The Perfect Pandemic President

Dr. Chinkey (as many call her) is a member of High School Class 1993.  She was a silver jubilarian in 2018 when she first joined the AAA Board.  Despite the many titles attached to her name (which I will mention in a while), she immediately struck me as an unassuming, compassionate and very pragmatic individual.  For someone who wears several hats, she had perfected the science of time management.

A graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine (UPCM) in 2002, Dr. Chinkey went on to assume various fellowship positions in the Philippines, the United Kingdom and Japan.  She earned her doctorate in 2013 from the Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine in Sendai, Japan. Besides being the AAA President in 2020 and 2021, she was concurrently attached to St. Luke’s Medical Center – Global City as Vice Chair for Research of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Professor in the Department of Physiology, UPCM; and consultant in Hi-Precision Diagnostics-Rockwell.  Dr. Chinkey is a recognized expert in fetal medicine and has published several articles in medical journals.  In March 2020 – at the onset of the corona virus global pandemic – she was in Italy as a Fellow in the Universita Degli Studi di Perugia. She safely made it back home before the virus spread uncontrollably in Italy.

Upon her return to the Philippines, Dr. Chinkey immediately mobilized the AAA Board and reached out to the other Assumption groups to form COPE (Continue our Pursuit of Education) as an entity that can address calamities and disasters in a unified approach.  It had proven to be an efficient channel for donations during the pandemic.  She also streamlined AAA’s operations given the absence of traditional fund-raising opportunities and encouraged the Board to find creative ways of sourcing donations so that it can continue to extend assistance to its beneficiaries – all hard hit by the pandemic.  Under her leadership, the AAA successfully transitioned Old Girls Day and other events using digital platforms. Dr. Chinkey and the Trustees also made sure that administrative and fiscal efficiencies were addressed.  It took a year to comply with government regulations but the AAA was finally able to conduct – with great success – its first online elections in October 2021.

I had commented more than once on how Dr. Chinkey was the perfect pandemic AAA President.  First, her medical and clinical background provided her with the scientific perspective on how to deal with Covid-19 and its repercussions on the AAA.  Second, her administrative skills (which I had observed in her first year as Trustee when she helped organize our AAA visit to the mission schools in the Visayas and in July 2019, she chaired the first-ever AAA Summit) were brought to the fore during such unprecedented times. She managed to move the AAA office to another location when the building where it was housed was nearly condemned. Dr. Chinkey was prepared for every Board meeting, conducted them with authority, respect and gentleness.  Third, her relative youth and being technology savvy, allowed her to host Zoom meetings, create chat groups, prepare announcements, presentations, and other communications to keep Old Girls updated on the AAA.   All this despite her extremely hectic work schedule.

It was a difficult decision for her to decline a re-nomination to the Board. However, after one three-year term plus an extra year extension due to the pandemic, she discerned that it was time for her to focus on her profession as a medical doctor and her valuable research in fetal medicine.  When you think about it – AAA vs. Fetal Medicine – it’s an apples-and-oranges comparison.  Nevertheless, Dr. Chinkey had given her total dedication to both.

While I know that the Board will miss her leadership, Dr. Chinkey had successfully instituted best practices in governance, accountability, transparency and inclusiveness that will allow the AAA to move forward and be prepared to embrace a post-pandemic environment.  She will also stay on for at least one year as the immediate past president – a position that I now confidently turn over to her.  Dr. Chinkey – as with the rest of the Board of Trustees – has demonstrated service, loyalty and deep love for our alma mater in this time of great social transformation.   St. Marie Eugenie must be smiling down on her Old Girls. 

All hail to our beloved Assumption!