Alberto del Gallego Romualdez Jr. (September 14, 1940 – October 14, 2013) was a Filipino physician who served as the

Secretary of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate Minister of Mental Health, ...

from 1998 to 2001 in the Cabinet of President

Joseph Estrada Joseph Ejercito Estrada (; born Jose Marcelo Ejercito; April 19, 1937), also known by the nickname Erap, is a Filipino politician and former actor, who served as the 13th president of the Philippines from 1998 until his resignation in 2001. ...

. From 1981 to 1984, he was the director of the

Research Institute for Tropical Medicine The Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM; ) is a health research facility based in Muntinlupa, Philippines. History Establishment By the early 1980s, negotiations between "mutually interested parties" within the governments of the ...

. He was a member of the Romualdez political family.

Early life and education

Romualdez was the eldest of the seven children of Alberto Zialcita Romualdez Sr., a former secretary general of the

World Medical Association The World Medical Association (WMA) is an international and independent confederation of free professional medical associations representing physicians worldwide. WMA was formally established on September 17, 1947 and has grown to 115 national me ...

, and Covadonga del Gallego, a former chairman of the Pathology Department of the

University of Santo Tomas Hospital The University of Santo Tomas Hospital (''simply'' UST Hospital or USTH) is a hospital located at the University of Santo Tomas. The hospital has two divisions, a clinical teaching hospital that offers inexpensive medical care for indigent pa ...

. Among his siblings are footballer

Johnny Romualdez Juan Miguel "Johnny" del Gallego Romualdez was a former Philippine international footballer and former President of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). Early life and education Johnny Romualdez was born to a family of doctors and was the se ...

and Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez. He was a scion of the prominent Romualdez political clan of

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

and

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...

. His uncle Daniel Jr. was House Speaker from 1956 to 1962 while his grandfather Miguel served as Manila mayor during the American colonial period and Leyte assemblyman during the Commonwealth era. A great-uncle, Norberto Sr., served as justice of the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. He was also a distant nephew of former First Lady

Imelda Marcos Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitación Trinidad Romuáldez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who was First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power after her husband Ferdinand ...

; his second cousins include Speaker

Martin Romualdez Ferdinand Martin Gomez Romualdez (, born November 14, 1963) is a Filipino businessman, lawyer, and politician who has served as the 24th Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, speaker of the House of Representatives since 2 ...

, Chamber of Mines of the Philippines President Benjamin Philip Romualdez Jr., President

Bongbong Marcos Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr. (, , ; born September 13, 1957), commonly referred to by the initials BBM or PBBM, is a Filipino politician who has served as the 17th president of the Philippines since 2022. He is the second child ...

, Senator

Imee Marcos Maria Imelda Josefa Remedios "Imee" Romualdez Marcos-Manotoc (; born November 12, 1955) is a Filipino politician and film producer serving as a Senate of the Philippines, senator since 2019. She previously served as governor of Ilocos Norte ...

and

Tacloban Tacloban ( ; ), officially the City of Tacloban (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city on Leyte island in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, Tacloban has a popu ...

Mayor Alfred Romualdez. Romualdez earned his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in Biological Sciences from Ateneo de Manila University and his

Doctor of Medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...

degree from the

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; ) is a Higher education in the Philippines#State universities and colleges, state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by List of Philippine laws, Re ...

. He had further education in the United States: Tumor Immunology at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

and Membrane Biophysics at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

Career

His started working at the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...

as a Medical Adviser (1979–1982) for the Minister for Health. He was also the director of the

between 1981 and 1984.

Personal life and death

Romualdez was survived by his wife Peachy and their children. Romualdez died at the age of 73 on October 14, 2013, in Manila Doctors Hospital two days after a heart attack. The exact cause of death was not released by the media, but there were reports of his suffering from lymphoma.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romualdez, Alberto 1940 births 2013 deaths Filipino tropical physicians Secretaries of health of the Philippines Estrada administration cabinet members University of the Philippines alumni Ateneo de Manila University alumni University of Connecticut alumni Harvard Medical School alumni 20th-century Filipino medical doctors 21st-century Filipino medical doctors Filipino people of Spanish descent Romualdez family