ConGen Ferrer meets with USF president

PHILIPPINE Consul General in San Francisco Neil Ferrer met with the President of the University of San Francisco (USF), Reverend Paul J. Fitzgerald, S.J. on Wednesday, March 1 at the USF campus.

During the meeting, ConGen Ferrer and Rev. Fitzgerald exchanged views on a wide range of issues, including education, cultural exchange, and Philippines-U.S. bilateral relations, especially trade and investment. They also discussed opportunities for collaboration between the Consulate and USF.

Consul General Ferrer and the leaders of the USF Center for Business Studies and Innovation in Asia-Pacific (CBSI-AP), led by its director, Dr. Xiaohua Yang, also held a meeting to discuss potential areas of cooperation.

Some faculty members, Filipino students at USF, and officers of USF’s International Student and Scholar Services as well as Marketing Services, joined the meeting.

Consul Vanessa Bago-Llona and Trade Commissioner in

Silicon Valley joined the meetings.

CBSI-AP is USF’s research center that focuses on international business and a platform for connecting scholars, practitioners, policymakers, students and alumni.

The USF is a private Jesuit university located in the heart of San Francisco, California. (PCGSF Release)

SOUTH SAN

Francisco

– Philippine Consul General in San Francisco Neil Ferrer and South San Francisco City

Mayor Buenaflor Nicolas met with Filipino co-founder of U.S. biotech company InterVenn Aldo Carrascoso at its headquarters in South San Francisco.

InterVenn is a biotech company founded by Carrascoso, Nobel Laureate Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi and distinguished UC Davis professor and scientist Filipino American Dr. Carlito Lebrilla.

Philippine Trade Commissioner in Silicon Valley Celynne Layug and Consul Vanessa BagoLlona also joined the meeting with Carrascoso and InterVenn Biosciences Chief Information and Security Officer, Randy Barr.

The group was given a tour of InterVenn Biosciences. They also discussed possible areas of cooperation and community engagement. Aside from its headquarters in South San Francisco, Intervenn is located in the Philippines, Malaysia, Australia, and San Diego in

Southern California.

According to Carrascoso, he is proud of Filipino tech talent and his company employs a number of software engineers, data scientists, and other IT professionals in the Philippines.

InterVenn is a life science company that pioneered a “proprietary, artificial intelligencebased, high-throughput data processing engine unlocking the value of glycoproteomics.”

Glycoproteomics is a highly complex field of study that can enhance the early detection, treatment and monitoring for various cancers and other diseases.

The company has developed various healthcare solutions, including a liquid-biopsy diagnostic test called GLORI™ for ovarian cancer.

WHAT is depression?

Depression is a state of emotion where the individual has some or all of the following senses, feelings or moods: downhearted, unhappy, anxious, irritable, unable to concentrate, socially withdrawn, empty inside, has inordinate fatigue and reduced interest in activities which used to be fun, hopelessness, indecision, impaired sleep, misery, helplessness, confusion, monosyllabic speech or abnormally quiet.

What is morbid mood?

The morbid mood in depression may be so severe that the patient is unable to cry (tears dry up) or to feel the usual emotions like pleasure, grief or joy. The whole world appears lifeless and colorless to the patient, who could be pre-occupied with a sense of guilt and self-denigrating and destructive ideas.

What is melancholia?

It used to be called endogenous depression. Its features include marked slowness in thinking and activity, agitation, worthlessness, weight loss, restlessness, wringing of the hands, inability to experience pleasure or wellbeing, difficulty falling asleep and has insomnia following arousal from sleep, and diminished or loss of sexual desire. The patient usually has the feeling of guilt that he/she has committed a grave crime, with hallucinations (voices of people accusing the patient of bad deeds, or condemning him/ her to death; others believe that they have incurable diseases like cancer or AIDs). Very rarely, the patient with this psychotic depression kills family members (“to save them from future misfortunes in life”) and kills himself/herself.

How rampant is depression?

In the United States, depression affects about 17 million Americans. In the Philippines, about ten percent of young adults have moderate to severe depression in 2022, about 3.6 million of the population. More than two-thirds to 75% of them do not benefit from proper therapy because of the patient’s inability to seek counseling, misunderstanding of the condition, or misdiagnosis. Most people do not seek professional help because the condition is very common and many of them are mild or subclinical (with no obvious symptoms). Sometimes, even physicians miss making the correct diagnosis in earnest, thinking the patient’s complaints could be due to some medication interaction.