BY CHRYSEE G. SAMILLANO
The topnotcher and another Negrense passer of the recent Physician Licensure Examination both come from a family of doctors.
Inez Benedicto, who topped this year’s PLE with a rating of 87.83 percent, yesterday said her maternal grandfather was also doctor but the kindness extended by doctors to her and her family when her mother and grandmother were sick, as well as her exposure to her physician professors in college, inspired her to pursue medicine.
Meanwhile, another passer, Sharmaine Light Vergara is the daughter of assistant Bacolod City Health Officer Dr. Jovy Vergara and Dr. Nanette Ragot-Vergara. She is also the granddaughter of Dr. Alfonso Vergara of Isabela, Neg. Occ.
Sharmaine Vergara graduated from the Cebu Institute of Medicine. Her mother is a dentist while her older brother is also a doctor, a Diplomate in Internal Medicine. He is now on training as a Fellow in Endocrinology in Cebu.
Benedicto, who graduated from West Visayas State University in Iloilo City, shared the same spot in this year’s PLE with Jude Philip Pozon Cebrecus from the Cebu Institute of Medicine in Cebu City.
She plans to practice medicine in the country and also wants to go into Internal Medicine and specialize in gastroenterology or endocrinology. She is not also ruling out dermatology, she said.
However, Benedicto said that as of now, she wants to enjoy this special moment and rest for a while to regain her health – physically, emotionally and mentally. She wants to be fit and ready when she finally commits to residency training that would last another three years.
“I have been receiving a lot of work offers after I topped the board exam so I just want to take my time and to think clearly before making a very important decision,” she said.
Benedicto represented La Carlota in the Lin-ay sang Negros pageant in 2013.*
