When Dr. Jose Brittanio “Brix” S. Pujalte Jr. takes the helm at the Department of Health (DOH) this month, he will arrive with the conventional credentials of his predecessors: decades of orthopedic surgery, a master’s degree in hospital administration, and a long tenure as the chief of a major medical center. Yet, the intellectual framework he brings to the cabinet office was not forged in a clinical laboratory or a surgical suite.

It was formed in 1984, in the classrooms of theUP College of Arts and Letters, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities.

Part of a pre-med program then housed within the Department of Humanities Art Studies UP Dilimanan), Dr. Pujalte’s undergraduate years were defined by critical inquiry. For the new Secretary, that early immersion in the arts serves as the foundation for his medical practice.

“He has always seen the human experience as the primary text of his work,” said UP CAL Alumni Association Co-Chair Chyn San Juan. “He used arts and humanities as a lens to understand the bodies he would eventually heal.”

One of Dr. Pujalte’s mentors was Professor Felipe M. de Leon, Jr., who served as Chair of the Department of Humanities from 1976-82. Later, he became Chair of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) from 2010 to 2016.

This orientation is evident in Dr. Pujalte’s writing, most notably in Boning Down: Orthopaedic Juvenilia and Other Unusual Essays. In the collection, he treats the hospital as a cultural landscape rather than merely a site of technical intervention. His prose bridges the gap between the sterile environment of the operating room and the realities of human life.

That perspective defined his leadership during his 12-year tenure as Medical Center Chief of the Philippine Orthopedic Center (POC). While his office oversaw the facility’s modernization, including the 2022 opening of a six-story clinical building, Dr. Pujalte maintained a focus on the patient experience. He argued that the hospital’s physical infrastructure was inseparable from the dignity of those it served, a philosophy rooted in the lessons of his humanities education.

His career, spanning roles as president of the ASEAN Orthopaedic Association and the Philippine Orthopedic Association, is characterized by technical exactitude. A pioneer in shoulder and spine surgery, he operates within a subspecialty that demands precision. However, his elevation to the top of the health department comes at a time when the agency is struggling to maintain public trust.

As the government moves to implement the Universal Health Care law, Dr. Pujalte faces the logistical and bureaucratic challenges that have confronted previous administrations. His background as a student of culture provides a capacity for narrative-driven communication. In an era where health policy is often obscured by technical jargon, Dr. Pujalte is expected to favor a more nuanced approach—one that prioritizes the patient’s perspective within the broader health ecosystem.

His transition to the DOH, following the resignation of Dr. Teodoro Herbosa, places him at a juncture for the Philippine health sector. Whether this perspective can withstand the pressure of a strained national health system remains to be seen. But for a surgeon who spent his formative years analyzing the human condition, the task at the Department of Health is the continuation of a career dedicated to the intersection of the technical and the human.

For Dr. Pujalte, the journey from CAL to the cabinet is an attempt to treat the state of the nation’s health with the same deliberate, interdisciplinary attention he once applied to the humanities

Department of Health (DOH)