FOCUSING ON THE FUTURE
Dr Pear Pong sacha re on n ont, first recipient of the Thai Scholars Fellowship Fund at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, is passionate about contributing to Prince Mahidol’s dream of advancing the collective health of the Thai people
From the vantage point of her skyscraping clinic-office in Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital’ s Retina Unit, ophthalmologist Dr Pear Pong sacha re on n ont takes in the sweeping scene before her, dominated by the urban oasis that is the Royal Bangkok Sports Club. Nearby skytrains glide back and forth to and from Ratchadamri Station above Phaya Thai Road. Baiyoke II Tower and a jumble of mid-rise buildings punctuate the horizon.
In her mind’s eye, she sees much farther. The first recipient of the Thai Scholars Fellowship Fund, Dr Pear says she feels honoured with the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Prince Mahidol, who is remembered as the Father of Thai Medicine for his trailblazing work in having spread awareness of needs related to public health in the country. While from her office Dr Pear enjoys looking out occasionally at the horses that race fortnightly on the classic racetrack, she says the nation’s collective health is not worth gambling on.
“We need to ensure Thai society is able to address the many health needs of today,” she adds, noting that in many cases, something as simple but often overlooked as having an annual medical check-up can help with a range of otherwise more easily treatable ailments that — like diabetes — if only detected in their later stages are much more complicated and costly to treat.
In December 2017, Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) established the Thai Scholars Fellowship Fund in honour of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Prince Mahidol, King Bhumibol’s father. The Fund was established in conjunction with the Thai Physicians Association of America (TPAA) and King of Thailand Birthplace Foundation (KTBF). The goal is to raise US$1.5 million (45.4 million baht) to create a permanent endowed fund to allow Thai students, doctors, nurses and public-health professionals from Thailand to study at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in order to contribute to further advances in Thailand’s public health and medicine.
KTBF is a non-profit organisation that established and maintains the King Bhumibol Adulyadej Birthplace memorial site at King Bhumibol Square, adjacent to King Rama IX’s birth site at Mount Auburn Hospital and Harvard University, and has placed several plaques at old homes and sites along the Trail of Thai History throughout New England that are associated with the legacy of the royal family.
“The fund was established as a powerful tribute to Prince Mahidol, Princess Srinagarindra and their son King Bhumibol Adulyadej. I hope it will help ensure that their legacy continues,” says KTBF’s Cholthanee Koerojna.
The new fund continues in the altruistic spirt of Prince Mahidol, who himself donated 200,000 baht from his personal funds to Chulalongkorn University to establish the Medical Science Scholarship for students to study higher education in the sciences, as well as contributing $1,000 to the Harvard Endowment Fund a century ago, and marks “A Century Of Progress In Public Health And Medicine In Thailand”, a KTBF awareness campaign to follow in the spirit of Prince Mahidol’s vision and to continue his legacy.
Dr Pear is making good use of the funding, having recently started an online/ campus-based programme with Harvard University to earn a master’s degree in public health in epidemiology, to supplement her education and experience at Chulalongkorn University.
The awardee, who was raised in a business-focused Thai-Chinese family in a working-class part of the city and attended St Joseph’s School on Convent Road, now serves as secretary of the hospital’s Ophthalmology Research Unit and deputy chair of the Vitreoretinal Research Unit in the Department of Ophthalmology. Dr Pear’s family experienced financial hardships growing up in operating businesses. But far from setbacks, she says these encounters with humbleness at an early age ultimately became catalysts for what would eventually become her life’s work and passion to give back to society. An ever-present source of support during her childhood, says Dr Pear, who is in her 30s, was the guiding force of the late King Bhumibol.
“I am privileged to have been born in the era of King Rama IX,” she says. “There’s no one who has had so much influence on Thailand and been a source of such inspiration to so many generations of Thais.”
During her commute to the university and hospital, where she also regularly conducts surgery in the Retina Unit as well as teaches ophthalmology, Dr Pear passes by a small park with a statue of King Rama VIII facing Thai lettering on a building of the powerful and most popular statement attributed to his father: “True success is not in the learning, but in its application to the benefit of mankind.”
“In one way or another, my whole life has been related to this hospital,” says Dr Pear. “I grew up around this area of Bangkok and saw this hospital get bigger and bigger. It is a privilege to be working here in a field I am passionate about. I think the transmission of values from one generation to the next is a key attribute of what makes us Thai. I think HM King Rama IX had good power inside him because of the influence of his mother.”
The birth of King Bhumibol on Dec 5, 1927, was precipitated by an another legacy moment in Thai history, sparked by an encounter when Prince Mahidol, who met a group of students arriving by train from San Francisco at Boston’s South Station on Sept 21, 1918.
Alighting from the train along with the winds of history was Sangwan Talapat, who was embarking on a career to study nursing at Simmons College on a scholarship made available from Queen Savang Vadhana. She would eventually become known as Her Majesty Queen Srinagarinda, the Princess Mother, and would become mother of two kings and grandmother to a third, Thailand’s current monarch, His Majesty King Maha Vaj ira lon gk or nP hr aV ajirak lao chao yuhua.
With Chinese heritage and commitment as a scholarship recipient, Dr Pear, whose experience includes an international fellowship in vitreoretinal surgery at the University of California San Francisco, takes inspiration from the story of the Princess Mother, who grew up in a simple home in Thon Buri before heading for her life-changing trip to the US.
“I do what I do because I care about people,” says Dr Pear, whose thesis for the Harvard degree she’s working on focuses on studying the quality of life of the patient. “I want to see other people be happy. Everyone else in my family is involved in business, but this really wasn’t my thing.” Instead, armed with her new knowledge from medical school, she signed on at the Royal Thai Air Force, where she “gained an appreciation for the military mentality, as I really love rules. I feel that people who can follow the right rules can make everything better”.
Although she enjoys getting to know her patients in one-on-one consultations, Dr Pear remains mindful of how public health is a greater societal concern.
“I love being a doctor. But even though doctors may successfully treat countless numbers of patients one-on-one, they need to think about the country as a whole. I am particularly interested in epidemiology — the science of focusing on the big picture.
“We need to be proactive, to anticipate problems and apply preventative treatment. For example, as a retina specialist, I see a lot of diabetic patients. We need to better spread the message of the perils of lifestyle choices that lead to diabetes and its debilitating long-term effects.
“Diabetes can lead to amputation, poor vision and shortened lives. These effects are treatable but not reversible. As a public-health professional, I want to reduce the burden of patients and society by raising awareness of preventative steps we can all take.”
Dr Pear, who sees 40-80 patients and works around 12 hours a day, five days a week and half days on Saturdays, says that if governmental and private stakeholders pool their energies, policy that aids society can be made and implemented.
“At Chulalongkorn Hospital we trained ophthalmologist who go to work in the hard-to-reach villages in rural areas, where there is greater need to provide various types of healthcare,” says Dr Pear, who also serves as head of fellowship services for the Retina Fellowship, which trains ophthalmologists to subspecialise in retina disease. Also, she’s a leading member of the Asean Optometrist Society, a network of regional physicians and public health professionals working to promote better awareness of blindness prevention across Southeast Asia.
One of her most personally meaningful milestones as a doctor is of having performed cataract surgery on her father. “Even though I had performed this procedure thousands of times, there was of course an extra degree of concern. Fortunately, the result was successful. He was happy with the results.”
The eye specialist believes medical professionals should strive to be mindful of the big picture, and consider how to extend their expertise and a sense of service far and wide.
“Global heath and public health are a big deal. We need to care more about each other. More of us should speak out if we see something that is unfair. To make a difference will not happen by chance. It requires time and strategy, and heart.”
TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE WILL NOT HAPPEN BY CHANCE