Batchmate
Profile: Dr. Reynaldo R. Rey-Matias
Regarding
Rey
He has unassumingly and
steadily wound his way up the ladder of
his dreams and advocacy while eluding
our notice. To discuss him, one must
discuss his chosen profession, a passion
he has devoted his life into. A doctor
and a true academician, Dr. Reynaldo R.
Rey-Matias, President of the APPTOTS
(Assoc. of Physical Therapist and
Occupational Therapist Schools of the
Philippines), recently received a
Presidential Appointment as the Chairman
of the Philippine Board of Examiners in
Physical Therapy & Occupational
Therapy. The first Thomasian to be so
honored.
More than two decades
before such honor, Rey was amongst us as
fellow USTHS80 class member, disciplined
and distinguished even then and was a
consistent member of the afternoon
session’s pilot class. He graduated
with honors, was one of the founders of
the Tanghalan Santo Tomas - the high
school theatre guild, and the Pilipino
Editor of the Aquinian. Born to Engr.
Virgilio T. Rey-Matias and Dr. Milagros
R. Matias, both of Bulacan, Rey spent
his primary years in San Beda before he
transferred to the University of Santo
Tomas for his secondary education and
there remained loyal till he got his
M.D. Early in life, he knew he wanted
to be a doctor just like his beloved
mother. After high school, Rey set his
heart into entering a relatively new
field in the medical-allied field;
Physical Therapy, where he hoped to make
a dent and leave his legacy. Many of
his PT classmates were his high school
peers, all one in acknowledging him as a
gentleman of the first order.
In his third year in
Physical Therapy, Rey’s friendship with
classmate Elisabeth Villanueva took an
interesting twist. Beth belongs to
USTHS Class 80 too. Both took up
Physical Therapy after high school, and
while Rey continued to Medicine Proper,
Beth went to the United States as a
licensed physical therapist and there
taught for two years. In 1990, they got
married. Meantime, Beth was left alone
in the US studying for the State Board
and while waiting for her date with the
stork. Few weeks before she was to give
birth, Rey fetched her and brought her
back home. The couple is now blessed
with three daughters; Beatrice, 15 years
old, Isabel, 12 yrs old and Alyssa, 6
years old.
In between raising a
family, Rey took his Residency at the
Philippine General Hospital specializing
in Rehabilitation Medicine, graduated
and passed the board. Con-currently,
aside from his latest Presidential
appointment, he is the APPTOTS
President, the Chairman of East Avenue
Rehabilitation Medicine Department, the
Vice Chairman of St. Luke’s
Rehabilitation Medicine Department & the
Dean of De Los Santos College of
Physical Therapy. He had also served as
the Chairman of the Jose Reyes
Rehabilitation Medicine Department. He
is actively espousing and working on the
upgrade of the Philippine Physical
Therapy curriculum. This will make our
PT graduates immediately eligible to
take state exams in the US and other
first world countries and practice. He
is pursuing, together with fellow
Thomasian, Jojo Sayson, the opening of
Masters Program in Physical Therapy in
the country under the aegis of Ola
Grimsby Institute of Physical Therapy in
Utah, USA.
His other advocacies,
past and present, include empowering the
deaf and other differently-abled
persons, pain management and
rehabilitation of arthritic and stroke
patients, post traumatic brain injury,
cardiovascular therapy for women, low
back pain rehabilitation, and had served
as speaker and resource person on the
said topics in international and local
medical fora. Interestingly, Rey has
written and published the Comparative
Analysis of Carpometacarpal Movement
during Texting using 2 Different Keypad
Measure Between Novice and Expert for
the UP College of Kinetics.
As the newly appointed
chairman of the board of examiners, Rey,
true to form, takes a safe steady
course; conscientiously reviewing the
questionnaires, screening the
procedures, crafting and selecting
pertinent and most relevant questions,
and setting a personal discipline of
storing 10 questions in the test bank
daily. Recent controversy in the 2006
Nursing Licensure Exam had stained and
put in serious question the PRC’s
capability, as another computation error
marred the Safety Engineering Exam,
however this bi-annual licensure exams
in PT & OT will not suffer the same fate
as long as Dr. Rey Rey-Matias is at the
helm. It will not find a better man to
ensure the integrity of this sacred
office.
Whereas ambition is a
quality prized in this world; Rey is
simply determined to excel. Image
building; to be thought of as fair and
good can be cleverly planned, Rey is
fair and good, plain and square. As a
leader, Rey upholds service, encouraging
all and bringing out the best from his
people.
Self-effacing, Rey who
does not mind to go unnoticed and to be
counted last, will find himself,
acknowledged – first!
From the batchmates
Dr. Reynaldo Rey-Matias –
by Jojo Sayson
USTHSbatch
1980
-
St. Charles 421
Rey,
as he is fondly called has always been a
quiet and humble man. From his
beginnings in UST High School, one can
never miss the genuine smile and
friendship this man could offer. He is
well known for always willingly offering
to host get-togethers at his home from
high school to college. This reflects
Rey‘s sense of family, unity, and
devotion to his friends. He is always
wanting to extend a relationship of
trust to those around him that is why
his subdued but constant glow seem to
draw people into his fine circle of
friends. His constancy is akin to a
torch that never dies. It is not in
Rey’s personality to brag for he has a
simple but sincere demeanor. Always with
a vision to move forward and leave a
legacy of goodness. His thoughtfulness
and consideration to others has always
been his medal of honor with belief in
God as his first priority and love for
the Philippines as his beacon. This man
is a joyful husband, loving father, an
impartial and calculative leader, a
visionary, devoted friend, but most of
all, a true Thomasian.
