Miguel Manuel Dorotan

MSc Humanitarian Studies and International Public Health,  2016.

Meet Dr. Miguel Manuel Dorotan, a highly accomplished humanitarian and public health expert based in the Philippines. As the Executive Director of Alliance for Improving Health Outcomes (AIHO), he leads a mentoring and consulting organization that aims to "Enable People to Make Health Systems work for People." With over a decade of experience in responding to sudden onset disasters and crises, Dr. Dorotan brings a unique perspective to global health and humanitarian work.

In 2013, he began his humanitarian journey as a medical doctor in a mobile clinic during the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan. Since then, he has worked with organizations such as the World Health Organization Philippines and Save the Children International, deploying to countries such as Nepal and Bangladesh. In 2015, he received a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to further his education through a Chevening Scholarship to study in the UK at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

At LSTM, Dr. Dorotan deepened his understanding of global health and humanitarian work through the International Public Health-Humanitarian Assistance program. Along with some classmates, he also initiated Knowledge Experience Sharing (KES) sessions where students could share their diverse experiences in the field. In his spare time, he also rekindled his love for dragon boat racing as a member of the Amathus Dragon Boat team, even competing in national British races.

Since his time at LSTM, Dr. Dorotan has continued to balance his passion for health systems, policy work, and teaching. He has been involved in developing and teaching disaster risk reduction and humanitarian courses at various institutions, including the Asian Institute of Management and UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery. He has also been deployed to assist in the rehabilitation and recovery of a city in the Philippines and oversee a primary health care center for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. In 2020, he was faced with the decision to decline a deployment in Bangladesh due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as he was needed to lead AIHO in the Philippines.

Dr. Dorotan describes LSTM as a place of "knowledge, experience, and sharing." He emphasizes the importance of connecting with classmates and engaging with professors to fully immerse in the LSTM experience. His advice to current and prospective students is to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from a diverse group of individuals and enjoy the unique atmosphere of Liverpool and the UK.