"Healing & Leading: A Life of Service in Medicine & the Fil-Am Community" with Dr. Eligio Abellera

Описание: ACT International Consulting, LLC proudly launches its January 2026 Leadership Speaker Series by honoring Dr. Eligio Abellera, MD—a pioneering Filipino-American physician and community leader whose life’s work helped lay the institutional foundation of the Filipino-American community in Georgia.

Dr. Abellera’s journey of service began in the Philippines. He is a graduate of the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Medicine and Surgery in Manila, one of Asia’s oldest and most prestigious medical institutions. As part of a pioneering generation of Filipino professionals, he carried his medical training across continents, bringing with him a deep commitment to service, discipline, and ethical practice.

After completing his medical education, he served his province and then the professional exchange program paved the way for Dr. Abellera to establish his career in the United States, ultimately practicing medicine in Georgia. With professional experience in general surgery and family medicine, he served diverse communities for more than three decades. His medical practice exemplified leadership through service, where trust, consistency, and compassionate care formed the foundation of lasting impact.

While his medical career flourished, Dr. Abellera also emerged as a visionary community leader during the early years of Filipino migration to Georgia. In 1974, when the Filipino population in the state was still small, dispersed, and largely invisible, he served as the Founding President of the Filipino American Association of Greater Atlanta (FAAGA). Together with his co-founders, he helped transform informal networks into the first organized Filipino-American institution in Georgia ... marking a pivotal moment in the state’s Filipino-American civic history.

To this day, the Fil-Am Association of Greater Atlanta has become a formal platform through which Filipino-Americans can:
1. preserve cultural identity,
2. support newly arrived immigrants,
3. foster professional and civic engagement, and
4. establish collective representation within Georgia’s broader community.

The Filipino American Association of Greater Atlanta grew into a cornerstone organization, enabling Filipino-Americans to organize, support one another, and assert a shared presence within Atlanta’s expanding multicultural landscape. Dr. Abellera’s leadership during this formative period reflected foresight, courage, and a deep belief in the power of institution-building.

Following his retirement from medical practice, Dr. Abellera continued to support Filipino-American civic, cultural, and professional initiatives throughout Georgia. Alongside his family, he has remained actively engaged in efforts that promote Filipino heritage, and civic engagements. His leadership has consistently been marked by humility ... leading not for recognition, but for continuity and collective upliftment.

Dr. Abellera’s life offers enduring lessons for today’s leaders:
1. Leadership means building institutions that outlast individuals.
2. Service is most powerful when rooted in community.
3. Immigrant leadership plays a vital role in shaping inclusive societies.
4. Legacy is created through both profession and people.

ACT International Consulting, LLC is honored to feature Dr. Eligio Abellera as the January 2026 Leadership Speaker Series Resource Person, celebrating his dual legacy as both a healer and a founder ... one who helped build lives through medicine and institutions through visionary community leadership.