Mudjekeewis D. Santos

Santos was born in Baguio City, Philippines. He was the firstborn of Juanario N. Santos and Guadalupe Dalisay, both government employees of the Department of Agriculture. He spent his elementary days at the Basa Air Base Elementary School in Floridablanca, Pampanga and Special Education (SPED) Center in Baguio City. He studied high school at the Chevalier School in Angeles City.{{Cite web |title=STAC-J's Mudjie Santos: Looking Ahead! {{!}} Philippines Today |url=https://www.philippinestoday.net/archives/200 |access-date=2023-09-05 |language=en-US}}

In 1992, he obtained his bachelor's degree in biology from the University of the Philippines (UP) College Baguio. He was also assigned as a Deputy Corps Commander and Cadet Lieutenant Colonel of the university's Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC).

He started his government career in 1992 as a commandant of the UP College Baguio High School Citizen. From 1992 to 1995, he was a research assistant at UP College Baguio and UP Diliman. He became an Aquaculturist I of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in 1995 and eventually got promoted to Supervising Aquaculturist of the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI) in 2001.

He pursued his Master's and Ph.D. degrees in biosciences at the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology (TUMSAT), Japan, as a Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho) scholar. He graduated with an MS in Aquatic Biosciences and a Ph.D. in Applied Marine Biosciences. After which, he did a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at TUMSAT under Professor Takashi Aoki.

He returned to the Philippines in 2009 to resume his research work and official function in NFRDI. This was followed by his conferment as a career scientist under the Scientific Career System (CSC) implemented by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). He was conferred as Scientist I in 2010, Scientist II in 2014, Scientist IV in 2021 and currently the first-ever Career Scientist V in the country conferred in December 2023.{{Cite web |title=Members |url=https://scientificcareersystem.nast.ph/index.php/members |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=scientificcareersystem.nast.ph}}

Santos' research interests are in fisheries science, specifically in the areas of genetics, resource assessment, aquatic biodiversity, biotechnology, climate change adaptation, and policy.{{Cite web |title=ORCID |url=https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4770-1221?fbclid=IwAR0_hWXWKaY1jfcXHvrBBXUju2vbB7RhRzV9cfba0RLbycDMvUy9WRokGr4 |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=orcid.org}}{{Cite web |title=Mudjekeewis Santos |url=http://www.spheres.dost.gov.ph/profiles/295-mudjekeewis-santos |access-date=2023-04-03 |website=www.spheres.dost.gov.ph}}{{Cite web |title=Mudjekeewis D. Santos |url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=K2HM60EAAAAJ&hl=en |access-date=2023-04-03 |website=scholar.google.com}} Santos has authored and co-authored over 100 scientific publications.{{Cite web |title=ResearchGate Profile: Mudjekeewis Dalisay Santos |url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mudjekeewis-Santos-2}}

He co-authored the discovery of new fish species such as the Whitechin surgeonfish, Acanthurus albimento {{Cite web |title=Acanthurus albimento, Whitechin surgeonfish |url=https://fishbase.mnhn.fr/summary/Acanthurus-albimento |access-date=2023-10-02 |website=fishbase.mnhn.fr}} and the Arafura lanternbelly, Acropoma arafurensis.{{Cite web |title=Acropoma arafurensis, Arafura lanternbelly |url=https://fishbase.mnhn.fr/summary/Acropoma-arafurensis |access-date=2023-10-02 |website=fishbase.mnhn.fr}} He also helped determine a number of first records of marine species in the Philippines including the Bali sardine, Sardinella lemuru,{{Cite journal |last1=Willette |first1=D. A. |last2=Santos |first2=M. D. |date=2013 |title=Correcting widespread misidentifications of the highly abundant and commercially important sardine species Sardinella lemuru , Bleeker, 1853 in the Philippines |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jai.12051 |journal=Journal of Applied Ichthyology |language=en |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=881–885 |doi=10.1111/jai.12051}} Tawian sardinella, S. hualiensis,{{Cite journal |last1=Willette |first1=D. A. |last2=Santos |first2=M. D. |last3=Aragon |first3=M. A. |date=2011 |title=First report of the Taiwan sardinella Sardinella hualiensis (Clupeiformes: Clupeidae) in the Philippines |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2011.03133.x |journal=Journal of Fish Biology |language=en |volume=79 |issue=7 |pages=2087–2094 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8649.2011.03133.x}} Blacknape Large-Eye Bream, Gymnocranius satoi,{{Cite journal |last1=Flores |first1=Nicko Amor |last2=Rey |first2=Jade Tifany |last3=Williams |first3=Jeffrey |last4=Carpenter |first4=Kent |last5=Santos |first5=Mudjekeewis |date=2021-01-01 |title=First Record of Blacknape Large-Eye Bream Gymnocranius satoi (Perciformes: Lethrinidae) in the Philippines |url=https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/biology_fac_pubs/496 |journal=Philippine Journal of Systematic Biology |volume=15 |issue=1 |doi=10.26757/pjsb2021a15007}} Bohol lanternbelly, Acropoma boholensis,{{Cite journal |last1=Okamoto |first1=Makoto |last2=Williams |first2=Jeffrey T. |last3=Carpenter |first3=Kent E. |last4=Santos |first4=Mudjekeewis D. |last5=Kimura |first5=Seishi |date=2020-01-01 |title=Description of a new species of the genus Acropoma (Acropomatidae) from the Arafura Sea with a redescription of Acropoma leobergi Prokofiev 2018 and the first record of Acropoma boholensis Yamanoue and Matsuura 2002 from the South China Sea |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-019-00696-8 |journal=Ichthyological Research |language=en |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=39–49 |doi=10.1007/s10228-019-00696-8 |issn=1616-3915}} Pacific bluefin tuna, Thunnus orientalis,{{Cite journal |last1=Sarmiento |first1=Katreena P. |last2=Ventolero |first2=Minerva Fatimae H. |last3=Ramiscal |first3=Rafael V. |last4=Dela Cruz |first4=William S. |last5=Santos |first5=Mudjekeewis D. |date=2016-05-25 |title=First DNA evidence on the occurrence of Pacific bluefin tuna, Thunnus orientalis in northern Philippine waters |journal=Marine Biodiversity Records |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=25 |doi=10.1186/s41200-016-0020-y |issn=1755-2672 |doi-access=free }} Deranayigala’s beaked whale, Mesoplodon hotaula{{Cite journal |last1=Lacsamana |first1=Joanne Krisha M. |last2=Ventolero |first2=Minerva Fatimae H. |last3=Blatchley |first3=Darrell |last4=Santos |first4=Mudjekeewis D. |date=2015 |title=First record of a rare beaked whale Mesoplodon hotaula in the Philippines |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/marine-biodiversity-records/article/abs/first-record-of-a-rare-beaked-whale-mesoplodon-hotaula-in-the-philippines/AD3DC22AE373FA3BC3936E31BC55C122 |journal=Marine Biodiversity Records |language=en |volume=8 |pages=e77 |doi=10.1017/S1755267215000457 |issn=1755-2672}} and Noah’s giant clam, Tridacna noae {{Cite journal |last=Lizano |first=Apollo |date=May 24, 2014 |title=Updates on the status of giant clams Tridacna spp. and Hippopus hippopus in the Philippines using mitochondrial CO1 and 16S rRNA genes |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264541148_ARTICLE_Updates_on_the_status_of_giant_clams_Tridacna_spp_and_Hippopus_hippopus_in_the_Philippines_using_mitochondrial_CO1_and_16S_rRNA_genes |journal=Philippine Science Letters}}

File:MSantos Mudjie Wise Key Islet.jpg

He became an academician of the National Academy of Science and Technology last 2018.{{Cite web |last=Malgapu |first=Hans |date=2018-07-12 |title=Santos of Grad. School elected as NAST Academician - |url=https://www.ust.edu.ph/santos-of-grad-school-elected-as-nast-academician/ |access-date=2023-04-03 |language=en-US}}

In 2015, Jeffrey Williams and Kent Carpenter named a marine fish after him in recognition of his contributions to marine scientific research in the country. The Pogi perchlet, Chelidoperca santosi, was discovered in Iloilo's public fish market which was captured in the province of Palawan.{{Cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Jeffrey |last2=Carpenter |first2=Kent |title=A new fish species of the subfamily Serraninae (Perciformes, Serranidae) from the Philippines |journal=Zootaxa |year=2015 |volume=3911 |issue=2 |pages=287–293 |url=https://www.biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3911.2.10?fbclid=IwAR39ZYajKDQ_FsGkCTwfJ6QqYRnlN9WnX5NGPHYlfAtFNuwUdHWjiB2kPZM |publication-date=2015-01-19 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.3911.2.10|pmid=25661613 }}

An islet in Zamboanga City was named "Mudjie Wise Key Islet" by the people of Barangay Dita, Zamboanga City, in honor of his contributions that improved the well-being of the local fisherfolk.

Santos also led The Philippine Journal of Fisheries (TPJF) revival and indexing in 2017 as its Editor-in-Chief.{{Cite web |title=The Philippine Journal of Fisheries |url=http://www.nfrdi.da.gov.ph/tpjf/editorial |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=www.nfrdi.da.gov.ph}} He also serves as an editor of Fisheries Science, a journal of the Japanese Society of Fisheries Science based in Japan{{Cite web |title=Fisheries Science |url=https://www.springer.com/journal/12562/editors |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=Springer |language=en}} and the section editor for Marine and Fishery Sciences of The Philippine Agricultural Scientist, published by the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).{{Cite web |title=Editorial Team – The Philippine Agricultural Scientist |url=https://pas.cafs.uplb.edu.ph/editorial-board/ |access-date=2023-03-30 |language=en-US}} He is recognized as one of United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea Pool of Experts under the Asia-Pacific States Region with expertise on fish biology and ecology.{{Cite web |title=Pool of Experts {{!}} Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea |url=https://www.un.org/regularprocess/content/pool-of-experts |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=www.un.org}}

Santos is into science communication via social media to promote his advocacy on fisheries sustainability and marine biodiversity conservation. His verified Facebook page “Doc Mudjie” already has over 11,000 followers as of 2023.

Santos was conferred as Career Scientist V by the Scientific Career System in November 2023. He is the first-ever Career Scientist in the Philippines to have accomplished this rank.

In 2019, Santos received the University of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA) Achievement Award for Marine Science last August 24, 2019 in the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City awarded by the University of the Philippines Alumni Association.{{Cite web |last=Romualdo |first=Arlyn VCD Palisoc |date=2019-09-04 |title=IN PHOTOS: the 2019 UPAA awardees |url=https://up.edu.ph/in-photos-the-2019-upaa-awardees/ |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=University of the Philippines |language=en-US}}

A Presidential Lingkod Bayan Award was awarded to Santos during the 2014 Search for Outstanding Public Officials and Employees awarded by the Civil Service Commission and the Office of the President of the Philippines December 15, 2014 in Heroes Hall, Malacañang Palace, Manila.{{Cite web |title=Civil Service Commission Memorandum Circular No. 29 Series of 2014 |url=https://web.csc.gov.ph/2014-02-21-08-28-23/pdf-files/category/3-mc-2014.html |website=Civil Service Commission}}{{Cite web |title=SCS Scientist MD Santos Named 2014 Presidential Lingkod Awardee |url=https://scientificcareersystem.nast.ph/index.php/13-news-press-releases/79-scs-scientist-md-santos-named-2014-presidential-lingkod-awardee |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=scientificcareersystem.nast.ph}}

In 2012, he received the "Parangal ng Pangulo bilang Natatanging Syentista sa Larangan ng Agrikultura" (Presidential Award, Outstanding Agricultural Scientist) from the Office of the President of the Philippines and the Gawad Saka Outstanding Agricultural Scientist from the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research on November 13, 2012, in Philippine Rice Research Institute, Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija.{{Cite web |title=Two North Luzon rice farmers lead 2012 Gawad Saka winners |url=http://rfu07.da.gov.ph/index.php/2012-03-27-12-04-15/2012-04-17-09-30-59/97-da-news-archived/3103-two-north-luzon-rice-farmers-lead-2012-gawad-saka-winners |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=rfu07.da.gov.ph}}

Santos was given the Outstanding Young Scientist Award for Applied Marine Biosciences by the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) on July 14, 2011, in Manila Hotel, Manila.

• See :Category:Taxa named by Mudjekeewis Dalisay Santos

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Category:1971 births

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Category:Filipino marine biologists

Category:People from Baguio

Category:University of the Philippines Baguio alumni

Category:Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology alumni

Category:Filipino editors

Category:Filipino taxonomists