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DR. MODESTO T. CHUA
Chua received his diplom-chemiker in 1962 and Ph.D., major in physical organic chemistry, magna cum laude, in 1964 from the University of Bonn. When Chua joined the Ateneo de Manila University department of chemistry in 1965, he was struck by the large number of product test referrals the department was getting from govemment agencies and industrial companies. In the 50's and 60's, when so many bright, young Filipino scientists were leaving the Philippines to work and train in developed countries, Chua chose to stay, determined to pursue his growing conviction that his pioneering scheme would fit into the nation's development program. In 1967, he returned to Bonn for a year of postdoctoral research as a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. While in Germany, he started looking for social and financial support for his envisioned institute. A year later, Chua was back at the Ateneo, teaching and brainstorming with fellow faculty members in the chemistry department. The entire faculty agreed that the proposed institute should be independent of, yet closely associated, with the university. The task challenged the professors' commitment and resourcefulness. But what they lacked in financial means they made up for in ingenuity and faith in their vision. In 1972, Professor Rudolph Tschesche of Bonn University, with whom Chua had trained as a research associate, visited the Ateneo. In the same year, Chua approached the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, armed with a feasibility study. Shortly after, the chemistry department received a donation of major chemical equipment from the foundation, through Germany's Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation. Pipac was founded by the Ateneo facultry of chemistry as a nonstock, nonprofit corporation in late 1972. The institute began operating in a rented room and a small laboratory at the chemistry building. Chua's own studies on the relationship between the structure and properties of molecules contribute to our fundamental knowledge ot these building blocks of matter. Molecular structure-activity correlation research, such as Chua's, is important because it enables pharmaceutical chemists to design drugs and other substances for specific application. There is growing interest worldwide in finding new, active substances from plants for medicial use, or as model structures to guide the synthesis of new therapeutic agents. Chua isolates pure substances from plant extracts and determines their structure through sophisticated techniques and instruments. Being extremely rich in diverse plant species and natural products, the Philippines is an ideal place for his studies. The wonders of chemistry never fails to fascinate the philisopher in Chua. "When I extract materials from the roots or seeds of a medicial plant, then separate the components, I see beautiful crystals appear. Really beautiful," says Chua, his face mirroring the marvel he perceives in the way atoms obey nature when they come together and arrage themselves in the orderly pattern that characterizes crystalline structures. Notwithstading his extremely busy life, Chua continues to teach chemistry at the Ateneo. "I like helping form minds," he mused. "I teach not just chemistry, but the value of hard work and careful thinking, based on facts." And that is what sound science is about. In different, uncounted ways, Pipac has influence the Filipino quality of life for the better. There is Modesto Chua, the ulitimate chemist, to thank for that. Behind the institution is the man, whose aspirations have guided its course across a quarter century. In the end we find that the values Pipac has stood for through the years are Chua's, too: integrity, respect for work, professionalism, social conscience, and total dedication to excellence in every endeavor. (excerpts from Ching Sales and Fran Ng, PIPAC:
Chemistry Works for Industry, See also Dr. Chua named Outstanding Chemist for 2001
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