Young OFW in Abu Dhabi named among global Top 100 Healthcare Leaders

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - A 32-year-old overseas Filipino worker and registered nurse, who opened his own healthcare consultancy firm in Abu Dhabi two years ago, was the youngest and only Filipino to be included in the top 100 list of healthcare professionals by an international award-giving body.

Dan Lester Dabon, chief executive officer and founder of DLD Healthcare Consulting Service, was given the 2020-2021 Top 100 Healthcare Leaders Award by the International Forum on Advancements in Healthcare (IFAH) during ceremonies recently held at the MGM Grand Hotel, Las Vegas, USA.

“I feel so honored because I had the opportunity to represent my advocacy on a global platform while carrying the badge of being a dignified millennial Filipino,” Dabon, who started out as a hospital nurse assistant in Abu Dhabi in 2012, told GMA News Online.

“Looking back,” he said, “I still couldn’t believe it took me a decade to work on something I didn’t even dream of becoming one.”

Most of the IFAH award recipients were in their 50s, it was learned.

Dabon said the extensive experience he learned from working with the world-class healthcare facilities in Abu Dhabi has triggered him to open his own healthcare consulting service company.

“My goal is to slowly administer change in the paradigm to internationalize the healthcare standards, especially in my country, the Philippines,” Dabon said.

He said he plans to “continue the focused knowledge sharing and information transfer approaches to ensure that healthcare leaders realize that a healthcare system is not just made for business but to actually ensure that a world-class patient experience is provided for.”

Dabon, aside from running his consultancy company, is currently a risk management officer at a government-owned organization in Abu Dhabi, which also is the largest ambulatory care in the Middle East.

He got his nursing degree at Brokenshire College in Davao City in 2010. Dabon obtained his Masters of Science in Healthcare Management 2018 at the Swiss Business School in Abu Dhabi.

The IFAH is one of the world’s top healthcare conferences that explores the latest innovations in the industry.

The Top 100 Healthcare Leaders were carefully selected by the awards committee based on five parameters, namely: overall reach, industry impact, spirit of innovation, future readiness and market demand. —KG, GMA News