Born: 31 December 1941, Palau
Died: NA
Country most active: Palau
Also known as: NA
In 1965, Palauan physician Ulai Otobed became the first Micronesian woman to qualify as a doctor. She was also a world-class table tennis player, winning a gold medal as part of the national team at the 1963 South Pacific Games and becoming the 1964 Fijian national champion in three categories: women’s singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Otobed graduated from Fiji’s Central Medical School in 1965 with several awards, such as the Principal’s Presentation for the top female student, the Glazo-Allenburgs prize for the highest grade average and the British Medical Association gold medal for academic excellence in surgery. She completed a two-year internship at McDonald Memorial Hospital and passed the Trust Territory Medical Board Examinations in 1968. She then trained in New Zealand for an additional six months, passing the Auckland Hospital Board exam and receiving her diploma in obstetrics in 1969. She also studied at theUniversity of Auckland’s Postgraduate School of Obstetrics and Gynaecology from 1970 to 1973, earning her diploma in obstetrics and gynaecology while working as a surgeon and registrar at the National Women’s Hospital.
Returning to Palau in 1973, she worked at the McDonald Memorial Hospital before attending Mysore Medical College in India from 1974 to 1976, where she earned a Bachelor of science in medicine and surgery. The following year, she passed the American Examination for Foreign Medical Graduates. She returned to Palau and the McDonald Memorial Hospital as a physician in obstetrics, gynecology and family planning, and later became the head of clinical services.