The Child Development Unit in Ward 11 of the Department of Pediatrics was established in 1961 by Dr. Perla D. Santos Ocampo to answer the needs of a “special” group of children. However, this pioneering effort was not immediately recognized since the focus of the pediatric health system then was on infectious diseases. The advent of the 1980s recognized the wave of developmental and behavioral disorders as the “new morbidities” in pediatrics. The need for a more comprehensive evaluation of these children and adolescents became an urgent concern. Subsequently, the Multidisciplinary Child and Adolescent Unit (MCAU) of the Department of Pediatrics began its services at the Philippine General Hospital Outpatient Department in 1987.

The MCAU combined the existing Child Development Unit and the Adolescent Services of the Department of Pediatrics. It was envisioned to provide a multi-disciplinary approach towards the assessment of children with special needs, where collaboration with different services like Adolescent Medicine, Endocrinology, Genetics, Intensive Care, Neonatology, Neurology, Ophthalmology, Otorhinolaryngology, Psychiatry, and Rehabilitation Medicine took place “under one roof.” Consultants, who were the first mentors of the program within the Department, included: Professor Perla D. Santos Ocampo, Drs. Amelia Fernandez, Carmelita Domingo, and Aida Salonga. The other disciplines involved in the provision of services included the Departments of Psychiatry, Rehabilitation Medicine, Ophthalmology, and Otorhinolaryngology, and UP College of Allied Medical Professions.

The first local fellowship training program in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics in the Philippines was offered in 1987. Dr. Alexis L. Reyes became the first recipient of this program and proceeded to complete her fellowship training as a research and clinical fellow at the Institute of Child Health and the Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, United Kingdom from 1989 to 1990.

Upon her return, together with Professor Santos Ocampo and Dr. Vilma Bagay-Salcedo, who later joined the Section after her training in the United States, started the first local training program in the subspecialty of Developmental Pediatrics.

In 2000, the MCAU became the Section of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics and was recognized as a separate unit from the Adolescent Medicine Service, which had its own section. Today, the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics’ Outpatient Clinic remains the largest provider of charity diagnostic services for children and adolescents with developmental and behavioral disabilities in a tertiary government teaching hospital.