PALO, Leyte — What began as the so-called “Tacloban Experiment” has evolved into a pioneering model of community-based medical education in the Philippines.

The initiative was a bold plan to develop a medical curriculum that produces competent health workers who are socially conscious, community-oriented, and committed to serving underserved areas.

Unlike traditional pathways that rely on performance in the University of the Philippines College Admission Test (UPCAT), scholars under the program are selected based on community needs and their willingness to serve. Students do not apply on their own; instead, target areas are identified based on the availability of health workers, health statistics, population, and economic conditions.

The program, now known as the University of the Philippines School of Health Sciences (UPSHS), is a unit of UP Manila based in Palo, Leyte, and is recognized as the pioneer of step-ladder medical education in the country.

UPSHS marked its 50th anniversary with a year-long celebration launched on 29 April, with UP President Angelo Jimenez as guest of honor.

“Fifty years is not merely a measure of time. It is a measure of lives touched, of communities transformed, and of futures made more hopeful,” Jimenez said. “Today, we celebrate not just an institution, but a movement—one that has redefined what it means to be a health professional in the Philippines.”

Producing a different mold

In the 1970s, community-based health care was largely nonexistent, with patients often traveling through difficult terrain to reach the nearest facility. At the same time, medical education had become increasingly expensive and exclusive, contributing to elitism, over-specialization, brain drain, and the uneven distribution of health workers concentrated in urban areas.

At UP Diliman, then dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Dr. Francisco Nemenzo observed that intense competition for admission to the College of Medicine fostered a generation of grade-conscious students more focused on entry than service.

Dr. Florentino B. Herrera Jr., dean of the UP College of Medicine from 1967 to 1979, convened an Extraordinary Curriculum Committee to design a program that would address these gaps. He is credited with leading major innovations in Philippine medical education, including the ladderized, community-focused curriculum that became the Tacloban Experiment.

The initiative formally began on 28 June 1976, with the establishment of the UP Institute of Health Sciences in Tacloban City through a joint effort of the then Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, and the UP System.

After 13 years, the institute was renamed the School of Health Sciences and became a regular unit of UP Manila on 3 May 1989.

Under its ladderized system, a community-endorsed scholar undergoes one and a half years of training to become a midwife, followed by additional years to qualify as a public health nurse. By the third year, the student earns a Bachelor of Science in Rural Medicine, and after three more years, a medical degree.

Jimenez noted that five decades since its founding, graduates—midwives, nurses, and doctors—are now serving in communities where health care was once inaccessible.

“We see it in your step-ladder curriculum, which recognizes that learning is not a straight line, but a journey shaped by the needs of the people,” he said. “We see it in your admission model, where communities themselves choose who will become their future health workers.”

He added that while many health professionals leave for opportunities abroad, about 95 percent of UPSHS graduates remain in the country to serve their communities.

Dr. Ian Kendrich Fontanilla, UP assistant vice president for academic affairs, said that while graduates are grounded in community engagement, UPSHS has also demonstrated academic excellence.

In the March 2026 Physician Licensure Examination, 19 UPSHS graduates passed. In the April 2026 Midwifery Licensure Examination, 68 graduates passed, with six placing in the top 10. The school also ranked as the second top-performing institution nationwide, with a 95.52 percent passing rate.