ASOG announces inaugural Fellows for Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy Development Fellowship

The Ateneo School of Government (ASOG), through the Ateneo Policy Center (APC), and its government partner, the Department of Health (DOH), welcomes the Tobacco Prevention and Control Policy Development Fellowship (TPC PDF)’s inaugural two Fellows—Mr. Veincent Christian Pepito and Dr. Veronica Prasad.

With support from Vital Strategies, TPC PDF is a program developed to strategically support the six priority areas identified under the DOH’s National Tobacco Prevention and Control Strategy 2030 (NTPCS 2030). The program aims to recruit public health and medical experts who are interested in championing Tobacco Control advocacy in the Philippines. The TPC PDF opened its Call for Applications last May 2024 and, since its closing,  has started strict deliberation on the deserving candidates for the fellowship’s award. The grant would then be awarded to two young promising fellows whose proposals were deemed most fitting under the context of the NTPCS 2030.

Our first fellow is Mr. Veincent Christian Pepito, an assistant professor at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPH). With a Master’s Degree in Epidemiology awarded by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, he has published more than 50 quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods papers on leprosy, self-care, health systems, maternal and child health, sexual and reproductive health, and the global burden of disease in various peer-reviewed journals. He is also an editor of the International Journal for Equity in Health and PLOS ONE. 

Our second fellow is Dr. Veronica Prasad, a dedicated healthcare professional with a passion for advancing public health through evidence-based strategies. She holds a Master of Science in Public Health with a focus on Health Economics from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the Ateneo de Manila University. Her current research interests lie in policy development and economic evaluations that aim to support national health strategies.

The fellows will receive guidance from the members of the TPC PDF Advisory Board, including Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo, Executive Director of the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA); Dr. Nadia Doytch, faculty member at the City University of New York (CUNY); Dr. Madeleine Valera, Senior Technical Adviser at Vital Strategies; Dr. Gianna Gayle Amul, Non-resident Research Fellow at the Ateneo Policy Center; and Director Rodley Daniel Desmond Carda, Director of the Health Promotion Bureau at the Department of Health. Each fellow is paired with a mentor for personalized guidance, with Dr. Dorotheo mentoring Mr. Pepito and Dr. Doytch mentoring Dr. Prasad.

As the only higher education institution with a program dedicated to Tobacco Control and Governance, the Ateneo School of Government, through the Ateneo Policy Center, commits to the advancement of tobacco control research in the country by fostering new tobacco champions through the TPC PDF. To fight the ever-evolving epidemic of tobacco and e-cigarette use, it is imperative that we continue supporting nationwide efforts to curb preventable deaths. This demands for evidence-based policies supported by sustainable and continuous policy research.