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<img src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-13/olivia-salamanca-sm.webp" alt="Olivia Salamanca" loading="lazy" />
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(Dr. Olivia Salamanca)
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Olivia attended Cavite National High School. Her father, Jose Salamanca, was a pharmacist and the founder of a private school in Cavite, the Colegio Ligaya. 
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Since childhood Olivia demonstrated exceptional intellectual qualities. When she was a student in the Cavite High School, she was admired for her recitation of poems in both Spanish and English. She also demonstrated exceptional histrionic talent when she took part in dramatic performances. Without any guidance from a teacher, she learned to play the piano. How pleasantly surprised was Maestro Manuel Ruiz y Javier, her elder sister's teacher, when he came to their house one day and found her playing with remarkable neatness the piano exercises of her sister. He offered to teach her and was greatly pleased to find out that Olivia was a perfectionist, never abandoning a piece until she could play it without a mistake. Inspired by her, he composed a mazurka which he titled "Olivia". 
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In 1905, she was one of 37 Filipino students (and one of three women), known as pensionados, selected by the Philippine government under the <a href="https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/539/today-in-philippine-history-august-26-1903-the-pensionado-law-of-the-american-government-in-the-philippines-was-approved" class="news_link">Pensionado Act</a> to study in the United States. There should have been four of them, but the fourth, who obtained the highest rating in the examination, turned out to be only 12 years old, 16 was the minimum age required by law. Her name was Felisberta Asturias. 
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She spent a year in Saint Paul, Minnesota, before enrolling in the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. She graduated in June 1910, at 20 years old, becoming the second female physician from the Philippines. While in the United States, she was the editor of "The Filipino", a monthly publication created by Filipino student expatriates.
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Salamanca returned to the Philippines in July 1910. She was one of the charter members and the first secretary of the Philippine Anti-Tuberculosis Society, which was founded in 1910; later that year, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis herself. In 1911, she was assigned to work at a hospital in Baguio, a city in a mountainous area, in order for the mountain air to help improve her health. 
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She wrote in a 1911 diary entry that she was the first person in the Philippines to receive tuberculin as a treatment for tuberculosis, saying: 
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"If tuberculin proves effective in the care of T.B. by the experiment made on me, I would feel as if I have rendered a public service to humanity. Should it fail ... then I shall be glad also for it would save many from its dangers."
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In 1912, she left Baguio for Manila, where she was briefly hospitalized in the Philippine General Hospital. She died on July 11, 1913, aged 24, from tuberculosis.
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Plaza Olivia Salamanca in Manila and Dr. Olivia Salamanca Memorial District Hospital in Cavite City are named after Salamanca.
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Source:
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<ol class="article-sources">
<li>
The Diary of Olivia Salamanca, M.D., 1889-1913, Alzona, Encarnacion, 1981, National Academy of Science and Technology
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<li>
9 Kickass Women in Philippine History You've Never Heard Of, <a class="news_link" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">https://filipiknow.net</a>
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Wikipedia
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Photo credit: The Diary of Olivia Salamanca, M.D., 1889-1913, Alzona, Encarnacion, 1981, National Academy of Science and Technology
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July 1, 1899: Olivia Salamanca, second female physician of the country, was born in San Roque, Cavite