• A.V. DEL CARMEN
Few people can claim to have been a top performer in two licensure examinations. Krisha Marie Gan Badillo, 28, a native of La Carlota City, is one of the privileged few.
In 2018, the Riverside College graduate, ranked No. 1 in the Physical Therapy Licensure Exam. In the 2025 Physician’s Licensure Exam, she placed fifth with a rating of 86.50.
She studied Medicine at West Visayas State University.
Reaping honors has been a highlight of the academic life of the youngest of the two daughters of Danilo Badillo, a small sugarcane planter, and wife, Jona. Her older sister, Stephanie Joan is a licensed nurse, who graduated cum laude from the University of St. La Salle.
She completed her PT studies summa cum laude and was the class salutatorian when she graduated from WVSU-COM, and also from Doña Hortencia Salas Benedicto National High School in La Carlota City.
Prior to attending medical school, Krisha Marie worked for a year as a physical therapist at Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital.
Dr. Badillo completed her PGI at Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital Inc., where she was one of the most outstanding post-graduate interns assigned to the Departments of Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Genecology and Anaesthesiology.
Earlier, in her clinical clerkship, at the WVSU Medical Center, she was among the most outstanding clerks under the Departments of Pediatrics, Orthopedics and Traumatology, General Surgery and Family Medicine.
Offering her a welcome break from her medical pursuit are her diverse hobbies and interests which include “cats, archery, anime, Infinity Saga movies, food and places that make me feel one with the sky and wind”.
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The topnotcher shared details about her medical education journey in the following Q&A interview with NEGROS WEEKLY.
Please summarize the highlights of your academic life.
Both as a child and as a teenager, I always loved learning. From this enthusiasm, it translated into good classroom performances. I, however, was highly introverted by nature and would often find myself hurrying home after school, to spend time either gardening with my grandmother, reading books, playing with our cats, watching anime/cartoons, or just getting lost in my own thoughts.
In grade school and in high school, my class ranking would drop by the end of each year, because I would not join in as many extra-curricular activities as some of my other classmates. It became a source of internal conflict for me, but in retrospect, I would tell my past self that it’s okay to disappoint other people sometimes, and that it’s okay to be weird and different.
College was when I felt truest to myself. I loved learning everything about physical therapy, and that passion – coupled with the eagerness to help patients regain their lives back – once again translated into good grades.
Among many career choices, why medicine? What or who inspired or encouraged you to pursue medical education?
I worked as a physical therapist in a public hospital for a year after graduating from college. In that practice, I realized that there are more ways that I could help my patients, and that ultimately inspired me to pursue medicine.
I am also a believer that medicine is not just a career choice, but a calling. I am quoting non-verbatim what one of our professors in medical school said: “We all here are a little crazy, because who, in their right mind, would willingly choose a career that requires endless sacrifices?”
What was most challenging about medical school life?
Medical school was a constant internal battle. Everyday, you ask yourself if the endless books you need to study and the 32-hour-straight-duties are still worth it. You question yourself if you are still qualified to be a doctor amidst your mistakes.
On your rare days off, you feel guilty when you do something for yourself instead of studying. It was a never-ending matter of conquering your own self.
Please briefly summarize your board review experiences. Where did you have your review? Any low or discouraging moments? Why?
After our post-graduate internship, I went on a one-month time off and did not take the October 2024 Physician Licensure Exam. I then started to self-study gradually, reviewing the things that I considered my weakest points in medical school.
Next, I enrolled in an online review center and studied their materials at home for three months. My family provided for my needs even before I would ask them to.
I subsequently moved to an apartment in Iloilo City to study more intensively for another month. There, I lived with two of my previously acquainted co-interns, who in just a short time together in our review, I became very good friends with. I was also blessed with family and friends who continuously supported me in every way they could.
Mentally, I was at my lowest point during the review season, to an extent that I had to seek professional help for the first time. The subconscious pressure of outdoing yourself was overwhelming, and it took much effort from myself and all who knew of what I was going through to overcome it.
Did you expect to land in the top 10? What were in your prayers prior to the board exam?
No, I did not expect myself to top the PLE. With my personal circumstances and after a very difficult 1,200-item exam, I was already conditioning my mind to accept that I might not have passed. I, however, would not have any regrets regardless of the result, because I still fought to my fullest best despite being at my lowest point.
In preparation, I would usually storm the heavens with these words, “Lord, I know that I am at my weakest, but I will not retreat from this fight, because You Yourself will be my strength. Calm the anxiety that You also felt in Gethsemane, and help me carry my own cross just as You once carried Yours. This is for me to become a good doctor, but ultimately, this is Your work and not mine. Take care of everyone I love as I focus on myself for now.”
What do you think made you one of the Top 10 passers?
Topping the board exams, to me, results from a combination of things that are within and beyond your control.
Within your control would be how much effort you have exerted to learn, not just in the review season but even in medical school as well as in college. That’s pretty much it.
Beyond your control would be everything else that you either leave up to faith, to luck, or even to destiny, whichever you believe in.
I did my personal best, and I guess it was enough to meet the Lord’s plan for me.
To whom do you attribute and also share your success?
Every person and creature in my life, be it in small or big things, helped shape me to who I am today. Some just passed by, while there are those who remained constant in both my highs and lows. I am grateful to have been loved by so many, therefore I share this achievement with them as an act of love in return.
What does the achievement mean to you personally?
Being a topnotcher entails a life-long purpose, and not just a one-time-under-the-spotlight moment. Others may experience it differently, but to me, this achievement has become an avenue for the Lord to reach more people through me.
What are your career options now that you passed the board with flying colors?
As a government scholar, I will definitely be practicing medicine here in our country, but that has always been the goal nonetheless. As of now, it’s sufficient to say that I would not stray from what I grew to become passionate about as a physical therapist.
I am still praying for discernment as to how exactly that will be executed.
Your word of advice to future board takers…
We all come from different backgrounds, we all come with different stories, but we all share one goal, which is to get over the board examination with. It will be one of the hardest paths that different professions will go through, and you will be tested to your limits.
Remember why you started, pour out what you can to the things within your control, and surrender the rest. It is in recognizing your weaknesses that you will find strength, and it is in doubting yourself that you will learn to trust God.
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Summing up, the new physician posted this Facebook message shortly after passing the PLE:
“The journey to topping the PLE is a paradox.
“It becomes more possible if we focus on working to be good doctors for our patients, rather than to achieve awards for ourselves.
“It is not about being better than others, but about becoming the best version of yourself.
“It takes strength to recognize that we each have personal weaknesses. Some we can conquer through our own efforts, some we overcome with the help of our loved ones, and some we just leave entirely in the hands of God.” ||
