Some people spend their whole lives inside the borders of the country they were born in and still feel unmoored. Others cross four continents and find their roots grow deeper with every departure. Melvin Sanicas belongs firmly to the second group. A physician-scientist from Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, he has lived outside the Philippines since the end of 2006 — and yet, by his own account, the distance has done the opposite of what distance usually does.
“Ironically, although I have lived outside the Philippines since the end of 2006, I feel more Filipino than ever,” he shares with TGFM. “The more I meet people from different cultures, the more I appreciate the values, humour, warmth, and sense of community that I grew up with.”
This year, that lifelong tension between leaving and belonging earned him a name on a distinguished list. On October 3, 2026, in Bern, Switzerland, he will be recognized as a José Rizal Heritage Award Laureate for Medical Research and Education — an honor given to individuals whose work carries forward the service, excellence, and leadership embodied by the Philippine national hero.
Stopping outbreaks before they start
Ask Melvin what he actually does, and he offers a line that cuts through the jargon of his field. “I help prevent outbreaks from happening and when they do happen, I help stop them from becoming bigger outbreaks.”
His work sits at the intersection of medical research, infectious diseases, and public health — the unglamorous, high-stakes business of turning scientific evidence into strategies that keep people alive. He studied biology and medicine at the University of the Philippines before a career carried him across Asia, Europe, the United States, and Africa. But the Bacolod-born researcher is quick to insist that laboratories and clinics were only part of his education. Patients, colleagues, and government decision-makers each taught him something a textbook could not.
“Everyone has something to teach us if we are willing to listen,” he says.
What Rizal means to a man who left
For someone who built his life abroad, the Rizal connection lands differently than a typical accolade. Rizal, after all, was a physician too — one who believed knowledge was meaningless unless it served people.
“Being named a José Rizal Heritage Award Laureate is deeply meaningful because Rizal represents the belief that knowledge should ultimately be used in service of people and society,” Melvin reflects. He sees the ideal not as excellence for its own sake, but as excellence bent toward service. Leadership, to the vaccine researcher, “is not simply about holding a position; it is about bringing people together around a shared purpose and helping turn evidence into action.”
The recognition, he adds, feels like “both an honour and a responsibility” — a reminder that being Filipino “is not defined by where we live, but by the values we carry.”
The advice he wishes more young people heard
What he tells the next generation is refreshingly free of triumphalism. Not “know everything.” Not “outwork everyone.” Instead: stay teachable.
“Develop learning agility and stay humble,” he urges. “The ability to keep learning, unlearning, adapting, and asking good questions will take you further than simply knowing the right answers today.”
He counts himself among the still-learning. “No matter how much experience you gain, there will always be someone who knows something you do not.” From a man who has spent nearly two decades chasing knowledge across the globe, it is a quietly radical thing to admit — and perhaps the most Rizalian idea of all.
