”