Pacifico Eric Calderon

Key information

Email: pacifico.calderon.24@ucl.ac.uk

Pacifico is an interdisciplinary researcher exploring how healthcare systems shape the ethical and professional lives of health workers. With a background in medicine, ethics, and education, he examines the intersection of self-care, moral responsibility, and institutional culture in medical practice. His PhD at UCL Faculty of Laws, supported by a UCL Research Excellence Scholarship, focuses on the moral expectations placed on physicians regarding their well-being—exploring how these are shaped, reinforced, or challenged by professional norms, law, and policy.

He is particularly interested in how physician well-being and self-care shape professional identity and ethical obligations in medicine. His work aims to guide improvements in education, clinical practice, and health policy. Pacifico also actively advances ethics education across the Asia-Pacific and contributes to discussions on professionalism and leadership in healthcare.

Pacifico’s research explores how ethical frameworks, institutional cultures, and regulatory systems shape healthcare practice and education. 

Qualifications:

• PhD in Law (ongoing), University College London, UK
• Master of Education (with distinction), Monash University, Australia
• Master of Bioethics, University of Sydney, Australia
• Doctor of Medicine, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines
• Bachelor of Science in Biology (cum laude), University of Santo Tomas, Philippines

Research Supervisors:

• Dr. Isra Black 
• Professor Steven Vaughan

Research interests:

• Physician well-being, self-care, and moral responsibility
• Ethical obligations in clinical and educational settings
• Decision-making and consent in paediatrics and aesthetic medicine
• Ethics education and professional identity formation
• Institutional, legal, and sociocultural influences on healthcare ethics
• Qualitative and interdisciplinary methods in bioethics

Areas of expertise:

• Healthcare ethics and bioethics
• Professionalism in healthcare
• Health professions education
• Clinical and organisational leadership

Research projects:

Pacifico has led and contributed to projects on informed consent, paediatric decision-making, ethics education, and physician well-being, in collaboration with institutions across the Asia-Pacific and Europe.

Selected projects include:

• Ethical issues in involving children in healthcare decision-making — Principal Investigator, 2024
• Quality of informed consent in aesthetic medicine — Principal Investigator, 2024
• Bioethics education in Philippine medical schools — Principal Investigator, 2024
• Medical interns’ experiences of self-care — Principal Investigator, 2022
• Botulinum neurotoxin A resistance: International consensus review — Co-Investigator, 2021

Professional experience:

Pacifico is a licensed physician in the Philippines with experience in clinical medicine, medical ethics, healthcare quality management, and medical education. He has worked within Philippine healthcare systems and medical schools, undertaken research fellowships in Japan and Germany, and received awards from professional bodies and universities for his work in medical education and bioethics.

Public engagements and media coverage:

Pacifico is frequently invited as a resource person on physician well-being, medical ethics, and professionalism, especially in Southeast Asia. He has delivered national lectures on ethical leadership in Philippine medicine, and his work has been featured in both national and international media—particularly for his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and his promotion of more human-centred healthcare.

Selected media features:

• Equipping Frontliners on Patient Welfare 
• The Time is Now to Bring Back Humans in Doctors 

Publications:

• Corduff, N., Park, J. Y., Calderon, P. E., Choi, H., Dingley, M., Ho, W. W. S., Martin, M. U., Suseno, L. S., Tseng, F. W., Vachiramon, V., Wanitphakdeedecha, R., & Yu, J. N. T. (2024). Real-world Implications of Botulinum Neurotoxin A Immunoresistance for Consumers and Aesthetic Practitioners: Insights from ASCEND Multidisciplinary Panel. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open, 12(6), e5892. https://doi.org/10.1097/GOX.0000000000005892
• Calderon, P. E. E., & Tan, M. K. M. (2023). Care for the environment as a consideration in bioethics discourse and education. The New Bioethics, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/20502877.2023.2219021
• Estoce, R. H. Y., Ngan, O. M. Y., & Calderon, P. E. E. (2023). How Do COVID-19 Vaccine Policies Affect the Young Working Class in the Philippines? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(3), 2593. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032593
• Ho, W., Albrecht, P., Calderon, P. E., Corduff, N., Loh, D., Martin, M. U., Park, J. Y., Suseno, L. S., Tseng, F. W., Vachiramon, V., Wanitphakdeedecha, R., Won, C. H., Yu, J., & Dingley, M. (2022). Emerging trends in botulinum neurotoxin A resistance: An international multidisciplinary review and consensus. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open, 10(6), e4407. https://doi.org/10.1097/GOX.0000000000004407
• Ngan, O. M. Y, Ang, C. E., Balmores, M. D. C., Nagtalon, S. P., & Calderon, P. E. (2022). Reproductive health deemed "non-essential" during COVID-19: A neglected health vulnerability. Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, 10105395221116496. https://doi.org/10.1177/10105395221116496

Academic and professional memberships:

• Vice Chair, Asia Pacific Bioethics Education Network (APBEN)
• Treasurer, Catholic Physicians’ Guild of the Philippines
• Member, European Society for Philosophy of Medicine and Healthcare
• Member, Socio-Legal Studies Association
• Member, Philippine Medical Association