For my entire life, I have explained, to those asking, that while I have a Hispanic-sounding first name, my parents actually emigrated from the Philippines. For those sufficiently curious, I have further elaborated that I was named after my father’s maternal grandfather, whom we refer to as “Lolo (Grandfather) Miguel.”
While he passed away before I was born, he is not a distant, unknown figure to me. I have visited relatives still living in the Manila house Lolo Miguel had constructed and lived in. Moreover, as long as I can recall, two Johns Hopkins University framed diplomas issued to Lolo Miguel were always mounted on the wall above the computer in our family room in California. My parents readily admit they located the diplomas there to constantly remind my younger sister and me that obtaining an excellent education was not only an expected personal achievement but also part of our family tradition.
In 1919, the year Miguel B. Afable matriculated to Hopkins, the “War to End All Wars” had just concluded. The Philippines, then usually referred to as “the Philippine Islands,” was a territory of the United States, wrestled from Spain as part of the Spanish-American War.
Born and raised in the Philippines, Miguel Afable grew up first learning Spanish as his medium of instruction, but under American rule, he became fluent in English. After two years of college at the University of the Philippines, a state university located in Manila, he transferred to Hopkins. It appears the difficulty of travel and communications led him to list on his application that his guardian was Dr. Juan L. Payawall at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Baltimore, rather than his father in the Philippines.
In 1922, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. My family has a treasured copy of his yearbook, which shows that he was part of a graduating class of 142 listed seniors — all male. The photographs in his yearbook indicate that he was the only non-white person in his class. His Hopkins transcript shows class work concentrated in biology and chemistry. His yearbook features him with a microscope and mentions his misadventures in the chemistry lab. In 1925, he obtained another degree from Hopkins, a Bachelor of Science in Hygiene from the then-recently established School of Public Health. My family has been told by an employee at the Hopkins Alumni Office that this second degree is equivalent to a master’s today.
After he finished his studies at Hopkins, he returned to the Philippines, where he earned a medical degree at the University of Santo Tomas. He then worked as a physician for the government-run Manila Health Department, including when the Philippines was invaded and occupied by Japan in World War II. After retirement from the government, he continued to practice medicine out of his home.
The only time my great-grandfather ever returned to the United States was in 1972 to attend his 50th-year class reunion with my great-grandmother, Salvacion. He told my father he was honored to be chosen to carry the class flag. Throughout the years, he enjoyed reading Hopkins magazines and alumni information periodically sent to him by the University, until his death in 1978.
When I applied to the University’s graduate degree program in the School of Nursing, I participated in a video interview, and when asked about my thoughts on diversity, I proudly held up my great-grandfather’s copy of his Hullabaloo yearbook and explained that he was among the first Asians to graduate from Hopkins. Now, my acceptance letter from Hopkins is inside my great-grandfather’s yearbook as a bookmark on his photograph page.
I started my nursing studies in January 2024 and was subsequently awarded a Fuld Fellowship in May 2024 to assist in research. While demanding and challenging, I appreciate the camaraderie of my classmates and the support of the faculty. I take great pride in studying at the same university and pursuing a career in health like my great-grandfather.
The education he received and the skills he cultivated at Hopkins helped Lolo Miguel contribute to the health and well-being of his countrymen in the Philippines. The fact that I’m following his path by also pursuing a career in healthcare motivates me to push myself forward. Like my Lolo Miguel, I dream of helping people after I finish my healthcare studies at Hopkins and keeping my own yearbook next to that of my great-grandfather.
Miguel Bismonte is a graduate student from Saratoga, Calif. in the School of Nursing.
