By Jose Julian Dionisio Pascual Φ2022 and Alexis Urmatan San Diego Φ2022
Brod Billionario Januario Antonio Dolorico Veloso, Jr. Φ1983B (Bill) is an exemplary Brod from an extensive list who’ve held leadership roles in various fields. From fortuitously ending up in Pathology to now becoming the Department of Laboratories Chairperson of the largest tertiary government hospital in the country, Brod Bill’s life journey is full of twists and turns and one that serves as an inspiration to many.
Early Life and Education
Brod Bill’s path towards medicine was forged early in his childhood. Growing up, his grandfather, Julio Dolorico UPCM Class 1936, served as the medical director of Bethany Hospital in Tacloban, Leyte. As a child, he would roam around the hospital, interact with the medical staff, and scrub in during operations. Essentially, his grandfather reared him towards a life in medicine. By high school, Brod Bill accepted his fate and decided ultimately to pursue medicine as his career.
For his undergraduate degree, he pursued BS Biology in UP Diliman graduating Cum Laude. From being an achiever in elementary, high school and college, he found himself frustrated as he struggled in medical school. Jokingly, he said that he was in the bottom third of his class but was the best of the worst. But instead of letting this faze him, he worked around his limitations and still strived towards excellence, and graduated despite these hiccups.
Career
After finishing medical school, Brod Bill was initially accepted to the Ophthalmology Residency Program of PGH but decided to forgo his acceptance. He felt that he didn’t have the financial means to establish an ophthalmology practice as the economy was down at that time. Apart from that, he was also still quite unsure of what to pursue after graduation, so when his aunt, a pathologist at Albany Medical Center, got him an interview for a pathology residency program in her hospital, he decided to try it out.
“It was fate that made me choose pathology.” Not knowing what the future will hold, Brod Bill decided to pursue pathology. He, later on, realized that he had the aptitude for it and after completing his first year of residency training, it was then that he realized that pathology was something he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He went on to complete his residency training in Pathology and completed two fellowships in hematopathology and oncologic pathology.
Being the Chair of the Department of Laboratories
After completing his training, Brod Bill was left with two choices: stay in the US or return to the Philippines. Staying in the US would mean financial stability, but he found himself desirous of something more, so he decided to return to the Philippines. Despite already being a US-board certified pathologist, he had to take the local licensure exam for pathologists upon returning and was the first US-trained pathologist to take the exam. Now armed with a license to practice in the country, Brod Bill embarked on his journey towards becoming the Chairman of the Department of Laboratories of the Philippine General Hospital. He started out as a medical specialist and as the section head of hematology in PGH. Upon starting, he was culture-shocked with how outdated the current technology was in the Philippines, to the point that some of the practices in the country were no longer part of his training in the US, as they were already considered obsolete. With this, he began with the uphill battle of modernizing the department– starting with the shift to evacuated tubes from the manually prepared anti-coaguted glass tubes, to establishing the first fully automated 5-part differential CBC counter in the lab. Seeing the state of hematopathology in the country, Brod Bill had a goal in mind: apply all that he learned in his training abroad and strive to bridge the gap between.
As more of his colleagues were taking notice of his stellar work, Brod Bill was recruited by the National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI) to be a consultant. Eventually, he became the Chairman of the Laboratory Department in the same institution. There, he was able to help NKTI to become one of the best, if not the best laboratory in the country. During his time, NKTI was able to procure the technology needed to practice subspecialties such as hematopathology and oncologic pathology. NKTI became the first clinical laboratory in the country with a fully automated system which reduced the need for human intervention.
Seeing all these, former Philippine General Hospital director, Brod Jose Castillo Gonzales Φ1969A (JoeGon) initially asked him to be the Chairperson of the Laboratories in PGH. At that time, however, Brod Bill felt he was unready to fully commit to such a role. Years passed and his batchmate in class and in the fraternity, Brod Gerardo Dizon Legaspi Φ1983B (Gap) succeeded Brod JoeGon as the director of PGH. During Brod Gap’s first term, Brod Bill was again offered the same position, and he again declined, citing similar reasons.
As fate would have it, however, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. Brod Bill was then tapped to help mobilize setting up the molecular lab in PGH during the pandemic. During these times, he started spending more time helping in PGH. It was then that he felt that he could contribute a lot more and realized that it was finally time to be the Chairperson. Seemingly, all of his doubts were lost as he knew he wanted to make a difference. He then finally told Brod Gap “If you offered me to be the chairman of the lab, I would not say no.” In August of 2022, Brod Bill was finally appointed as the Chairperson of the Department of Laboratories in PGH. While there are still plenty of issues that need to be addressed, Brod Bill aspires to make PGH the best lab in the country.
Life in the Fraternity
As was becoming a Pathologist, it was fate that brought Brod Bill to the Most Venerable Fold. Unbeknownst to him at the time of his joining, two of his uncles were also part of the fraternity (Amado Villatuya Dolorico Φ1961 & Valentin Nessia Dolorico Φ1964). From his undergraduate days in Biology, he had no plans of ever joining a fraternity. This all changed, however, when he saw that numerous batchmates and seniors whom he admired, joined the fraternity. In Brod Bill’s words, it was truly destiny that made him join the fraternity. Like being a Pathologist, it was something that was not planned, but he is thankful for how things eventually worked out. In his time as a student brod, he realized that the Fraternity was something bigger than him and it inspired him more to be of service to others. He is grateful to the fraternity for molding him to be the strong and confident leader that he is today. For him, the fraternity not only was an avenue for camaraderie, but also a means of growth as a person, and as a professional.
Leading by Example
Our talk with Brod Bill ended with him reminding Brods in the resident body to always lead by example. Truly, Brod Bill exemplifies the Fraternity’s pillar of leadership. It is through this that he is able to make a difference in the lives of countless people. He serves as an inspiration to all Brods on what a leader should truly be.
