A TB patient herself during medical school, Dr. Tupasi’s personal experience drove her to make TB control her advocacy. Her work in the 1997 NTPS changed the course of Philippine TB history as it steered the DOH to initiate public-private collaboration. Under her leadership, TDF became the world’s first Green Light Committee-endorsed treatment facility for multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB, a pilot project scaled up to today’s nationwide network for programmatic management of drug-resistant TB. This positioned the Philippines as a trailblazing training ground for person-centered MDR-TB care. She is remembered for her passionate leadership in the international TB community as Chair of the Stop TB Working Group for DR-TB convened by the World Health Organization. On the day of her passing, a Minute of Silence was observed during an ongoing international meeting in WHO-Geneva in memory of her life and immense contributions to the people affected by TB.
Dr. Tupasi was instrumental in bringing in much-needed funds to the country not only for TB but also for malaria and HIV. With the rise of HIV complicating TB treatment in the Philippines, she advocated for the provision of free antiretroviral therapy and succeeded, following the concept of universal access to quality treatment.
A recipient of numerous accolades, Dr. Tupasi was one of the Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation's Service (TOWNS) in Medicine (1983). She was a Presidential Awardee as "Outstanding Young Scientist" given by the National Science Development Board (1990), an Outstanding Researcher Awardee of the U.P. Medical Alumni Society Award (1990), a Most Distinguished Fellow of PSMID (1993), Distinguished Researcher of PCP (1993), an Outstanding Health Research Awardee of the Philippine Council of Health Research and Development for the 1997 NTPS (2000), and a Centennial Awardee for Research of the UP College of Medicine (2005). For her lifetime work on TB, she was awarded Honorary Member of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, given a SIKAT (Strength, Inspiration, Knowledge, Action for TB) Award by the Union - Asia-Pacific Region, and regarded as a luminary in TB care by the Philippine Coalition against Tuberculosis.
Dr. Tupasi graduated cum laude from the UP Diliman and finished as a Doctor of Medicine with distinction at the UP Philippine General Hospital where she was also trained in Internal Medicine. She was a Rockefeller Research Fellow and had her ID training at the National Communicable Disease Center, Atlanta, Georgia, the University of Washington, Seattle and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
In the course of her career, Dr. Tupasi inspired and mentored generations of ID and public health specialists, nurses, pharmacists, medical technologists, and other health care workers. A special Tribute and a Citation from PSMID were given her a month prior to her demise for her exemplary contributions to the field of ID as a distinguished physician, teacher, researcher and most notably for her efforts toward the control of TB, HIV and malaria. Dr. Tupasi cured and touched the lives of countless patients and their affected loved ones, transforming their devastating journeys with illness into fulfilling and fruitful lives. They are recipients of Dr. Tupasi’s impressive brilliance, genuine care and compassion. They are all her legacy, and her memory remains as a guiding torch. Forever an inspiring role model, she will always be remembered as the unequalled visionary whose dreams turned to life-changing realities that have made the world a better place.
The Tropical Disease Foundation Inc. (TDF) is a private, non-stock, non-profit organization founded in 1984 that seeks to control and prevent the spread of infectious diseases with public health significance through research, training and the provision of timely and relevant service." The Tropical Disease Foundation will continue Dr. Tupasi’s mission towards universal access to healthcare and serve those who are in need.