Dr Sylvia Jacinto carries the reputation of being the supreme dermatologist and matchless clinician, caring and healing generations of patients and their families. She is also known as the ultimate mentor, a “Nanay” with a motherly nurture but a sharp clinical eye, having trained over 200 board certified dermatologists throughout the Philippines as the chair for 22 years of the Skin and Cancer Foundation Inc. She is deeply respected and admired by her colleagues and is recognized as a pillar of dermatology.
Dr Jacinto was a consistently outstanding student, daughter and physician. She started her medical career as a university scholar at UP Diliman Biology as her pre-med course, then graduated and received the Enrile Award of Distinction by placing Third Place in the Philippine Board of Medical Examination. She then completed 2 years Internal Medicine residency at UP-PGH then went on to train with American dermatology legends like Rudolph Baer, Bernie Ackerman, Al Kopf, Alexander Fischer, Norman Orentreich, and Perry Robbins at New York University-Bellevue Medical Center where she ended up as the first female Filipino Chief resident.
She has the pioneering spirit as an educator in dermatology. She came home from NYU to Manila and served as Instructor for 5 years at the UP-PGH Section of Dermatology, and then started teaching as a Preceptor for the Philippine Dermatological Society from 1974-84, which led to the increase in practicing dermatologists at that time. With Dr Vermen Verallo-Rowell, Dr Judy Cuaso and Dr Manuel Fernandez, Jr, she founded the Skin and Cancer Foundation Inc (SCFI) in 1984. SCF was only the second PDS approved residency program, and she was the chair,
executive director and president from 1984-2006, and is currently the Chairman Emeritus, continuing to teach and instruct our residents to become ethical well rounded compassionate dermatologists. Currently SCF has graduated over 200 amazing dermatologists in the past 38 years, serving all regions of the Philippines from Tuguegarao in the north, to Pagadian and Zamboanga in the south.
Dr Jacinto was nominated most outstanding physician by the UPMAS, and was conferred Most Outstanding Physician by the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) . She is also an integral part of the history of the Philippine Dermatological Society, the only specialty society in dermatology acknowledged by the Philippine College of Physicans (PCP) and the PMA. She was founding director and incorporator of the PDS in 1974, was a board director for at least 5 terms, and was PDS president for 2 terms, from 1975 to 1978. During her term, the PDS committee on accreditation was formed to raise the quality of dermatology residency training programs. The PDS hosted the Philippine Congress of Dermatology where Southeast Asian delegates came to the Philippines for the first time to attend a dermatology conference. She chaired the committee on constitution, board of accreditation, ethics committee, COMELEC, PDS advisory council, the Task Force on the safe and competent practice of dermatology, and was a member for many years before chairing the Philippine Board of Dermatology. She has been a member of the board of accreditation and the JPDS editorial board. More importantly she chaired the Task Force Merger in 2002-2004 which successfully merged the Phil Society of Cutaneous Medicine with the PDS and has led to the current strong dominant specialty society.
Dr Jacinto is an avid author and researcher. She was the Founding Editor of The Philippine Journal of Dermatology and Dermatological surgery. She has published journal articles in the JAAD, Cutis, International Journal of Dermatology, Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Dermatologic Surgery Journal and the Journal of Cosmetic Science. Her seminal article on Pityrosporum folliculitis has been cited in the textbooks of Habif and Andrews. She wrote the chapter on Diseases of the Skin, in Fe Del Mundo’s Textbook of Pediatrics and Child Health, which I remember using in med school.
She is most proud of being featured among many famous global dermatologists, in a textbook called Dermographies. Autobiographies in Dermatology by Dr Benjamin Barankin. She published the first dermatology atlas in brown skin called “A Clinical Atlas of Dermatology in Brown skin” in 2007, which is a must have for any resident or student of dermatology. She also authored a spiritual book called “Why Good Things Happen to Bad People and Vice Versa” in 2011. She was a much sought after speaker and and gave dozens of lectures both locally and at international conferences. She is a member of many societies including AAD, ISD, ACDS, WDS, ACCS, ASDS, and was on the advisory board of the ISDS and the Skin Cancer Foundation New York.
Apart from her brilliant medical mind, she is a renaissance woman and a master of many talents and skills. She loves to paint and dance flamenco. She grew orchids and she studied clothes pattern making at Parsons New York, and is a graduate of the Sheffield school of interior design. She was active in socio civic organizations as president of the White Plains Homeowners association for 2 terms, president for 2 terms of the White Plains Ladies association and Zonta international.
On a personal note, if you have benefited from my being a good dermatologist, I owe it all to God and to my mother. She taught me many valuable life lessons like “everything we do should be offered to God”. She taught me that the blood of the Caviteno Katipuneros runs in our veins, which results in a fierce love of our country and a proud nationalism. She taught me to be compassionate and to have integrity, and that we should always keep our word, and mean what we say. She taught me that there are only 2 types of people in the world: Those who serve themselves, and those who serve others. She is definitely one of those who serve others—she has dedicated her life to make the Philippines a better place by helping to establish the PDS and make it a force to reckon with. This is the beloved PDS as it stands today and that we enjoy and benefit from—a strong PDS built on a foundation of excellence and integrity, and a resolve for unity, progress and the betterment of Philippine Dermatology.
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