Professor Emeritus and former UPCM dean Agnes D. Mejia is among the 8 International Society of Nephrology Pioneer Awardee recognized for their outstanding and sustained contributions to establishing and developing kidney care in emerging regions of the world.

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The winners will receive their awards at regional meetings throughout the year and will be recognized at the ISN World Congress of Nephrology 2023, from March 30 – April 2, 2023, in Bangkok, Thailand.

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Professor Emeritus Agnes Dominguez Mejia graduated from the University of the Philippines College of Medicine (UPCM) in 1977. She then finished her residency in internal medicine at the Philippine General Hospital. She completed a three-year fellowship in nephrology under Dr. Victor Pollack at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, and a three-year fellowship in hypertension under Dr. Stevo Julius at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. Professor Mejia joined the UPCM Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, in 1990, capped by her deanship from 2012-2018.

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She was the Dr. Gloria T. Aragon Most Illustrious Faculty Awardee in 2017, the Philippine College of Physicians Distinguished Internist in 2021, and is currently a Professor Emeritus. The highlight of her academic leadership was receiving the ASEAN University Network-Quality Assurance (AUN-QA) Certification for the quality of its basic medical education program in 2018, the first and only medical school in the Philippines to receive this distinction.

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As an ISN Pioneer Award winner, Mejia said, “As a nephrologist, I continued to serve our society through the lens of a teacher, an internist. I set my eyes on the future of our profession as I watched students “get set” at their starting blocks. Looking back, I was fortunate to be with these junior nephrologists – learning need not always be inspired by the sublime, even these young fellows could be sources of wisdom.”