Corazon Collantes – Jose, MD (1933-2025)

Abstract

IN REQUIEM, CORAZON COLLANTES-JOSE: MOTHER

     “To lose a mother is like losing an arm…”
     July 7, 2025. It was a quiet rainy evening, when the pitter-patter of the drops hitting the pavement and the smell of grass mixed with wet earth gave a sense of peace and rest, the ping of the phone became the harbinger of bad news. “It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved mother… Dr. Corazon Collantes-Jose…at the age of 92…” The first shock took a moment before I remembered that she had been hospitalized for some time then due to bronchopneumonia. But still, we were talking about a formidable lady who barreled through stereotyping, misogyny, criticisms of gigantic proportions and yet rose above magnificently triumphant- she should have been immortal.

     “A mother was once a daughter, too…”
     Corazon Collantes-Jose was hailed as the Mother of Cosmetic Surgery in the Philippines. This one title compressed in bulk the story of an otolaryngologist’s making a path for the successful medical careers in cosmetic surgery of more than a thousand doctors in our country today. She graduated as a medical doctor from the University of Santo Tomas in the early 1950’s. This strong-willed lady resolutely went to the United States and did her internship again at Saint Elizabeth Hospital in New Jersey where she became chief intern. After passing the American Board of Medicine, she pursued her passion in Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery at the Queens Hospital Center, New York where she became chief resident in a white- and male- dominated field. In 1958, she became one of the few fellows of the very young Philippine Society of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery. She then decided to train in otology but was swayed off the path when she observed some cosmetic surgery procedures in the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital. She was witnessing the baby steps of the science and art of facial cosmetic surgery in America and she was hooked. Under the guidance of Dr. Jose L. Mathay, a pioneer in cosmetic surgery, she became a trailblazer in the field alongside Dr. Liboro L. Mangubat and Dr. Jaime S. Jorge.