Philippine medical science made a great advance when St. Luke’s Medical Center, long a proponent of ultra-modernization and global initiatives in healthcare, established its Research and Biotechnology Division (RBD) in July 1995.

Spearheading this bold and unprecedented step was our current President and Chief Executive Officer, Jose F.G. Ledesma. Together with the late Atty. William H. Quasha, then Chairman of the St. Luke’s Board of Trustees, and Dr. Arsenio C. Cantos, Medical Director of St. Luke’s at that time, they left no stone unturned to build a modern biomedical research facility, the first of its kind in the Philippines.

In 1996 when Robert F. Kuan took over the helm as Chairman of the SLMC Board of Trustees, he gave RBD the same support and encouragement as his predecessor did.

When Dr. Joven R. Cuanang assumed the post of Medical Director in Dec. 2003, he envisioned a bold agenda for the expansion of clinical research supported by the SLMC Administration.

Today, with its modern facilities and the collective efforts of practicing physicians and scientists, RBD has made several impressive strides towards fulfilling its vision.

Vision: The Research and Biotechnology Division shall be a prime mover and catalyst in the advancement of medical science through a culture of excellent research at St. Luke’s Medical Center.

Mission: To propel St. Luke’s Medical Center to the realm of world class excellence in total health care through interdisciplinary partnerships between scientists and physicians in the conduct of high quality biomedical research.

The culture of research at St. Luke’s has been made possible through a political will that comes from the full support of St. Luke’s leadership. In this way, St. Luke’s paves the way in bridging the gap between research output and clinical practice, through a partnership between clinicians and basic scientists.

As RBD continues to expand its facilities and broaden its horizons, it charts a new direction in this post-genomic era. NEW RESEARCH THRUSTS tell how the RBD pioneering spirit will once again meet the challenge of bringing genomic medicine to St. Luke’s. Plans to engage in research using new technologies like microarray, stem cell, and proteomics are underway. Bioinformatics, a highly interactive interdisciplinary science, is another field that will be pursued.

In working with the latest technologies in biomedical research, INTERNATIONAL LINKAGES continue to fuel the research efforts at St. Luke’s to effectively address health issues of national and international significance. Active scientific exchanges with foreign medical and research institutions have helped expand both clinical and basic research orientations at St. Luke’s.

The section on RBD HIGHLIGHTS walks us through the history of RBD, marked with some of the significant events of the past 11 years.

FACTS AND FIGURES contain key information about RBD. This includes STAFF profile, INSTITUTIONAL SCIENTIFIC REVIEW BOARD and INSTITUTIONAL ETHICS REVIEW BOARD memberships, INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY GROUPS, RESEARCH PROJECTS and CLINICAL TRIALS.

In all the years of its existence, RBD has covered a lot of ground in its research and development activities. The wealth of scientific data generated and the development of several MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTIC TESTS attest to the rapid progress of RBD. It has earned for St. Luke’s a reputation of being an institution of many first’s and only’s in the biomedical science field in the Philippines. Its impact is not limited to elite scientific circles but reaches beyond into the clinics and wards where its results redound to improved health care.

Today, with its modern facilities and the collective efforts of practicing physicians and scientists, the St. Luke’s Research and Biotechnology Division has achieved its vision and much more. This is our contribution to the SLMC vision to be one of the world’s best, and to be the best in Asia.