Filipino Chemist - Dr. Solita Camara-Besa

Managing to distinguish herself in the field of biochemistry, Dr. Solita Camara- Besa was the first Filipina to receive distinction in this field that was previously only accessible to men. She received a medical degree from the University of the Philippines in 1938, and then went on to pursue a Master's degree in Biological Chemistry at the University of Michigan in 1940. In Dr. Camara-Besa's work throughout the years, there has been a heavy emphasis on nutrition in the Philippines. By looking at nutritional elements on an individual level, she has been able to establish new standards in diets for local people.

One of the specific areas of nutrition that Dr. Solita Camara-Besa studied extensively was the cholesterol levels of different foods in the Filipino diet. She published eight papers that discussed this issue, encouraging the idea that fats and cholesterol in the diet could lead to atherosclerosis in Filipinos. This was then also combined with further knowledge and research into the sodium and potassium content of other foods that are typical to the Filipino diet. To help collect this information, Dr. Camara-Besa conducted a nationwide serum cholesterol survey of the population. This helped lead to the results that were then published in her papers.

In 2004, Dr. Solita Camara-Besa published a memoir entitled "Up Close with Me," which was published by the University of the Philippines Press. This detailed her work as a woman and a Filipina and all that she had accomplished throughout her busy lifetime in helping boost the nutrition levels of the people around her. She has worked as a medical educator for women doctors as well, and was the chair of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine Curriculum Committee for over three decades, helping shape what is taught to aspiring doctors and nutritionists.

Some of the published studies that Dr. Solita Camara-Besa has taken part in include various studies on vitamin C, including its content in regular Filipino blood, compared to maternal blood or those individuals with leprosy. In 1953 she released a bibliography of nutrition and its related topics, with a heavy emphasis on experimental research topics in nutrition. In the 1950's she also began her work on the sodium and potassium content that is present in various Philippine foods, and compared the dry ashing and wet ashing techniques of the extraction process for electrolytes, along with a potassium analysis of human hearts.