NATIONAL SCIENTIST OF THE PHILIPPINES, FOUNDER OF THE FIRST FILIPINO PEDIATRIC SCHOOL AND THE FIRST WOMAN ACCEPTED TO HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOLBECAUSE THEY DIDN’T REALIZE SHE WAS A WOMAN UNTIL SHE GOT THERE AND FOUND HERSELF ASSIGNED TO AN ALL-MALE DORM
And they couldn’t turn her away because 1) she was already there, she traveled so far, it wouldn’t have been right to send her back 2) her grades were, unsurprisingly, above and beyond and she was too good to turn away and 3) the scholarship was granted to her by the president of the Philippines, and y’all don’t say no to that without some international incident let’s be real
So she unwittingly became the first woman ever accepted into Harvard Med School (and possibly the first Asian ever enrolled? Though I haven’t confirmed this). She’s also since pioneered so many medical advancements in the Philippines that they can barely be counted, and she is by all accounts one of those amazing human beings that come rare in our lifetime. She was buried, and rightfully so, in the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery).
myblog 