Dr. Honoria Acosta Sison, therefore, spent her active life in what may aptly be called times of "national ambiguity". She belonged to that generation of Filipinos whose contributions were made when the nation was in an uncertain but creative respite between two periods of historical crisis.

The scientist, in particular, helped immensely in rendering the nation viable in this period of our history. In this endeavor, those in the medical profession probably had the most concrete results to show. Plagued for centuries with endemic and epidemic diseases, the Philippines witness within the century a sharp decline in mortality from more than 40 deaths per thousand persons around 1900 to less than twenty in 1970. In conjunction with the undiminished birth rate, this brought about the phenomenal increase in the population of the country. While constituting in our times pressing problems in terms of economic developments, this growth in population seems to underline nonetheless our viability as a nation. More than this, it gives the measure of what the medical profession has been able to accomplish within the last three generations.

This released of the Filipino people’s vitality through better institution as well as professional health and hygienic care went hand in hand with the constant progression in the number of physicians in absolute and relative terms. After having dropped from 587 for the period 1901-1905 to only 291 for 1906-1910 and even 252 for 1911-1915, the number of registered physicians increased steadily from 370 for the period of 1916-1920 to 446 for 1921- 1925, 638 for 1926-1930, 1212 for 1931-1935, reaching a peak just before the war with 1775 for 1936- 1940; decreasing for 1941-1945 and 1946-1950 with only 1132 and 1057 respectively before again picking with 2,861 (more than the previous ten years) for 1951-1955 and 5,067 for 1956-1960. Relative to the population, the number of physicians also increased considerably, though the 1970 ratio of 1 physician to 1,400 persons is indeed still inadequate. Despite the increase in population, this ratio improved from approximately 1:13,000 in 1905 (1903) to 1:7,630 in 1920 (1918). 1:3,190 in 1940 (1934), 1:2,600 in 1950 (1948) and 1:1,500 in 1960. The entire development would mean to show not only the continuing impact of the modern world and medicine on the Filipinos (though confined mainly to the urban areas in the early years) but more so the degree of responsibility carried by the medical profession for the health of the nation in its formative stages of growth.

The responsibility was all the heavier for the fact that, aside from the "ordinary" business of healing, it likewise became the task of the incipient medical profession at once to increase its number through the training of new physicians and to improve or extend existing knowledge of diseases and healing techniques through scientific inquiry.

Among those who not only but also taught and inquire further into the art of healing was Dr. Honoria Acosta-Sison. A pioneer in Philippine obstetrics and gynecology, this first Filipina medical doctor was equally a scientist and a teacher. As a scientist, she was undoubtedly the most productive if not the most original of her generation. As Professor in the U.P. College of Medicine, she helped train several generations of physicians. But she was a teacher, above all, because her life and calling were but the mirror of her values, an illustration of her inner convictions. Any attempt to understand her contributions to the Philippine science and medicine should look into this aspect of her personality. In this biographical sketch, therefore, Dr. Acosta-Sison’s outlook in life shall also be considered following a survey of her life and career and a more detailed analysis of her scientific contributions.