Fe del Mundo Birthday & Fun Facts

Fe del Mundo Birthday Highlights

Birth Name

Fe Villanueva del Mundo

Place Of Birth

Intramuros, Phillippines

Age

112 years old

Birth Date

November 26 1911

Fe del Mundo Facts

Child Star?

no

Occupation

Pediatrician

Education & Qualifications

University of Philippines

Parents

Bernardo del Mundo, Paz

Fe del Mundo was quite well-known as a pediatrician in the Philippines.

Mundo was one of a pioneer in medical history. The first pediatric hospital in the Philippines was founded by her and she was responsible to configure the modern child healthcare system in the Philippines.

Mundo got the efficacy after practicing for eight decades actively in medical fields. With international recognition, she was honored with the title of National Scientist of the Philippines in 1980. In that era, she became the first female president of the Philippine Pediatric Society and the first female to get these validations. She was the first female Asian in Philippine Medical Association's 65 years of existence to be elected as president. She was also the first Asian to acquire a Presidential role in Medical Woman's International Association.

Keep reading to know more about her including how she got her medical degree and which medical school she went to.

What was Fe del Mundo’s net worth?

Everyone has an interest in knowing the earnings and assets of an important personality like Fe del Mundo but none of her financial details is available in the public domain.

How much did Fe del Mundo earn per year?

People found Fe del Mundo charitable and she seemed to have a low-key lifestyle but her salary or spending habits have not been made public yet.

How tall was Fe del Mundo?

It is always fascinating to know the physical attributes of an important personality like Fe del Mundo, but it has not been made public yet.

How old was Fe del Mundo?

Fe del Mundo was from 120 Cabildo Street in Intramuros, Manila, Philippine Islands. She was born on November 27, 1911, and passed away on August 7, 2011, because of cardiac arrest. Dr Mundo was 99 years old at the time of her death in Quezon City.

Del Mundo was a daughter to Bernardo del Mundo and Paz and the family used to live opposite the Manila Cathedral. Her father was a lawyer of the Philippine assembly from Marinduque and he represented the province of Tayabas.

The family had eight children but three died in infancy. One of her older sisters died at 11 years of age because of appendicitis. Later her younger sister Elisa died and her death inspired her to go for a career in medicine for underprivileged people. In 1926, del Mundo joined the UP College of Medicine at the University of Philippines campus in Manila. In 1933, she graduated and got her medical degree as class valedictorian. The same year she qualified for the medical board exam with the third rank among the examinees. Later, she decided to do her specialization in pediatric medicine as she saw the state of underprivileged children in medical school.

After she graduated from UPM, she got an offer from President Manuel Quezon that if she wanted, they were ready to bear her expenditure for studying anywhere in the United States in a medical field of her choice. She was an Assistant Physician at Boston Children’s Hospital. In 1939 for a two-year research fellowship, she was at Harvard Medical School's Children's Hospital. In 1940, she completed her Master's degree in bacteriology from Boston University School of Medicine.

Who was Fe del Mundo’s partner?

Del Mundo had not been involved in any kind of relationship. Any details of her personal life is not available in the public domain.

Best Known For…

Before the Japanese invasion, Del Mundo came back to her country, the Philippines in 1941. She signed up for the International Red Cross and decided to volunteer for child-internees care at the University of Santo Tomas. There she accommodated a makeshift hospice to help the needy and her contributions made her 'The Angel of Santo Tomas'.

After the Japanese authorities close Del Mundo's hospice in that internment camp, Manila mayor León Gawaran Guinto Sr. instructed her to settle as a director at a children's hospital under the city government, which later turned out to be a full-care medical center during the Battle of Manila. The facility was renamed the North General and later, the Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center. Del Mundo was there until 1948.

After that Del Mundo went on to join the University of Santo Tomas which was known as the Far Eastern University at that time in 1954. She became the head of the Department of Pediatrics. In 1957, Children's Medical Center Foundation was founded and she set up a small medical pediatric clinic for her private practice. She built the Institute of Maternal and Child Health which trains doctors and nurses. Being in a government hospital she was aggravated by the bureaucratic constraints and decided to accommodate her own pediatric hospital.

She gave up her home, and her personal assets and took a loan from the Government Service Insurance System for the construction. In 1957, she inaugurated the first 107-bed pediatric hospital in Quezon City in the Philippines and later addition, the Institute of Maternal and Child Health was built upon her facility. In 1958 her personal ownership was shifted to a board of trustees. It is believed, that Dr. Fe del Mundo used to live on the second floor of her facility, the Children's Medical Center in Quezon City and she used to make early morning rounds until she died at the age of 99.

In 1957, by establishing the Children's Medical Center, Del Mundo made it possible to bring medical care to the Filipinos, who were under-privileged or lived in rural areas, the people who had little to no access to health care. Her foundation facilitated the way of acquiring health care for children. Her public service also helped people with family planning clinics and treatment of preventable health issues like malnutrition and dehydration.

By making numerous breakthroughs, Del Mundo became a pioneer of pediatric medicine in the Philippines. She restructured the whole system and put more emphasis on the most basic health issues like immunization and treatment of jaundice. In Philippine communities, she made a remark about working on infectious diseases.

During the period of post World War II, there were not any well-equipped laboratories left in the Philippines, so she used to dispatch specimens or blood samples abroad for analysis. During the '50s, she started studying dengue fever, which was a common issue in Philippine communities, and very less people used to have knowledge about this. She reviewed hundreds of articles and medical journals and came to the conclusion that dengue troubles the young the most, and it can be prevented by being discreet.

She published a book, Textbook of Pediatrics, which is pretty commonly studied in Philippine medical schools. She volunteered for many public health programs in rural communities. She made awareness to the mother of rural areas about breastfeeding and child care. She accommodated health workers, physicians, and other medical personnel and also made integration of midwives for a more visible presence for common health programs in rural areas.

What awards did Fe del Mundo win?

For her outstanding Service to Mankind, del Mundo was nominated for the Elizabeth Blackwell Award, which was given by Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 1966.

For Public Service, Del Mundo was nominated for Ramon Magsaysay Award. AY Foundation gave her the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Award in 2008. She was given the Order of Lakandula and the rank of Bayani by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on April 22, 2010. In 2011 President Benigno Aquino gave her the Order of the Golden Heart Award.

• In 1966, Del Mundo was recognized by International Pediatric Association for being an Outstanding Pediatrician and Humanitarian.
• Her research and study of Dengue in the ’50s Philippines became the basis for treating dengue fever in young people.
• Her book 'The Textbook of Pediatrics' is still used to teach pupils in Filipino medical schools.
• She battled for the inclusion of midwives into the medical system in rural areas and made a bamboo incubator that ddin't need electricity to run.
• She was all for population control and family planning.
• Del Mundo was an important part of the American Pediatric Society and the World Health Organization.
• On November 27, 2018, a Google doodle showed up on the search engine as a tribute to the 107th birthday of Fe del Mundo.
• Dr. Mundo revealed that she spent three years in Boston Children's Hospital, one year at Chicago University, and six months at John Hopkins University as part of her post-graduate studies, putting an end to the Harvard Medical School controversy.

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