Dr. Hernan M Reyes, SPSA,Co-founder and past president passes on on July 13, 2026 from a Ruptured Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm. He was born on April 5, 1933, in the province of Isabela, Luzon, in the Philippines. He was the oldest of three children of Leonor Bulacan Reyes and Anacleta Cauan Macaballug. As a child, he grew up on a working farm in the northern region of Cagayan Valley, the country’s second-largest rice-producing region. His parents were mostly involved in agricultural farming and the teaching profession.
Hernan graduated from the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Medicine and Surgery in 1957. He was one of the first international students to be accepted into the postgraduate training at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, IL, completing his internship and both surgical and pediatric residencies from 1958 to 1965. Over 4 decades, Hernan held academic appointments at the University of Santo Tomas College of Medicine, the Loyola University of Stritch School of Medicine, and the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago in Chicago, IL. His clinical appointments included Pediatric Surgeon and Coordinator of General Surgery Residency Program, Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, IL, Attending Surgeon and Director of Emergency Surgical Services at Wyler Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago, Chief of Pediatric Surgery at the University of Illinois Hospital at Chicago, IL and Chairman for the Division of Pediatric Surgery at Cook Country Hospital, Chicago, IL, Acting Chairman and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Cook County Hospital, Chicago, IL. In later years, he was an attending Pediatric Surgeon in the Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida.
One of Hernan’s notable contributions during his time as the Chief of the Division of Pediatric Surgery at the University of Illinois and Cook County Children’s Hospital came in 1986, when he served on the Chicago Board of Health under former Mayor Harold Washington’s administration. Hernan was selected to head the Pediatric Trauma Oversight Committee, which established criteria for paramedics to assess children’s injuries at the scene of an accident or a crime to determine whether to rush the victim to a trauma center or to the nearest hospital emergency room. In 1987, this led the Chicago Health Department to designate five hospitals as Pediatric Trauma Centers in the Chicago area, marking the first establishment of specialized, centralized care in metropolitan Chicago. This achievement was primarily due to a two-year pediatric trauma study that resulted in a critical review of urban pediatric trauma, which Hernan co-authored with colleague Michael J. Holmes (Holmes & Reyes, 1984). Hernan was dedicated to large and lesser-known contributions to the pediatric trauma field and believed that all children should receive the best possible care, especially with adverse childhood experiences and traumatic events.
Hernan’s contributions also helped establish the presence of Filipino American doctors in a country in which he felt pride, loyalty and gratitude for his successful professional career. He co-founded the Society of Philippine Surgeons in America. He co-founded the International Children’s Health Initiative Partnership Program (ICHIPP) with Dr. Francisca T. Velcek, a pediatric surgeon from Brooklyn, NY, to provide volunteer US-based pediatric specialists to assist other physicians in low-income communities worldwide, including the Philippines. In 2016, Hernan received the Presidential Awards for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas (PAFIOO).
Finally, the greatest reward in his personal life has been the love and support of his wife, Dolores, and their five children (Cynthia, Michael, Maria, Patricia, Catherine) and their spouses (Brian, Tara, Alec, and Craig), who have since successfully pursued their own personal and professional lives. They are blessed with ten beautiful grandchildren (Elliot, Monica, Tess, Isabela, James, Efren, Luke, Neil, Gabriel, and Lilah). Without the lifelong commitment, faith, and dedication wholeheartedly given by his family, his accomplishments would not have been possible. Two of his most enjoyable pastimes were entertaining his family, especially his grandchildren, and walking into town with his walking poles, wearing his jogging tracksuit, Sketchers, and a baseball cap. He is also survived by his beloved sisters, Ofelia Sigalove and Eva Basa.