AFTER stages of screening, evaluation and final selection of the qualified nominees, Dr. Doralyn S. Dalisay was named the “2019 Outstanding Professional of the Year in the field of Pharmacy”, a recognition awarded by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC). She brought honor and pride to the University of San Agustin as she is the first Augustinian Pharmacist to receive the award.
The “Outstanding Professional of the Year Award” is the highest award bestowed by PRC upon a professional for having sufficiently demonstrated competence of the highest degree, professional integrity, significant contribution to the advancement of the profession and with a meaningful contribution in society and country. The conferment of this award began in 1997 and is the highlight of the PRC Anniversary Celebration and the Professional Regulation Week is observed every year from June 16 to 22.
Dr. Doralyn Dalisay graduated from the University of San Agustin, Iloilo with a degree in Pharmacy (Cum Laude) and earned her Master of Science in Biology at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas. She obtained her Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of New South Wales, Australia. She received a postdoctoral fellowship to specialize on marine natural products chemistry at the University of California, San Diego, USA. Dr. Dalisay has been engaged in several drug discovery scientific research undertakings at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada and Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA. Her research leads to the discovery of 25 novel antifungal and anticancer compounds from rare marine invertebrates and marine sediment-derived microorganisms. These compounds have attracted the interest of the scientific community because of their novelty and potential as drug leads. She also holds two US patents on the use of a marine natural product for fungal infections and cancer.
Dr. Dalisay returned to the Philippines as the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Balik Scientist in June 2015 to establish a research program on natural products drug discovery at the Center for Chemical Biology and Biotechnology (C2B2) in University of San Agustin. She is a pioneering pharmacist and scientist to work on the biodiversity, biological activities, and chemistry of marine sediment-derived actinobacteria from Philippine archipelago that could one day help to find new antibiotics and potentially address the problem of drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria.
Dr. Dalisay has worked extensively on the development of culture dependent strategies to access the vast biodiverse actinobacteria from different environmental samples in the Philippines. Her research group explored the Philippine archipelago for the presence of promising actinobacteria found in the marine sediment samples collected in different islands in the country. Her laboratory at C2B2 now houses a library of more than 3,000 highly diverse marine sediment-derived actinobacteria isolates that serves as “BioBank for Drug Discovery Research” in the country.
Dr. Dalisay has published research on drug discovery in high impact journals. Her publication received more than 2000 citations. She has won a number of awards in recognition for her research, publications, and patents. She was awarded as The Outstanding Pharmacist, TOP Award in Research by Philippine Pharmacists Association in 2016. She was recently conferred as Diplomate of the Philippine Academy for Microbiology. Her research program on drug discovery at the University of San Agustin is supported by the National Research Council of the Philippines-Department of Science and Technology (NRCP-DOST), Philippine Council for Health Research and Development-Department of Science and Technology (PCHRD-DOST), United States Agency for International Development, Science, Technology, Research, and Innovation for Development (USAID-STRIDE) Program and the University of San Agustin.
Dr. Dalisay will receive the Outstanding Professional of the Year Award on June 20 at Fiesta Pavilion, Manila Hotel during the PRC Anniversary Celebration./PN
