Chilean Doctor Will Deliver Drexel College of Medicine Commencement Address

Ignacio Sánchez, MD, is president of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Ignacio Sánchez, MD, president of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, will address the Drexel University College of Medicine class of 2018 at its commencement ceremony May 18.

The ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. at the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts, 300 S. Broad Street, where approximately 493 degrees will be presented, including 252 MD degrees, as well as 19 PhDs and 222 master’s degrees from the college’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Professional Studies.

Sánchez is a world-renowned physician and scholar who has focused his research on cystic fibrosis, asthma and lung function in children. Born in Santiago, Chile, Sánchez studied medicine and completed a pediatric residency at Pontificia Universidad Católica, one of Chile’s oldest universities.

He was a fellow at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, before joining the Department of Pediatrics at Pontificia Universidad Católica as a faculty member in 1994. Sánchez then served as head of the department, head of the School of Medicine and dean of the faculty of medicine. Pontificia Universidad Católica appointed him president of the university in 2010, and he was re-appointed in 2015.

Throughout his career, Sánchez has contributed over 200 articles in scientific journals and reviews. He is the author of a handbook of pediatrics and more than 20 chapters of texts on pediatrics and respiratory illnesses. In addition to his scholarly work, he also has written about the education field, including “Desde la Universidad a la Sociedad. Selección de escritos 2010-2015,” a collection of writings on challenges he faced during his first period as university president, and "Ideas en Educación,” an analysis on Chilean higher education and its reform.

Sánchez also heads the Chilean Chapter of Catholic Universities, part of the International Federation of Catholic Institutions, and is vice president of ODUCAL for the Southern Region. He collaborates as a Board Member of the Cardinal Juan Francisco Fresno Foundation and the Obra Pequeño Cottolengo. He also chairs the Board of the San Carlos de Apoquindo UC Clinic and the Board of the Josefina Martínez de Ferrari Foundation.

In recognition of his commitment to health care, research and higher education, the College of Medicine will award Sánchez an honorary degree at the May 18 commencement ceremony.