Charlotte M. Chiong

Charlotte M. Chiong is a Filipino otolaryngologist with a subspecialty in neurotology, focusing on hearing health, cochlear implants, and neurotological skull base surgery based in Manila, Philippines. She is best known for her research on children's implantable hearing devices, which built the foundation for the Republic Act No. 9709 of the Philippines that organized a universal screening program for hearing loss in newborns.

Education and Training
Chiong graduated summa cum laude from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1981 with her Bachelor of Science in Zoology. She then earned her Doctor of Medicine from the College of Medicine at the University of the Philippines Manila in 1985. Chiong completed her internship in medicine at the University of the Philippines Manila, Philippine General Hospital from May 1985 to April 1986. She received otolaryngology residency training from the Department of Otolaryngology at the Philippine General Hospital from January 1987 to December 1990, where she was rewarded Chief Resident and Most Outstanding Resident. Chiong then traveled to the United States to do a research fellowship in otology from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts from January 1991 to May 1992. Afterward, she moved to Canada to complete a clinical fellowship in neurotology and skull base surgery from the Sunnybrook Health Science Center at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario from July 1992 to June 1993. In 2005, Chiong migrated to Stockholm, Sweden where she earned her Master's in medical audiology from the Karolinska Institute. Before fully returning to the Philippines, she lived in the Netherlands from 2011 to 2013 to receive her PhD in medical sciences from Radboud University Nijmegen.

Career
In 1993, Chiong became an associate professor at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, where she later became Chief of Research Implementation and Development Office from 2011 to July 2012. She is a founder of the Newborn Hearing Screening Reference Center, National Institutes of Health at the University of the Philippines Manila, where she served as director from March 5, 2012 to December 1, 2018. Chiong was Vice Chancellor for Planning and Development at the University of the Philippines Manila from February 1, 2013 to November 2014. She also held the position of director at the Philippine National Ear Institute, National Institutes of Health at the University of the Philippines Manila from November 1, 2014 to December 1, 2018. Chiong is currently the Dean of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine. She is also a current Commissioner of The Lancet Commission on Global Hearing Loss.

Awards
Throughout her career, Chiong has been awarded and recognized for her work.

In 2004, Chiong received the University of the Philippines Manila Outstanding Researcher Award.

She first earned the Philippine Society of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Outstanding Award for Research and Outstanding Family Award in Otolaryngology in 2006, then later again in 2015.

In 2007, Chiong was awarded The Outstanding Filipino Physician Award.

She then won the International Award for Otology in 2011.

In 2013, Chiong was presented with the Outstanding Educator Award from the University of the Philippines Medical Alumni Society.

The University of the Philippines Alumni Association granted her the Distinguished Alumni Award in Medicine for Health Administration and Promotion in 2015.

On December 21, 2016, the University of the Philippines College of Medicine Dean Agnes D. Mejia gave Chiong the Solita Camara-Besa Award for Academic Distinction.

Chiong was a recipient of the One University of the Philippines Professorial Chair in Otology & Neurotology for Research and Public Service from 2019 to 2021.

In 2020, Chiong was named an Academician by the National Academy of Science and Technology.