College of Allied Health Sciences Dean Dr. Julius T. Capili, one of CSU's pride has once again added another feather in his cap being recognized by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) as the 2016 Outstanding Medical Technologist of the Philippines. The awarding transpired during the PRC Awards Night on June 22, 2016 held at the Fiesta Pavilion of the Manila Hotel, One Rizal Park, Manila.

Dr. Capili is recognized for his commendable achievements and track record in the conduct of innovative, responsive and transformative instruction, research, extension and publication activities that made beneficiaries of his work become self-reliant, capacitated, empowered and socially responsible. The PRC award is given to professionals who have shown outstanding achievement in their area of specialization.

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     To note, Dr. Capili was also recognized as the Most Outstanding Medical Technologist by PAMET and the Most Outstanding Professional by the Civil Service Commission in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

In a light interview session with The CSUone, Dr. Capili shared his insights and experiences on how he was able to achieve his success despite being young in his profession.

Tough thread to break...

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     Being acclaimed as the Most Outstanding Medical Technologist in the country is not an easy thing to achieve.One must possess dedication, leadership and meritorious service to one,s institution, organization and to the community. This is how Dr. Capili described the selection process of the Professional Regulation Commission in choosing the best professionals who excelled in their field of specializations. From among the best MedTech practitioners and academicians across the nation, Dr. Capili was ranked and eventually chosen as the best Medtech professional in the country. "It was too hard. We have to be recommended first by an accredited professional organization (PAMET), then we have had to submit volumes of documents as proof of our achievements. The panel / evaluators were justices, ombudsmen, representatives from the Sandigan Bayan and other commissioners of PRC," Capili said. "From there, I was so lucky to be included in the top three, then later on, I got the award, despite the fact that my two other contenders were equally competitive", he added.

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    His inspirations to success...

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     Dr. Capili's road to success is far beyond compare. Just like many young dreamers, he also dreamt not only of becoming a successful professional but also to be of service to his family, to his organization, to the academe and to the community.

"I was just an ordinary student then and I probably belonged to top 10 in class but not to the mutants in the national level", he said laughing. Dr. Capili finished his bachelor's degree in Medical Technology at the St. Louis University in Baguio City. Who would have thought that the top 10 in class would become the top producer of MedTech and RT topnotchers in the country today?

After passing the board exams, Dr. Capili was immediately hired by Cagayan Valley Medical Center where he served as medical technologist for less than a year. He then transferred to Cagayan State University as medical laboratory technician. He was promoted to Instructor 3 position while working as part timer to other private clinics in the province, and did commission jobs for other private agencies. In CSU, he was able to share his knowledge and expertise to his students who aims to become the best medtech professionals in the future. "While teaching, na-immersed talaga ako sa mga students, at sa community. I saw their plight. Minsan nga, they (students) have to eat half rice lang, tapos ulam nila, sabaw lang, tapos share-share pa sila doon...kaya naiintindihan ko sila dahil mahirap ang pinagdadaanan nila", Capili said. He was truly inspired by his students to strive more in sharing what he has - his knowledge, expertise, time and commitment. "They are my inspiration talaga, next to my family", he added. These inspirations from his students left a huge mark on him and made him want to strive more in his profession and to give quality education to the young dreamers.

Seeking for more professional growth in the academe, he decided to pursue his Master’s degree in Public Health and later, took his Doctorate Degrees in Science Education and Public Administration at CSU. These enabled him to continue excelling in his career as academician, researcher, extensionist, and as man for others.

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     After a few years of serving the university and proving his competence in the university, he was appointed as the Program Chair for Medical Technology. His dedication for service and his dynamic leadership in bringing relevant innovations and developments in the college not only in the Instruction but also in Research and Extension. Soon he was designated as the Dean of the Allied Health Sciences at Cagayan State University - Andrews Campus. At a very young age (29), he was tasked to lead the College and challenged himself to bring CSU to the limelight by enabling his faculty to be more competent and by producing quality outputs - the students.

Quality researches at front...

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     Dr. Capili's expertise in his field is shown in his researches conducted along public health. His commendable research outputs have made the community benefited from it. He has worked with different government agencies like the Department of Health, Department of Science and Technology, National Nutrition Council, Local Government Units of the province, and other organizations in conducting researches in line with health and nutrition, public health, communicable diseases and infections, parasitology, potential of herbal plants as cure to cancer, solid waste management, and other community health-related issues.

To date, he has 10 quality researches conducted, 6 of which were published in a national refereed journal. He revealed that his research works also contributed a lot in achieving the prestigious award. "Actually, this was also my edge over the other contenders who are equally competent as I am…", he said.

The heart of extentionist at work...

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     Undoubtedly, extension or giving service to the community especially to the unprivileged is one criteria of PRC’s selection for the award, and Dr. Capili didn't let himself get behind this. He managed to implement extension services to the community where he initiated groundbreaking projects such as the "Adopt-a-Barangay Project", bloodletting activities, livelihood programs, tree planting activities, advocacy and awareness programs for the unprivileged and malnourished children, as well as capacity building activities for Medtech faculty, students and public and barangay health workers, to name a few. He also led his college in the Information Drive campaigns to fight communicable diseases such as malaria, sore eyes, chicken pox, dengue and others.

The Exemplar of Excellence in Instruction...

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     Many would ask, "Ano kaya'ng sikreto ni Dr. Capili, bakit lagi sila on top?". Dr. Capili's answer would always be the "culture of excellence", "hardwork" and of course, the bunch of “inspiration” he has instilled to his faculty and students. He would always say, "I won't keep my secrets of success, we want it to be shared. I want others to be competitive as we are, if not, far better than us…"

Cagayan State University was consecutively cited by PRC as Top Performing School in the field of Medical Technology and Respiratory Therapy in the Philippines in 2013 to present for having 100% board examination passers. This victory could be credited to the able leadership of Dr. Capili in instilling the culture of excellence among his faculty and students. "We must have topnotchers. We have to get to the top…", this was the vision of Dr. Capili. "Our first try was so good, top school agad. Nagbunga talaga ang pagsisikap namin…" he said. But for him, getting on top was not his ultimate goal. "Masaya kami na nag Top School kami, but it was not that fulfilling… kasi we need to sustain pala! So we worked harder to sustain where we are right now", he added.

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     In order to actualize Dr. Capili's vision for the college, he managed to enhance the quality assurance mechanism of their program like capacitating his faculty of instruction and encouraged them to pursue higher degrees. "We did a lot of this activity to improve instruction. I have to send my faculty to good schools in Manila to upgrade them. Mapipilayan ka, sabi nila pero sabi ko ok lang yan, kakayanin ko. Kaya kahit overloaded na ako noon, kahit pro bono na lang or gratis, ok lang".

He further introduced the Comprehensive Examinations for MedTech and RT students to prepare them for the board exams. He also invited stakeholders like lecturers from the Philippine Red Cross, Department of Health, Philippine National Police, Cagayan Valley Medical Center and other medical professionals from accredited organizations to capacitate his faculty and students.

The Faculty Mentoring program is also one mechanism he added to ensure collaboration and exchange of professional expertise among junior and senior faculty. "Siguro it's a corporate knowledge, everyone needs to contribute. Tulungan lang yan. We have good exchange of minds through quality discourses".

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     The other built-in mechanism that Dr. Capili included in their procedures were the profiling of students and researches on students' preferences. "We have to know more about our students, para alam namin kung san sila magaling, kung ano ang preferences nila…".

Another important aspect that Dr. Capili has instilled in his faculty and students was hard work and inspiration. Work hard, study hard, be an inspiration to others - the dictum that Dr. Capili would always say to his colleagues and students. "Sabi ko , kung takot kayong may mas magaling sa inyo, gumawa kayo, mag-aral kayo. I don't give them reasons para sabihing magpahinga tayo, more than telling them what to do, parang mas naiinspire sila kasi nakikita nilang gawa tayo nang gawa. Whatever their plights are, I have to give it. Before they even tell me exactly what to do, nandoon na ako. Mafe-feel nila na hindi tayo napapagod", he gladly said.

His measures of success...

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    For him, he is not afraid that his students would go far beyond him or even become better than him. He always wants to see his students as successful individuals and professionals in their own fields. "How many students have I made as competent as we are or even better than us?" "How many students who will be very successful in the field have we made? Or kung saan ko man sila makita basta maging successful lang sila, masaya na ako dun. This is his measure of success.

What's next for the multi-awarded Dean?

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     So what's next for this multi-awarded man? He just smiled and said with a hopeful spirit, "more books, more researches and more outputs!" Aside from maintaining the status of CSU as the Top MedTech school in the country, he wishes to write more books and conduct researches along public health and to publish it in international refereed journals – not only to raise his professional career but more of producing quality outputs that would benefit the students, and the community.

The Type-O blood donor...

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     Metaphorically speaking, Dr. Capili is blood, a Type-O blood in particular. Medical professionals suggest that people who have type – O blood are considered 'universal donors' for they can donate to either type-A or Type-B individuals. Dr. Capili is indeed a universal donor in terms of his being a man for others. His passion, dedication and selflessness would attest to this. "Ako ay isang dugo. In particular, type O, and I am a universal donor!", he said with a sincere smile. "I get to share my knowledge, expertise, my prayers, and sometimes, my financial blessings. I am truly a type-O universal blood", he added.

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    With a tearful eye, he said that he always wanted to share the feeling of 'ginhawa' especially to the poor and unprivileged by whatever means that he could. "Hindi ako masaya na ako lang yung mayaman, na ako lang yung meron. Everyone should have a fair share". For him, he always believes in the philosophy that "There's just two things that makes us decent: the opportunity to have been born, and the opportunity to die". He said that his inspiration is how to give life to other people through his profession. “Sa’kin kasi, if you did fail to give the feeling of ginhawa bago ka mamatay, parang it's a mortal sin. If you've been born rich and you died rich, parang wala lang. Paano pa kaya yung mga poor people. Kaya gusto ko talagang mag-share sa kahit anong paraang makakaya ko", he disclosed with tearful eye.

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     Describing him through his shared thoughts and insights, Dr. Capili is truly an inspiration to many. He has in his Type-O blood running in his veins the culture of excellence, hard work, and dedicated service. A multi-awarded professional in his field of expertise, an academician with a competitive track record that is hard to beat, a guy who definitely got the brains and a big heart, the man who brought CSU to the limelight, and the Type-O Blood Dean who unselfishly shares all of him… who else can be all these? Only the chosen one, the Universal Donor: Dr. Julius T. Capili.