Dr. So finished Bachelor of Science in Biology and obtained his Doctor of Medicine at the University of the Philippines Manila. He took his Career Executive Service Board Examination in 2008 topping the said exam with a rank of no. 1 of 888 examinees.In 2004, he served as an executive assistant of the Secretary of Health while concurrently heading the National Drug Policy Program as Program Manager. He conceptualized, enforced and monitored the initiatives of the Presidential Priority Low-Priced Medicines Program. Among others, he designed and implemented the creation of _Botika ng Barangays_. These are community drug outlets that provide access to affordable, safe, effective, and quality essential drugs to all, with priority to the poor, underserved, critical and hard to reach areas of the country. At present, there are 16,350 Botika ng Barangay outlets to serve all 40,000 barangays of the country.Eventually, he became the Head Executive Assistant in 2005 and the Founding Director of the National Center for Pharmaceutical Access and Management (NCPAM), which was created from the National Drug Policy Program. He spearheaded a series of policy initiatives to further improve access to affordable quality medicines in the country, such as but not limited to, 1) Implementing Rules and Regulations of Cheaper Medicines Act (Republic Act 9502), 2) Imposed price regulations on most common essential prescription medication to reduce prices of these to half, 3) the Generics name only prescribing in government facilities, 4) Consignment System, 5) Fast track and wholesale procurement system in government hospitals, 5) Philippine National Drug Formulary System and many more.He transferred to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) in 2010 to pursue the aim of Universal Health Care and became the Head of the Benefits Development and Research Department. He designed and developed policies and implementing guidelines that shifted the provider payment mechanism of the country_s social health insurance from the inefficient Fee-for-Service system to All Case Rates, a major reform for PhilHealth. Dr. So also expanded benefit coverage by creating the first ever Catastrophic Benefits such as benefit packages for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer and Kidney Transplant, Cardiac Surgeries, among others. For the first time ever, PhilHealth paid a benefit claim amounting to 600,000 pesos from the former average benefit claim of 11,000 pesos. He initiated and expanded No Balance Billing Policy for Indigent PhilHealth Members where the poor need not pay any amount for quality health services in government facilities. He also wrote the _Point of Care Enrollment policy_ wherein critical poor families needing inpatient care are immediately enrolled in Government Hospitals and are automatically entitled to PhilHealth Benefits without any out-of-pocket expenditures.Dr. Robert Louie P. So is currently the OIC-Vice President of the Internal Audit Group of PhilHealth. He initiated the conduct of the first Outcomes Audit, which evaluates financial protection and quality care of PhilHealth Members. He has thus far initiated various critical reforms to assure efficient, effective, ethical and economical PhilHealth operations and benefit services delivery as a trusted officer reporting to the PhilHealth Board of Directors.