The term epidemiology may sound so Greek to many, students and professionals alike. It is, in fact, one of the more important fields of medicine because it concerns the incidence and prevalence of disease in large populations. Simply put, epidemiology deals with the detection of the source and cause of epidemics.
In this very obscure field, one young scientist shines because of his immense contributions to the Philippine science community that have continuously benefited many Filipinos. He is Dr. Jesus N. Sarol, a full professor of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics – University of the Philippines Manila, who has earned the nod of the country’[s top scientists. He also happens to be a 2003 Outstanding Young Scientist for Epidemiology, as awarded by the National Academy of Science and Technology (DOST) and the government’s highest advisory and recognition board on S&T.
Dr. Sarol combines the fields of epidemiology and biostatistics (the application of statistics to biological and medical data). He has thus become very active in studying food fortification, as well as prevalent diseases in the country, on which he conducted pioneering research on the burden of disease. He was also the biostatistician in the award-winning project, “The 1997 National Tuberculosis Prevalence Study”, conducted by the Tropical Disease Foundation.
Dr. Sarol was born in Manila on February 17, 1963. He finished his Master of Science and Ph.D. in Epidemiology at the School of Public Health, University of California in Los Angeles in 1991 and 1996, respectively. He graduated with a degree in Statistics from the University of the Philippines, Diliman in 1983. – Aristotle P. Carandang
