Michael Tee, MD, MHPED, MBA, a doctor of internal medicine-rheumatology, has been appointed as the new chancellor of UP Manila, succeeding newly declared National Scientist Carmencita Padilla, a clinical geneticist and pediatrician, who will finish her third term as the chancellor of the UP constituent university on October 31, 2023.
The UP Manila community congratulated Tee, currently the UP Manila Vice Chancellor for Planning and Development, in its Facebook page on October 5, 2023, after the UP Board of Regents, the University’s highest governing body, approved his appointment for a term of three years in a special meeting earlier that day.
Other social media posts greeting him included that of the UP Manila Alumni Association (UPMAS): “Congratulations, UPMAS President Dr. Michael Tee, on your appointment as 12th chancellor of UP Manila!” Others said: “Congrats, idol Michael Tee! Youngest UP Manila chancellor in their history!” “Yes, congrats to my rheumatologist who has saved my life countless of times since 2018. Grabe, deserved talaga!”
Before his appointment as Vice Chancellor in 2014, Tee had served as: Assistant to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Director for Public Affairs, and PGH spokesperson from 2004 to 2010; the editor-in-chief of the UP Manila Journal for the 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014 issues; and, Director of the UP Manila Information, Publication, and Public Affairs Office in 2011 and from 2014 to 2015.
He earned his BS Biology in UP Diliman in 1993, his Doctor of Medicine in UP Manila in 1998, his Masters in Health Professions Education in UP Manila in 2007, and his Master in Business Administration in UP Diliman in 2015.
Tee was part of a breakthrough international clinical trial that paved the way for the registration of a rheumatoid arthritis drug, similarly effective to infliximab but at less than third of the cost. According to the program of an international conference on environment and human health, Tee’s research interests originally focused on autoimmune diseases such as lupus, gout, and rheumatoid arthritis. However, as COVID19 developed into a pandemic, Tee initiated several studies that aimed to guide policy directions in government response.