Luz oliverios belardo autobiography of a face

Gabriel Verzo-Ibis If Elsa became the inspiration of a few young women to venture outside their comfort zone, there have also been women scientists who chose to venture into the unknown even before the movie Frozen. Nominally a male-dominated field, science can be a journey of its own, and for women, is also a thrilling ride that they willfully explore with its many unknowns. Women have played a remarkable role in science and technology, not only in the Philippines, but globally, yet questions are still asked about how deep this role has become. In the Philippines, this comes to a closer

Luz Oliveros-Belardo

Filipina pharmaceutical chemist (–)

In this Philippine name&#;for married women, the birth middle name or maternal family name is Belarmino, the birth surname or paternal family name is Oliveros, and the marital name is Belardo.

Luz Oliveros-Belardo (November 3, – December 12, )[1] was a Filipina pharmaceutical chemist, honored with the National Scientist of the Philippines award by the Philippine government in

Early life

Luz Oliveros was born in Navotas, then a municipality of Rizal, to Aurelio Oliveros and Elisa Belarmino.

She held undergraduate (Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy) and master's degrees in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of the Philippines in Manila. In , she earned a PhD in Pharmacy at the University of Connecticut,[2] with a dissertation involving molecular refraction in terpenes.[3]

Career

Luz Oliveros-Belardo was director of the Natural Sciences Research Center at the Philippine Women's University.

She became Dean of the College of Pharmacy in [4] Her research focused on extracting essential oils and other chemicals from native Philippine plants for pharmaceuticals, food production, scents, and other applications.[2] For example, she developed an experimental formulation based on apitong (Dipterocarpus grandiflorus) oleoresin that was suitable for motor fuel.[5]

In –, she was named an AAUW fellow[6] by the American Association of University Women to pursue her research at Stanford University.[7] In , the Philippine Association of University Women recognized her with their Achievement Award in Natural Science.[8] She received the National Scientist Award in [9][10]

Dr.

Luz Oliveros-Belardo extracted 33 new Philippine essential oils from native plants and studied their chemical and physical properties. Her first research was on the chemical and pharmacological properties of Tanglad Tagalog (Cymbopogon ciratus) and found that its chemicals, such as potassium citrate that is an effective diuretic compound capable of resisting increased blood pressure.

She was one of the first Southeast Asians that conducted studies on Chichirica (Vinca rosea) leaves and found that it is rich in alkaloids, glycosides, terpenoids, sterols, fatty acids, and volatile oil.

Personal life

Luz Oliveros married a dentist, Ricardo A.

Belardo.

Luz Oliveros-Belardo - Wikipedia: Luz Oliveros-Belardo (November 3, – December 12, ) [1] was a Filipina pharmaceutical chemist, honored with the National Scientist of the Philippines award by the Philippine government in Luz Oliveros was born in Navotas, then a municipality of Rizal, to Aurelio Oliveros and Elisa Belarmino.

They had two daughters. She died in , aged 93 years. Her remains were buried at Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig.[11]

References

  1. ^"Luz Oliveros-Belardo".

    . Retrieved November 10,

  2. ^ abArtemio R. Guillermo, ed., Historical Dictionary of the Philippines (Scarecrow Push ): ISBN&#;
  3. ^Luz Oliveros-Belardo and Paul J.

    Jannke, "Correlation of molecular refraction with structure in the terpene series" Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences (January ).

  4. ^History, School of Pharmacy, Philippine Women's University website.
  5. ^Belardo, L.O., Lawrence, B.M., Coronel, A.

    & Mata, M.F. "Essential oil of Dipterocarpus grandiflorus Blanco: rapport and possible source of energy" Transactions of the National Academy of Science & Technology 5 ():

  6. ^"AAUW Names Fellows"Fresno Bee (30 May ): via
  7. ^"AAUW Fellow Will Talk"Fresno Bee (6 March ): via
  8. ^Association for the Study of Pharmacognosy, NewsletterArchived at the Wayback Machine 12(1)(May ): 3.
  9. ^"Briefer on the Direct of National Scientists" Philippine Government, National Academy of Science and Technology.
  10. ^National Academy of Science and TechnologyArchived at the Wayback Machine (NAST), Philippines.
  11. ^"In the Know, Libingan ng mga Bayani"Philippine Inquirer (19 November ).

External links