News and Events
Dr. Baldomero Olivera Gives a Special Lecture for the SLCM Community
Last July 11, 2007, St. Luke's College of Medicine was privileged to host a lecture by Dr. Baldomero Olivera, an accomplished Filipino scientist who is now based in the USA.
Dr. Baldomero Olivera is a Distinguished Professor of Biology in the University of Utah since 1992. His research group holds the distinction of discovering Conotoxins from cone snails widely available in Philippine waters. This family of biomolecules is widely used in several neuroscience researches today. He graduated summa cum laude in B.S. Chemistry from the University of the Philippines. From then, he took his Ph.D. in Chemistry in the California Institute of Technology and did postdoctoral work in Stanford University. He returned for some time in the Philippines to work as a research associate professor of Biochemistry at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine before coming back to the US. This year, 2007, he received the Scientist of the Year award from the Harvard Foundation.
Despite being based far from his country, Dr. Olivera is still very much a Filipino and never forgets his roots. In his lecture, he mentioned about naming neurotransmitters using Filipino words, the Conantukin and Contulakin.
The afternoon was filled with information as Dr. Olivera discussed extensively about the discovery and development of drugs from conopeptides. Despite the seemingly deeply technical and highly scholastic nature of his lecture, he has managed to draw everyone's attention and more so, interest in research, by his highly encouraging stance with regards to scientific work.
The lecture was attended by students and faculty members of the college as well as other interested members of the medical community and media who decided not to let this opportunity pass. Indeed, it was our great pleasure to have Dr. Olivera grace our institution with his brilliant lecture.
