On June 12, 2020, we will observe the first death anniversary of Dr. Thelma E. Tupasi, our beloved founder of the Tropical Disease Foundation.  For those who know her, Dr. Tupasi was a dedicated physician and is remembered for her pioneering work in her field of specialty, infectious disease. 

For more than fifty years, she showed a distinct passion and commitment towards all her patients, whether rich or poor, in the city or countryside, with common or esoteric infectious disease. 

Early on in her professional life, she was challenged on how to bring down infant mortality in communities without doctors and who were attended to by midwives or barangay health workers.  She formed a team in these far-flung areas that validated the concept that measuring the respiratory rate of infants with fever, cough and colds, is enough to identify actual or potential pneumonia in these sick infants and the necessity of bringing them to the hospital thus saving many of these infants. 

She published numerous researches in peer-reviewed journals and was recognized internationally for her work.  She was the first to alert the medical community on drug resistant tuberculosis and the first in the world to set up the programmatic management of MDRTB by the WHO Green Light Committee.  One wonders if the current pandemic of Covid 19 infection would have met its match in Dr. Tupasi and how she would have tackled this problem head on. 

Although she is missed by those who know her and love her, we are comforted by the knowledge that she is finally at peace and resting in the bosom of her Creator.