Today in History: ARTURO B ROTOR

Today in History
by Indio Historian

Arturo B Rotor
This day June 7 1907, Arturo B. Rotor, medical doctor (the first Filipino allergist), short story writer, orchidist, musician, and former Executive Secretary of the Philippine War Cabinet under Presidents Quezon and Osmeña, was born in Sampaloc, Manila.d
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#TodayinHistory by Indio Historian

            
Left photo: Dr Arturo B Rotor (extreme right) attends a cabinet meeting presided by the ailing President Quezon; Right. Dr Rotor accompanies remains of the late President Quezon from Washington DC to Manila, soon after the reestablishment of the Philippine Commonwealth government, with Dr Rotor retaining his post as Executive secretary under President Osmeña.
  

Photos:- Rotor, close up photo, circa 1944
- Pres. Quezon and his War Cabinet, with Rotor on the rightmost side,
circa 1944, from the Presidential Museum & Library
- Rotor with Pres Osmeña, as Manuel L. Quezon’s remains arrive in
Union Station, August 1944
TodayinHistory by Indio Historian
This day in 1907, Arturo B. Rotor, medical doctor (the first Filipino allergist), short story writer, orchidist, musician, and former Executive Secretary of the Philippine War Cabinet under Presidents Quezon and Osmeña, was born in Sampaloc, Manila.

Rotor was a graduate of the UP Conservatory of Music and College of Medicine. But he has long expressed his thoughts in writing. His short stories such as "Dahong Palay" (1928), "Zita" (1930), and "The Wound and the Scar" (1937) published by the Philippine Book Guild, won him acclaim.

In 1941, upon the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, Pres. Manuel L. Quezon established the Commonwealth government-in-exile in Washington, D.C. There, Rotor served as the War Cabinet's Executive Secretary. He continued to serve in this capacity until the reestablishment of the Commonwealth government in Manila in March 1945.

He resumed his medical practice, and in 1948, he published his research at John Hopkins Medicine, about the rare form of jaundice, which was soon named after him—the Rotor Syndrome.
He served as director of the UP Postgraduate School of Medicine, and was a pioneer of Allergology. To promote allergy/immunology as subspecialty, Rotor founded the Philippine Society of Allergology and Immunology (which was reorganized into the Philippine Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology or PSAAI).

While practicing medicine, Rotor continued his literary pursuits. His "Confidentially, Doctor"(1965), and his older works republished in 1973, and "The Men Who Play God" (1983) were all inspired by his experience among patients, with anecdotes and stories of compassion and courage.

Recognizing his immense contribution to Philippine literature as one of the country's greatest short story writers of the 20th century, Rotor was awarded the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1966. He passed away on April 9, 1988.