Fernando B. Garcia, Jr PhD, MPA

Professor Fernando B. Garcia, Jr. joined the Department as Assistant Professor in 2008. He finished his Bachelor of Science degree, major in Economics (1997) and Master of Public Administration degree specializing in Spatial Information Management (2006) both at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Through a research fellowship in Urban Planning and Land Administration and as part of his graduate study track, he was sent to International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), the Netherlands, to build his thesis technical aspect utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In the said course, he was exposed to various GIS applications on topics such as health, safety, disaster and cadastral management.

After earning his Master’s degree, Prof. Garcia pursued advance studies by enrolling in the Doctoral degree of the National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG) at UP Diliman. During the course of his dissertation writing at UP NCPAG, an opportunity to study in Australia, with scholarships from National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) project grant, opens up to him. He is currently doing his PhD in Public Health specializing in Health Economics at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia. Recently, he was chosen as one of the awardees of the QUT Faculty of Health Awards for Academic Year 2014 in relation to his ongoing research study entitled, “An Economic Evaluation of Multi-Parasite Control Strategies in the Philippines”.

He has been involved as investigator in several research projects such as Validation System for LGU Scorecard (DOH-UNICEF), Malaria Program Expenditures Study (WHO), Burden of Disease of Cardio Vascular Diseases and Diabetes Mellitus in the Philippines (DOH), and Conduct Climate Change for the MDG Achievement Fund (DOH-UNFPA). Some of the extension works he has involved with include Urban Health Equity (DAP), Financial Management (DOH), Health Sector Reform and Sustainable Financing (DAP-DOH-WHO), International Approaches to Health Financing and Health Insurance (Inwent), and Health Economics (Association of Medical Social Workers of the Phils., Inc.).