| Dr. Ofelia V. Dirige Chula Vista, California Outstanding Achiever |
Dr. Ofelia Dirige has been a recipient of numerous awards for her
outstanding works and leadership in the fields of community
service, teaching and research. Her unique contributions in
public health, through the Kalusugan Community Service (KCS),
have impacted the Filipino-American communities and other
underserved groups in and outside of San Diego. KCS is a
non-profit agency that recently built the FilAm Wellness Center
(FWC), whose mission to improve the well being of Filipino
Americans (FilAms) by promoting positive lifestyle changes
through proper nutrition, physical activity (PA), and multi-faceted
social programs.
Community Services and Research
KCS began as a small coalition (i.e. Project Kalusugan) that has
grown into a dynamic, productive agency on the cutting edge.
Since its incorporation in 1995, KCS has increased its capacity to
carry out much-needed project in the local communities, funded
through grants, fundraising and collaborative efforts. To date, it
has received grant award close to $4 million.
KCS started off with a budget of $50,000 per year in 1992 to over
$500,000 in 2002. In close collaboration with Dr. Riz A. Oades,
President and Co-founder of KCS, Dr. Dirige has written excellent,
outstanding works and leadership in the fields of community
service, teaching and research. Her unique contributions in
public health, through the Kalusugan Community Service (KCS),
have impacted the Filipino-American communities and other
underserved groups in and outside of San Diego. KCS is a
non-profit agency that recently built the FilAm Wellness Center
(FWC), whose mission to improve the well being of Filipino
Americans (FilAms) by promoting positive lifestyle changes
through proper nutrition, physical activity (PA), and multi-faceted
social programs.
Community Services and Research
KCS began as a small coalition (i.e. Project Kalusugan) that has
grown into a dynamic, productive agency on the cutting edge.
Since its incorporation in 1995, KCS has increased its capacity to
carry out much-needed project in the local communities, funded
through grants, fundraising and collaborative efforts. To date, it
has received grant award close to $4 million.
KCS started off with a budget of $50,000 per year in 1992 to over
$500,000 in 2002. In close collaboration with Dr. Riz A. Oades,
President and Co-founder of KCS, Dr. Dirige has written excellent,
winning grant proposals for the organization, 18 of which she was the Principal Investigator and six as a Co-
Principal Investigator. Many thank to Riz for mentoring and nurturing Dr. Dirige as a scholar, administrator and
effective community leader.
The wellness center serves the diverse SD residents, with Dr. Dirige as its Executive Director. Prior to the
establishment of the Center, she managed several programs that included the:”Siglang Buhay- Food,
Fitness, and Cancer Prevention Project,” “5 a Day Power Play Campaign,” Stay Fit Club, and Albertson’s
Supermarket Adventure for Kids. These programs aimed at the prevention of cancer by improving nutrition
and PA.
Other programs that reduce the risk of heart disease/stroke in FilAm children and teens are NUTRI-FIT and
Project LEAN’s (Leaders Encouraging Activity and Nutrition) Food on the Run Project. Other programs include
the Diabetes Prevention Project, aimed at reducing risk for diabetes in adults; Breast Cancer Screening
Project, to encourage women to go for their clinical breast exam and mammogram; AIDS Prevention Project;
and “Strengthening FilAm Families “, a 10-week parent/teen workshop where the youth is taught the Filipino
culture their parent grew up with. The parents are then exposed to the necessary adjustments they can make
to understand their children. We also encourage the blending of good aspects of both the Filipino and
American culture that is the key to having well-balanced Filipinos.
KCS programs have been effective in improving the health of FilAms by changing their lifestyles as well as
through community collaborations. To further increase KCS’s efficiency, the FWC was established to
coordinate its services with that of the community and develop a comprehensive program. Thus, over the
years, D. Dirige has successfully expanded the FWC’s services and programs into four components –
community service, research, training, and advocacy. Her vision has always been to produce Filipinos who
are not only healthy physically, but also emotionally, socially as well as spiritually.
The Center has brought KCS programs close to the people affording them better access to health information
and care. It has become a clearing house of educational materials and a venue to address health and social
issues and brainstorm solutions. It is a successful project and plans are underway for the expansion of the
building and its programs. The FWC project is funded by grants from the California Endowment, California
Wellness Foundation, SD County Health and Human Services Agency, and fundraising efforts of the local
FilAm community.
Teaching
Dr. Dirige’s expertise is in public health, nutrition, material and child health and Filipino American studies.
She presently teaches Asian Studies 460 (Contemporary Issues in FilAm Communities) in the Asian Studies
Department and Public Health Nutrition topics in the Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH), San Diego
State University (SDSU) since 1987. She has enlightened FilAm students on Filipino history, culture and
current issues and trained public health and nutrition students to become competent professionals.
Consultant and Member
Dr. Dirige has been a consultant to a number of local, state and national boards such as the County of San
Diego Dental Health Initiative and Council of Philippine American Organizations (COPAO). At the state level,
she was consultant of Region IX Head Start program and University of Hawaii’s Nutrition Consultant to the
Pacific Basin. She was Chair of the Nutrition Section of the Southern California Public Health Association and
President of the Greater Los Angeles Nutrition Council. She currently consults with the California Adolescent
Nutrition Panel for National Health and Safety Performance Standards for Day Care, Multicultural Committee
on Nutrition for the SPRANS Project, Pre-school Committee for Day Care standards, Award Committee of the
American Public Health Association, and Region IX Advisory Committee of Maternal and Child Health Nutrition
Continuing Education grant.
Published Papers
Dr. Dirige has published papers on the various community projects and co-authored a book entitled, “Basic
Nutrition for Filipinos”, that is used as a textbook in the Philippines. She has written numerous abstracts and
gave presentations at the annual meetings of professional associations, i.e. The American Dietetic
Association, American Public Health Association, Society for Nutrition Education, and Society of Behavioral
Medicine. She is a reviewer for Nutrition Research, Asian American Pacific Islander Journal of Health, and
Journal of Nutrition Education.
Awards
Dr. Dirige has been a consistent scholar. She graduated with honors in high school and was a college and
university scholar at the University of the Philippines; topped the first Board examination for dietitians; won the
UH East-West Center Scholarship in graduate study; and was a scholar of the FilAm Alumni Association at
UCLA. She has received numerous awards for outstanding community service from: June Burnett Institute
for Children, Youth and Families; COPAO; Scottish Rite in Mission Valley; and now the “Twenty Outstanding
FilAms in the US and Canada (TOFA) for 2004. She is a recipient of congressional awards form Bob Filner
and Randy “Duke” Cunningham and was listed as one of the 150 notable Filipinos in Veltizesar Bautista’s
book entitled, “The FilipinoAmericans-from 1763 to the Present.”
Her father, Gregorio Cortes Dirige, a lawyer, worked for a Philippine government agency that specialized in
agrarian reform. Her mother, Lourdes Silao Villa, was a school teacher. Both were from Victoria, Tarlac
Province, Philippines. Her parents (now deceased) joined Dr. Dirige in Santa Monica, California in 1970. All
her sisters and a brother are residing in the United States. Her eldest daughter, Reverend Perla Belo, just
retired from being a Director of Asian Ministries for the American Baptist Churches; Evelyn Resella, a retired
commercial artist in Valencia, California is married to Rhod Resella, engineer; hector Dirige, her only brother,
retired from the U.S. Navy and is working with the Immigration Department; Didi Orejudos is a school nurse
and housewife married to Dr. Ben Orejudos, a retired radiologist from the U.S. Navy, presently working in a
private hospital and clinic; Julie Conte, nurse administrator, is owner and director of We Care Home Health
agency; and Lois Campagna, is a business associate of a private company owned by her husband, Glenn
Campagna. #
Principal Investigator. Many thank to Riz for mentoring and nurturing Dr. Dirige as a scholar, administrator and
effective community leader.
The wellness center serves the diverse SD residents, with Dr. Dirige as its Executive Director. Prior to the
establishment of the Center, she managed several programs that included the:”Siglang Buhay- Food,
Fitness, and Cancer Prevention Project,” “5 a Day Power Play Campaign,” Stay Fit Club, and Albertson’s
Supermarket Adventure for Kids. These programs aimed at the prevention of cancer by improving nutrition
and PA.
Other programs that reduce the risk of heart disease/stroke in FilAm children and teens are NUTRI-FIT and
Project LEAN’s (Leaders Encouraging Activity and Nutrition) Food on the Run Project. Other programs include
the Diabetes Prevention Project, aimed at reducing risk for diabetes in adults; Breast Cancer Screening
Project, to encourage women to go for their clinical breast exam and mammogram; AIDS Prevention Project;
and “Strengthening FilAm Families “, a 10-week parent/teen workshop where the youth is taught the Filipino
culture their parent grew up with. The parents are then exposed to the necessary adjustments they can make
to understand their children. We also encourage the blending of good aspects of both the Filipino and
American culture that is the key to having well-balanced Filipinos.
KCS programs have been effective in improving the health of FilAms by changing their lifestyles as well as
through community collaborations. To further increase KCS’s efficiency, the FWC was established to
coordinate its services with that of the community and develop a comprehensive program. Thus, over the
years, D. Dirige has successfully expanded the FWC’s services and programs into four components –
community service, research, training, and advocacy. Her vision has always been to produce Filipinos who
are not only healthy physically, but also emotionally, socially as well as spiritually.
The Center has brought KCS programs close to the people affording them better access to health information
and care. It has become a clearing house of educational materials and a venue to address health and social
issues and brainstorm solutions. It is a successful project and plans are underway for the expansion of the
building and its programs. The FWC project is funded by grants from the California Endowment, California
Wellness Foundation, SD County Health and Human Services Agency, and fundraising efforts of the local
FilAm community.
Teaching
Dr. Dirige’s expertise is in public health, nutrition, material and child health and Filipino American studies.
She presently teaches Asian Studies 460 (Contemporary Issues in FilAm Communities) in the Asian Studies
Department and Public Health Nutrition topics in the Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH), San Diego
State University (SDSU) since 1987. She has enlightened FilAm students on Filipino history, culture and
current issues and trained public health and nutrition students to become competent professionals.
Consultant and Member
Dr. Dirige has been a consultant to a number of local, state and national boards such as the County of San
Diego Dental Health Initiative and Council of Philippine American Organizations (COPAO). At the state level,
she was consultant of Region IX Head Start program and University of Hawaii’s Nutrition Consultant to the
Pacific Basin. She was Chair of the Nutrition Section of the Southern California Public Health Association and
President of the Greater Los Angeles Nutrition Council. She currently consults with the California Adolescent
Nutrition Panel for National Health and Safety Performance Standards for Day Care, Multicultural Committee
on Nutrition for the SPRANS Project, Pre-school Committee for Day Care standards, Award Committee of the
American Public Health Association, and Region IX Advisory Committee of Maternal and Child Health Nutrition
Continuing Education grant.
Published Papers
Dr. Dirige has published papers on the various community projects and co-authored a book entitled, “Basic
Nutrition for Filipinos”, that is used as a textbook in the Philippines. She has written numerous abstracts and
gave presentations at the annual meetings of professional associations, i.e. The American Dietetic
Association, American Public Health Association, Society for Nutrition Education, and Society of Behavioral
Medicine. She is a reviewer for Nutrition Research, Asian American Pacific Islander Journal of Health, and
Journal of Nutrition Education.
Awards
Dr. Dirige has been a consistent scholar. She graduated with honors in high school and was a college and
university scholar at the University of the Philippines; topped the first Board examination for dietitians; won the
UH East-West Center Scholarship in graduate study; and was a scholar of the FilAm Alumni Association at
UCLA. She has received numerous awards for outstanding community service from: June Burnett Institute
for Children, Youth and Families; COPAO; Scottish Rite in Mission Valley; and now the “Twenty Outstanding
FilAms in the US and Canada (TOFA) for 2004. She is a recipient of congressional awards form Bob Filner
and Randy “Duke” Cunningham and was listed as one of the 150 notable Filipinos in Veltizesar Bautista’s
book entitled, “The FilipinoAmericans-from 1763 to the Present.”
Her father, Gregorio Cortes Dirige, a lawyer, worked for a Philippine government agency that specialized in
agrarian reform. Her mother, Lourdes Silao Villa, was a school teacher. Both were from Victoria, Tarlac
Province, Philippines. Her parents (now deceased) joined Dr. Dirige in Santa Monica, California in 1970. All
her sisters and a brother are residing in the United States. Her eldest daughter, Reverend Perla Belo, just
retired from being a Director of Asian Ministries for the American Baptist Churches; Evelyn Resella, a retired
commercial artist in Valencia, California is married to Rhod Resella, engineer; hector Dirige, her only brother,
retired from the U.S. Navy and is working with the Immigration Department; Didi Orejudos is a school nurse
and housewife married to Dr. Ben Orejudos, a retired radiologist from the U.S. Navy, presently working in a
private hospital and clinic; Julie Conte, nurse administrator, is owner and director of We Care Home Health
agency; and Lois Campagna, is a business associate of a private company owned by her husband, Glenn
Campagna. #
Washington D.C. Since 1987
Washington D.C. Since 1987
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