He was adverse to the idea of lecturing from the podium to fellow doctors or would be doctors on the need to be committed to the Filipino people. He would rather set as an example to them. Indeed, Dr. Florentino B. Herrera Jr. became a symbol of a dedicated man in the medical profession and truly a Filipino. He always dreamed of embarking on something different to promote the welfare of the people and defend his country.
A son of a highly successful medical practitioner, Dr. Herrera graduated from the College of Medicine, U.P. in 1941. His quest for more knowledge in the field of medicine had brought him in 1946, to the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine specializing in Clinical Pharmacology and following year studied at the Cornell University Medical College.
He held various posts at the state university, from 1951 when he served as the College of Medicine Secretary, then promoted to the position of Special Assistant to the President and Head of the U.P. Budget office. In 1967, he was appointed Dean of the U.P. College of Medicine, founding Chancellor of the Health Science Center in 1979. He became a member of the U.P. Board of Regents, U.P. Manila Chancellor and finally, the state university honored him with the title of Professor Emeritus of the U.P. College of Medicine.
Several researches and comprehensive studies on medical science were attributed to him. Some of which are clinical pharmacology; pulmonary and cardiovascular system; development and management; budget system; health manpower strategies and programs; the Philippine Eye Research Institute, the Anesthesiology Center for the Western Pacific and School of Allied Medical Profession.
Dr. Herrera is a recipient of a bronze medal of valor and U.S. Government medal of freedom. Is remembered for his uncompromising dedication to the standards of Medical Education and Profession. To cap his medical career, Dr. Herrera had been identified with three-community oriented concerns; the Institute of Health Science in Tacloban City, the U.P. Postgraduate School of Medicine circuit courses, and the Health Science Center which he considered the "Vanguard of Health Education and Research in the Philippines".
Dr. Herrera passed away on December 27, 1985. He was only 68 years old then.
Let us retrieve our lost identities and proclaim once again the supremacy of the individual as a total person. Let us, educated Filipinos, reinstate ourselves in our rightful place, at the center of the stage, and let us once more be aware of ourselves as wholly human capable of logical thought and of deep affections of intellectual curiosity and of a sense of wonder.
The great strides in medical science demands from the general practitioner of today. The ability to assimilate a wide range of new knowledge and the flexibility to adapt to changing ideas.
Being a simple person with a simple mind, my priority are the people that I love; Second, the profession that I respect; Third, the University that I owe allegiance to; Fourth, the College that I am responsible; and Fifth, is myself and my style.
"....We look to education to direct its efforts to the re-shaping of man so that he may be full human, so that he could examine the neuron with fine instruments that only his genius could make, and at the same time, with his inner eye 'see heaven in a wild flower' ; so that he could thrill to the lightning speed of a neural transmission and be moved by the vicarious experience of being as 'still as a painted ship upon a painted ocean' ; so that he could consider equally important discovering the mysteries of outer space and plumbing the depths of human loneliness ; so that a blade of grass never ceases to be majestic, the morning dew is forever magical, a bird's flight always a study in grace, the music of the spheres over audible..."