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For the past 21 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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This website includes selected articles from this week's edition of the Filipino Express. Not all the stories published in the printed version appear on this site.
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SHE has proven to be top of mind when it comes to the specialized field of cosmetic surgery, with the Belo Medical Group which has established itself as an esteemed medical institution for the past 17 years.
She has pioneered liposuction in the country and has been doing her significant share of boosting Philippine medical tourism. With the help of her growing roster of celebrity talents, she has likewise propelled the Belo Medical Group to the forefront of cosmetic surgery.
Noted dermatologist and "Doctor to the Stars" Vicki Belo has been working hard to realize her vision of turning the Philippines into the beauty capital of Asia. "I want everyone in the Philippines to look beautiful, one person at a time," she often says.
Dra. Belo is currently in New York to attend the Philippine Independence Day parade on June 1, and one of New York’s leading healthcare staffing agencies, Raintree is welcoming her.
Indeed, becoming beautiful is no longer a dream today. This is why the over-achiever in Dr. Belo doesn't seem to stop. Lording over her specialized industry for 17 years now, this "Ambassadress of Beauty" is considered even by the country's top businessmen as a successful entrepreneur.
She especially made it big in a field that was virtually unheard of several years back. "I am pleased that business leaders recognize my ideas on how to run my clinic," she says.
Dr. Belo started her medical practice as a resident doctor at the Makati Medical Center for one year and then studied for another year in Bangkok. When she returned in 1990, she opened her first clinic at the Medical Towers in Makati.
Starting in a cramped, 44-square meter area, Dr. Belo admirably managed to expand her beauty business. Today, the Belo Medical Group has six clinics strategically located in Manila and accessible to reach out to a wider number of people - Tomas Morato in Quezon City, Greenhills in San Juan, Medical Plaza-Makati, Alabang- West Gate, Podium in Ortigas and Rustan's in Makati.
The Belo Medical Group is the first ambulatory surgical center outside the hospitals, certified by the Department of Health (DOH). The clinics employ a staff that includes doctors, anesthesiologists, nurses, facialists, management and administrative personnel. Opening this September is another clinic in a mall at Trinoma, Quezon City.
While her core business is medical, Dr. Belo has become a celebrity in her own right by virtue of her many showbiz patients. Celebrities and society folk make no secret of their patronage for Belo.
Take Lucy Torres-Gomez, for example. She acknowledges that a regular skin regimen is a must and so comes to the Be10 Clinic for facials and her Obagi skin health rejuvenation system. Zsa Zsa Padilla frequents Belo for Lipolite and has tried the clinic's new Pan-Germinal Rejuvenation. Lorna Tolentino is the model for Thermage, while Joyce Jimenez has been vocal about her hydrogel butt augmentation.
Even the men are blatant about going to Belo for maintenance, so you know the clinic is trusted. John Lloyd Cruz and Piolo Pascual come in for regular facials. Albert Martinez has tried Botox and Thermage. Troy Montero always raves about Belo's sunless quick tan treatment.
Dr. Belo obtained her Bachelor of Science f,o' remedicine) from UP Diliman in 1978 and completed her Degree of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Sto. Tomas in 1985. She later got her Diploma in Dermatology from the Institute of Dermatology in 1990 in Bangkok , Thailand.
Her resume further states she is a member of the American Academy of Dermatology, the International Society of Cosmetic Laser Surgeons and the American Society of Lipoplastic Surgery.
She is the only Filipino doctor in the faculty of American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS), a premier medical organization with over 5,000 members.
In the Philippines, Dr. Belo pioneered turnescent liposuction and the Aptos Thread seamless facelift. Her field of specialization includes advance techniques in phlebology from the Pauline Raymond-Martimbeau Vein Institute; dermatologic surgery from Scripps Clinics in San Diego, California; cutaneous laser surgery from Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; and skin rejuvenation and laser surgery from St. Francis Memorial Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, California.
Recently, Dr. Belo branched out into TV production with “Belo Beauty 101,” a 30- minute beauty and medical tele-magazine program which aims to attract a global market for the Belo Medical Group. She acts as the show’s resident in-house beauty and medical expert who introduces to Filipinos overseas the clinic’s wide range of treatments and services.
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The MPG Keyboard Artists and Friends, Inc. will present twenty six performers of the Marilou Padilla-Gallardo
Piano/Organ/Keyboard Studio in their 2008 gala evening concert extravaganza and award ceremony with reception in
“An Evening of Music and Memories” on Saturday June 14, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. in the John Addison Concert Hall, Harmony Hall Regional Center; 10701 Livingston Road, Fort Washington, Md.
This exciting piano concert will highlight the best and most memorable musical selections from Broadway as well as American cinema. The concert is free to the public but reservations are highly recommended. For more information, call the studio at (301)567-7973.
Also on Saturday, June 21,2008, forty students of the Marilou Padilla- Gallardo Piano/ Organ/Keyboard Studio will perform in a matinee piano concert “A MORNING MUSICALE 2008” at the St.Columba Church at 11:30 a.m. Reception will follow shortly at the St. Columba’s Father Dewan Hall. Call the studio at (301)567-7973 for more information.
Mrs.Gallardo, owner of the music studio based in Oxon Hill, MD with a large following of enrolled keyboard students from the metro Maryland, D.C. and Virginia areas is also the founder of the MPG KEYBOARD ARTISTS AND FRIENDS, INC.; a non profit organization sponsoring cultural and concert community events to promote awareness in the performing arts. She is a noted pedagogue in the greater Washington D.C./MD/VA areas and has been the recipient of multiple awards and grants in teaching excellence, student development and teacher enrichment programs.
She is also a noted adjudicator for piano competitions in the area and was a member of an international jury in the in the World Pedagogy Piano Conference held in Atlanta, Georgia in October 2006.
Mrs. Gallardo is also an active member of The Music Teachers National Association, the Maryland State Music Association, the National Guild of Piano Teachers and the Prince George’s County Music Teachers Association.
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