by Kevin Fernandez, PHI '08B

Brod Gerardo “Gap” Dizon Legaspi ϕ83, or “Superman Neurosurgeon”, as Brod Iggy Agbayani ϕ86 fondly calls him, has been recently named as the President of the 15^th ASEAN Society of Neurosurgeons and the President of the Academy of Filipino Neurosurgeons. To be selected as the leader of the aforementioned institutions is deemed highly prestigious. He has not only brought honor to himself and his family but also to the brotherhood of the Phi Kappa Mu. The fraternity is proud to have him as its adviser.

Brod Gap graduated from high school in 1979 from La Salle Greenhills. He attended college at the University of the Philippines Diliman, taking up BS Biology, and graduated cum laude in 1983. He remained loyal to his college alma mater and attended medical school at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine (UPCM) in 1983. He showed his sense of leadership, being selected as the President of UPCM Class of 1987. In the same year, he made one of the best decisions in his life – joining the Phi Kappa Mu. Brod Gap cruised through med school, finishing as an Outstanding Graduate in Clinical Clerkship in 1987. He chose to be a neurosurgeon and had his neurosurgical training at the Section of Neurosurgery of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), finishing in 1993. He then obtained an International Masters Degree in neurovascular diseases at Paris SUD-Mahidol University. From 1999 to 2003, he became Training Officer of the UP-PGH Section of Neurosurgery and eventually became the Chief of the section from 2004 to 2008. In 2008, he founded the Pediatric Neurosurgical and Craniofacial Operating Unit of PGH. He is currently a professor of the UPCM and was selected as the 2010 UPMASA Outstanding Teacher in the Clinical Sciences. He bagged the same award in 2005.

In 2004, Brod Gap made his mark in the field of Philippine Neurosurgery as he became the First Filipino Neurosurgeon to lecture in Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts. His lecture was entitled “Keyhole Approaches to Anterior Circulation Aneurysms”, and was held during the Grand Rounds of the Harvard Medical System/Brigham Women’s Hospital. He also presented the same lecture in Nagoya, Japan in 2005 during the 3^rd International Congress of Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery. He has had many other lectures in other countries, which include Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan, and Malaysia. He also has achievements in the field of research, having published 7 papers about cerebrovascular diseases, neuro-oncology, and pediatric neurosurgery.

Aside from all of Brod Gap’s achievements, it is worthy to mention that he has remained loyal to the Philippine General Hospital and the UP College of Medicine. According to him, he has been inspired by all of the faculty members in the college. Quoting Brod Gap: “I have been inspired by all our faculty members in the college to make the UPCM and PGH my base hospital. Working here has fulfilled my life's goals of teaching, volunteer work and even steady income. I dream of PGH where the very rich and the very poor will have no second thoughts of going to and will have the same chances of being attended to by world class surgeons.” Clearly, Brod Gap is a man of vision, and both the UPCM and UP-PGH are lucky to have him as one of its loyal constituents. To add to that, the fraternity is likewise proud to have him as a brod and an adviser. Surely, he will continue to make an impact in the field of Neurosurgery, and in the lives of his family, friends, colleagues, students and his patients.

Brod, you make us proud.

Gerardo Dizon Legaspi is married to Anna Recto Legaspi, an occupational therapist. They have three children – Enrico, 14, Isabela, 13, and Joaquin, 9. His other interests include music (saxophone, guitar, and flute-playing), mountain biking, running (he was a sweaterman of the UP Track and Field Varsity in 1983), motorbike riding, and horticulture.