INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEPROSY^ Volume 52, Number 2Printed in the U.S.A.

OBITUARY

Jose Guerrero Tolentino, M.D.1900-1983

Dr. Jose Guer-rero Tolentino, oneof the few interim-

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tionally known Fil-ipino leprologists,died on April 30,1983, at the age of83. He was born inMasingal, Ilocos

911"^Sur, Philippines,on March 16, 1900.

He took his medical course at the Univer-sity of the Philippines and graduated in1926. Shortly after graduation, he joined thegovernment service and served as a residentphysician at the Southern Islands Hospital,Cebu City, for three years. He joined leprosywork thereafter, by being appointed as a Se-nior Physician of the Culion Leper Colonywhere he served for two years. He was trans-ferred to Eversley Childs Sanitarium wherehe served as Resident Physician for eightyears. He was promoted later to becomeChief, Eversley Childs Sanitarium and, con-currently, Physician-in-Charge of the CebuSkin Clinic, a position he held for 12 yearsuntil he retired from government service in1949. Before he was appointed as ResearchLeprologist of the Leonard Wood Memorialin 1951, he was an Assistant Director of theCebu Velez General Hospital. In 1963, hebecame Chief of the Clinical ResearchBranch of the Leonard Wood Memorial, aposition he held up to the time of his re-tirement in 1971.

Dr. Tolentino had conducted a series ofclinical evaluation studies on the efficacy ofnew drugs in the treatment of lepromatousleprosy at the Leonard Wood Memorial un-der the direction of Drs. Doull and Binford.He also collaborated with others in variousresearch projects conducted at the LeonardWood Memorial which have helped con-siderably in the better understanding of theclinical aspect and treatment of leprosy.

He was credited with 17 publications andco-authored 20 papers on leprosy. He at-tended the International Congresses of Lep-

rosy, Tokyo (1958), Rio de Janeiro (1963),London (1968), as well as the WHO Inter-Regional Postgraduate Training Course,Eastern Pacific Region, Manila, in 1961 aslecturer and the WHO First Regional Sem-inar on Leprosy Control, Manila, in 1965as a consultant, and many other interna-tional conferences where he read papersdealing with the clinical aspects and therapyof leprosy. He was included in the roster ofthe "Senior Distinguished Contributors inthe Centennial Festskri ft" of the Interna-tional Leprosy Association. Aside from hislifelong interest in leprosy, he was active inmedical education and co-founded the CebuInstitute of Medicine and the Cebu VelezCollege of Nursing where he served until1980 as one of the members of the Boardof Trustees. He also served as President ofthe Cebu Medical Society in 1963.

Dr. Tolentino was a humble, conscien-tious, unassuming gentleman who enjoyedthe esteem and affection of his patients andcolleagues alike. He was loved and respect-ed by everyone who knew him. He was verymuch a family man and medicine seemedto be the dominant force in the family. Heis survived by his wife, Consolacion, a nursewhom he met when he was a resident atSouthern Islands Hospital, and his five chil-dren: Ernesto, a proctologist; Carmen, apharmacist married to an EENT specialist;Lucia, an internist married to a psychiatrist;Leticia, a nurse married to an internist; andMariano, an internist and Consultant inMedicine, Leonard Wood Memorial, mar-ried to an OB-GYN specialist.

— Rodolfo M. Abalos

DR. GERALD P. WALSH, as AssistantLaboratory Director of the Leonard WoodMemorial-Eversley Childs Sanitarium Lep-rosy Research Laboratory from 1967 to1968, and Laboratory Director 1970-1972,writes:

I first met Dr. Tolentino in 1967 whenhe was Chief of the Clinical Research

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Branch of the Leonard Wood MemorialLeprosy Research Foundation in Cebu,Philippines. I was assigned to the labo-ratory which provided support servicesfor the clinical studies evaluating variousregimes of dapsonc, B663, and rifampinin untreated lepromatous patients. Pe-riodically, Dr. Tolentino would convenethe professional staff to review the pa-tients on the different regimes, pointingout the salient features of the disease andthe patient's response to therapy. He wasa methodical teacher and his thoroughexplanations and careful attention to de-tail made these sessions informative forall who worked with him. We all admiredDr. Tolentino's clinical expertise dem-onstrated in these sessions, but one qual-ity that was outstanding was the warmthand concern shown by Dr. Tolentino forhis patients. In addition to treating theirphysical problems, he also tried to easethe psychological and social stresses socommon among leprosy patients. Dr. To-lentino often asked his patients about theirfamilies and would try to arrange trans-portation for families to visit patients ifthat was needed. He would also ask aboutany problems patients had with others atthe hospital and would attempt to alle-viate tensions. It was common to see apatient leaving Dr. Tolentino's with a lookof relief and often a smile thanks to theunderstanding of this physician who ded-icated his entire professional career to thecare and treatment of leprosy patients.His dedication and concern for his pa-tients earned him a special place in theirhearts. He will be long remembered forhis kindness and compassion.

This kindness was also evident in hispersonal life. He was devoted to his wifeand family, and was deeply loved and re-spected by his children. My wife and Ispent numerous evenings with Dr. andMrs. Tolentino, who frequently enter-tained scientists and other individualsvisiting the Leonard Wood facilities. Theywere a gracious family and made everyeffort to see that visitors felt welcome.

He was a quiet and humble man whowill be long remembered by those whoknew him.

CHAPMAN H. BINFORD, M.D., who,

as Medical Director of the Leonard WoodMemorial, collaborated with Dr. Tolentinofrom 1963 until 1971, adds the following:

The death of Dr. Tolentino ended animportant period in leprology that beganin 1922 when Major General LeonardWood, Governor General of the Philip-pines, persuaded Dr. H. Windsor Wade,Head of Pathology and Bacteriology atthe University of the Philippines, to bringthe scientific medicines of that time to the7000 neglected patients with leprosy iso-lated at the Culion Sanitarium. Dr. JoseN. Rodriguez joined General Wood thatyear, and in 1930 Dr. Tolentino joinedWade and Rodriguez at Culion as a seniorphysician. In 1933 Dr. Ricardo Guintobegan with Dr. J. A. Doull an epidemi-ologic study of leprosy in the Municipal-ity of Cordova, on Mactan Island, Cebu.These four physicians, one an adoptedFilipino and the others native born, whotogether devoted more than 200 years toupgrading the practice of leprology, con-tinuously seeking new approaches to thescientific investigation of the disease,brought high honor and international rec-ognition to the Philippines.

In 1951 Dr. J. A. Doull, Medical Di-rector of the Leonard Wood Memorial(LWM), obtained funds from the UnitedStates Public Health Service and othersources to undertake an internationalproject to evaluate the efficacy in leprosyof the recently introduced sulfone, dap-sone (DDS), which had not been subject-ed to a scientifically controlled drug trial.Doull had the foresight to recognize inDr. Tolentino the personal and profes-sional qualities needed for a day-to-dayclinical chief of an experimental chemo-therapy program and therefore appointedhim Research Leprologist of the LWM.Dr. Tolentino was invited to join theWorking Clinical Conference on the eval-uation of drugs used for the treatment ofleprosy, a meeting that the LWM and theJapanese Ministry of Health were con-vening in Japan in September 1952. Thisconference brought together leprologistsand other scientists from Japan, the Phil-ippines, South Africa, and the UnitedStates who had agreed to collaborate inthe international study which would in-

248^ International Journal of Leprosy^ 1984

elude nearly 1000 lepromatous leprosypatients in Japan, South Africa, and thePhilippines.

After preliminary meetings in Tokyo,the Working Clinical Conference con-vened in two leprosaria on the Inland Sea,Aisen-en (Director, Dr. K. Mitsuda) andKomyo-en (Director, Dr. R. Jinju). Forten days the conferees, following Dr.Doull's meticulously prepared agenda,enthusiastically discussed the many pro-cedures required for operating success-fully an international study designed toevaluate several antileprotic drugs. Thestudy was to be conducted in three coun-tries, using identical methods and validcontrols. This conference provided Dr.Tolentino with background training in themethodology and monitoring of clinicalprojects in experimental chemotherapy.

Dr. Tolentino was a precise clinical ob-server who accurately recorded his ob-servations. Patients trusted him implic-itly. Each patient was approachedprofessionally in a friendly manner. Hissincere sympathetic concern for his pa-tients was reflected in the manner in whichthe nurses and attendants in his clinictreated the patients.

Patients participating in the clinicalevaluation studies of the LWM joined thestudies voluntarily and could freely with-draw from the trials. During the yearswhen I was the Medical Director of theLWM, I do not recall that at any time wasthere ever a problem caused by patientsleaving the studies.

Dr. Tolentino's scientific publicationswere clear and succinct. He was, there-fore, an invaluable participant in the la-borious organization of the data andpreparation of the manuscripts for pub-lication. During the two decades follow-ing the Working Clinical Conference inJapan in 1952, six comprehensive eval-uation series were published in theINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEPROSY byDr. Doull and his co-workers. Dr. Tolen-tino played an essential role in all of these.

In addition to the evaluation series, Dr.Tolentino contributed to many otherstudies. Noteworthy among these, he as-sisted Dr. C. C. Shepard in the clinicaltrials that established the efficacy ofDADDS, a repository sulfone (now namedacedapsone) that is administered by in-tramuscular injection every 77 days (Am.J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 17:192-201, 1968).

A major contribution by Dr. Tolentino,with the collaboration of Dr. J. N. Ro-driguez and Dr. R. M. Abalos, was a long-term (four years) evaluation of Lam-prene(1̀) (clofazamine) compared withdapsone (IJL 39:738-741, 1971). Thisstudy showed that Lamprene0 could begiven safely and that its efficacy againstleprosy was comparable to dapsone. Thesignificance of this long-term study is ob-vious because it showed that Lamprene®is an effective drug that can be safely usedin dapsone-resistant patients, for at leastfour years.

Dr. Jose G. Tolentino, in 41 years ded-icated to the practice and science of lep-rology, amply earned the right to be placedalong with Wade, Rodriguez, and Guintoamong the renowned leprologists of thePhilippines and of the world.

During the years of my association withthe staff of the Philippine Division of theLWM, I made many trips to Cebu. Amongmany pleasant memories of those tripsare informal evening visits with Dr. andMrs. Tolentino who lived only a blockfrom my hotel. The conversation fre-quently turned to past events in their livesand their experiences in caring for pa-tients with leprosy during the war years.Frequently when consultants and otherscientists visited the Philippines Divisionof the LWM in Cebu, Dr. and Mrs. To-lentino invited them to their gracioushome where they were served a "long tobe remembered" Philippine dinner andexperienced true Philippine hospitality.