Every year, Kapampangans (residents of Pampanga) look forward to the annual 3-week medical mission trip of a group of 12 to 25 doctors who provide free medical, surgical and sight-saving services to needy people in Pampanga. The leader of the medical mission is a Kapampangan himself—Dr. Jose L. Evangelista.
Joe, as friends and family call him, also founded the UST Medical Alumni Association of America which also conducts medical missions in Manila and other parts of the Philippines. Aside from the yearly medical missions, Evangelista is also instrumental in delivering shipments of medical supplies and hospital equipment from the US to the different district hospitals in the province of Pampanga.
Dr. Joe Evangelista is one of those rare men who not only excel in whatever they do, but also serve to make a positive impact wherever they are. A Filipino-American physician, businessman, civic leader and philanthropist based in Michigan, Joe has been honored in the US and in the Philippines as one of the best.
Evangelista was appointed Philippine Honorary Consul General in Detroit, Michigan on April 2008. He received the Presidential Award for Outstanding Filipinos Overseas-Banaag Award from President Fidel V. Ramos in 1993. He was also appointed by President Bill Clinton several years back as a member of the National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation. Along with his wife, Dr. Stella Salgado-Evangelista, Dr. Joe was the fi rst Filipino Hall of Famer of Michigan International Heritage. They became the fi rst couple to be recipients of the Hall of Fame Awards. The couple also received the Physicians of the Year Award from the Philippine Physicians in America in 1994.
Aside from the mentioned awards, Dr. Evangelista is also the recipient of numerous other awards namely National President’s Award for Outstanding Leadership from the Michigan State Medical Society, UST Medical Alumni of Michigan and President Award, Physicians Recognition Award by the American Medical Association; Innovative and Outstanding Leadership Award from Rizal Day Committee, Certifi cate of Award from Livonia Public Schools Training Sponsor for the Youth of the Community, Outstanding Pampangueno Award for Humanitarian Services and Medicine given by the Governor of Pampanga, Philippines; the Archbishop Medallion Award for Most Outstanding Professional and for Philanthropic Services, the University Medal of Honor by the Angeles University Foundation’s College of Medicine, Twenty Outstanding Fil-Ams in the United States Award presented by the Fil-Am
Image of Washington DC and the Outstanding Humanitarian Award given by the Governor of Pampanga in 2006. Dr. Evangelista revealed his scholarship abilities early in life. He graduated valedictorian from Candaba Elementary School in 1956. In 1960, he graduated valedictorian again from St. Andrews Academy in Candaba, Pampanga. He then took up BS Pre-Medicine and Zoology at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. There, he took up a full Doctor of Medicine course and graduated in 1968. Immediately after graduation, he had his internship at Columbus-Cuneo Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. He earned his Internal Medicine residency at the Sinai Hospital and University of Illinois. He later started private practice in Internal Medicine and cardiology in Livonia, Michigan.
Dr. Evangelista has a diplomate in Internal Medicine and Cardiology. He has been Board certified in Internal Medicine with the sub-specialty in Cardiovascular Diseases both in US and Canada. He has been honored as fellows of various organizations such as: American College of Cardiology, American College of Physicians, American College of Chest Physicians, American College of Angiology, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and American College of Internal Physicians and many others.
A man of action and a dynamic leader, Dr. Evangelista has been actively involved in various civic organizations in the community, nationwide and in the Philippines. He was past president of Philippine Medical Association of Michigan for two terms in 1981to 1983. He served as president of the Association of Philippine Physicians in America in 1987, one of the most powerful Filipino organizations in US. He served as the chairman of the Rizal Day Committee which involved 32 Filipino organizations. He founded and served as president in the UST Medical Alumni Association of America.
Dr. Evangelista also excels in business, serving as the CEO of their corporation, Royal Management Company. He has invested successfully in real estate and now owns many commercial and residential complexes in several parts of the US.
Advancing medical education in the Philippines is another pet project for Dr. Evangelista who works on scholarships for students to attend medical school in the Philippines or medical faculty to study for a year or two in the United States. Joe’s main goal is for foreign medical students to be treated equally with those from the United States explaining that medical schools now are limiting the enrollment of their foreign students to five percent of the population. According to Joe, in some training hospitals they would rather have a position vacant than fill them with a foreign student and this is what he is fighting to change. He is also working to make the Asian community much more active in politics, both for involvement and to become more visible.
Dr. Jose Evangelista is truly a great asset to the Filipino community in the US. He exemplifies a positive image of Filipinos to mainstream America and to the Philippines. By his life and example, Dr. Joe has shown what being the best in both worlds is all about.
( Published on February 28, 2009 in Asian Journal Los Angeles p. A8 )
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