The Philippine Council of Health Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST – PCHRD), in partnership with St. Luke’s Medical Center – College of Medicine-William H. Quasha Memorial (SLMCCM – WHQM), officially welcomed two new scholars into the MS in Molecular Medicine Program.

Mr. Joshua Alex Binza and Ms. Alea Jasmine B. Villanueva, the newest MS in Molecular Medicine Program scholars, will take the two-year program which will build their skills toward a new approach to practicing medicine and will provide them with a solid foundation in the biomedical sciences and pertinent emerging technologies.

Through a special training in the fully-stocked research laboratories of the St. Luke’s Research and Biotechnology Division, the scholarship program aims to improve abilities on the use of molecular medicine in the clinical setting. The most recent biotechnologies are covered in the curriculum, along with background courses on the fundamental sciences that underpin them, including cell-based therapies, gene therapies, targeted therapies, biomarker technology, molecular diagnostics, pharmacogenomics, and personalized medicine.

As part of the scholarship program, the scholars will get financial assistance for their studies and research in the form of school fees, stipend, learning materials and/or connectivity allowance, transportation allowance, group personal accident insurance, and thesis grants. They are anticipated to serve the nation as researchers capable of leading cutting-edge health research when they complete their masteral program.

(L-R) Mr. Joshua Alex Binza¹ and Ms. Alea Jasmine B. Villanueva² are the newest scholars of DOST-PCHRD under the MS in Molecular Medicine Program of SLMCCM – WHQM

¹Mr. Joshua Alex Binza is a University of the Philippines Manila, Cum Laude, BS Biochemistry graduate (2022) who is involved as a Bioinformatics Specialist (Microbiological Approach) on a research project titled “Port and Ballast Water Baselines Using Ecological, Microbiological, and eDNA Approaches” (2022-2023).

²Ms. Alea Jasmine B. Villanueva earned a BS Biology major in Medical Biology with an honorable mention from De La Salle University in Manila (2023). She is part of the research and development project entitled “Comparative Study of Cold Compress and Liniment Treatment as an Adjunct to Massage Therapy for Exercise-Associated Muscle Cramps (EAMC) among Young Athletes in the Philippine Setting” (2018–2019), which was published in 2021 in the Philippine Journal of Health Research and Development.