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Duke-NUS - Dean's Excellence Awards

Overview

Introduced in 2013, the prestigious Dean’s Excellence Awards accord recognition to passionate staff who espouse the school’s values, make significant impact within and beyond the school, seek continuous improvement in their personal best and considered a role model for all.

Award Categories and Criteria

There are four award categories and their criteria are:

(1) Excellence in Administration

Made significant contributions either as a leader or in his/her professional areas of work
Innovative in creating ways to improve efficiency and productivity in their respective function within and outside the School.

(2) Excellence in Education

Excelled in engaging and inspiring students in their journey of academic pursuit.
Recognised in advancing new teaching methodologies, effecting new curriculum development or making a significant contribution to the educational mission of the School.

(3) Excellence in Research

Made outstanding contributions to research & development that leads to results in new discoveries or secured significant amount of grants.
Played a strategic role in the research & development beyond the School.

(4) Excellence in Leadership (category introduced in 2018)

Inspired and influenced others to deliver impactful results through his/her knowledge and experience
Displayed visionary foresight and made tough decisions for the benefit of the team and school
Balanced realism with optimism by setting challenging but realistic goals to champion a vision or cause

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR DEA 2022 WINNERS!

From L to R: Mr Irwin Wong (DEA Leadership Category), Ms Tammie Zhu Meihua (DEA Administration Category), Dean Thomas Coffman, Dr Suzanne Goh Pei Lin (DEA Education Category) and Prof Tazeen Hasan Jafar (DEA Research Category).

Mr Irwin Wong
Director
Information Technology
Office of Corporate Services

Irwin is an extremely capable, confident and well respected Head of Department in Duke-NUS. Under his leadership, the IT team had risen to an admirable level of competence and client engagement, consistently delivering quality service. Duke-NUS’ cyber security preparedness level, as reviewed and scored by external penetration test vendors, has been maintained at a remarkable level as well.

Ms Tammie Zhu
Senior Manager
Admissions
Office of Education

Tammie actively looks for ideas to improve efficiency without compromising the quality of work. Her 14 years of experience has helped her identify potential issues and work on ways to approach them. As the Admissions Department will need to work closely with both internal and external partners, Tammie will front the discussions on behalf of the team and initiates assistance with a strong focus on building long term relationships.

Dr Suzanne Goh Pei Lin
Assistant Professor & Associate Dean
Student Affairs & Alumni Relations
Office of Education

Dr Goh is compassionate to students and advocates strongly and fairly for them and brings a
developmental approach when guiding them in their professional growth. She has championed the development of clinical reasoning skills in early medical students. In this innovative approach, she has spearheaded the creation of a database of more than 100 clinical reasoning cases pegged to the different clinical reasoning developmental stages of students across the Phases.

Prof Tazeen Hasan Jafar
Professor
Health Services & Systems Research
Office of Research

Prof Jafar is a globally renowned clinician-scientist with expertise in implementation research in hypertension, cardio-metabolic and kidney diseases. She has an excellent 15+ year track record of designing and leading highly impactful and clinically relevant research in a variety of global health settings. Prof Jafar has consistently published in high-impact journals, including original research papers, editorials, and authoritative seminars on chronic disease management (especially hypertension and chronic kidney disease).

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2019 Winners

The 2019 winners are Ms Ho Pei Leng (DEA Administration Category), Prof Derek Hausenloy (DEA Research Category) and Prof Eric Finkelstein (DEA Research Category).

Ms Ho Pei Leng
Senior Manager
Central Procurement
Office of Research

Using her deep knowledge of the procurement system, Pei Leng ensures that the school’s procurements traverse the system with minimal delay. Her attitude is always positive and proactive, and more importantly, she has the confidence and trust working with people as part of a team. Pei Leng is constantly thinking outside the box to consider different solutions, and readily facilitates cross-department deliberations where necessary to solve the issues on hand.

Prof Derek John Hausenloy
Professor
Cardiovascular & Metabolic Disorders Programme
Office of Research

Derek conducts both basic science and clinical research across Duke-NUS and the National Heart Centre Singapore in the area of ischaemic heart disease, heart failure, cardioprotection and cardiac MRI. He is a key opinion leader and world expert in the field of cardioprotection. In addition to his research and clinical activities, Derek plays an active role in the education of both medical and PhD students. He conducts clinical lectures to cardiology trainees, general practitioners, junior doctors and nurses. He has also proven to be an exemplary mentor and collaborates widely both in Singapore and internationally. Derek was included in the list of the World's Most Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate Analytics in 2018.

Prof Eric Andrew Finkelstein
Executive Director
Lien Centre for Palliative Care
Office of Research

Eric’s work touches on many areas of health care and health care delivery. A particular interest is related to health behaviours that lead to or promote obesity. More recently, he has undertaken research to better understand the complicated decisions of patients, families and health care providers that revolve around end-of-life care. His success in research extends to funding and he holds several major grants related to enhancing exercise and/or weight loss through the application of behavioural economic approaches. Under his dynamic leadership at Lien Centre for Palliative Care, the Centre has attracted SGD$15M in philanthropic support for its research and education activities. For the past four years, Eric was included in the list of the World's Most Highly Cited Researchers by Thomson Reuters and Clarivate Analytics.

2018 Winners

The 2 winners in the DEA Leadership category are Dr Mara Catherine McAdams (Office of Education) and Prof Koh Woon Puay (Office of Research).

Dr Mara Catherine McAdams
Assistant Professor and Associate Dean
Student Affairs & Alumni Relations,
Office of Education

Mara exemplifies the professional competence and personal qualities that we seek to imbue within our students. In this very difficult position, she expertly manages to serve as a supportive, compassionate counsellor while at the same time unrelentingly demanding the highest expectations in terms of professionalism. She elevates the professionalism of the team and seeks out opportunities to collaborate and to ensure communication between various departments and individuals.

Prof Koh Woon Puay
Director
Centre for Clinician-Scientist Development
Office of Research

Under her leadership, the Centre for Clinician-Scientist Development is accomplishing its mission by nurturing a cadre of passionate and talented clinician-scientists. Woon Puay also developed the Women in Science (WinS) Network initiative to nurture and empower women researchers across the cluster to succeed in their scientific careers. Woon Puay has a positive impact on Duke-NUS and the Academic Medical Centre through her outstanding science and her dynamic and generous participation in the development of staff.

2015 Winners

(Left): Prof Kon Oi Lian, Office of Clinical, Academic & Faculty Affairs (Excellence in Education)

(Middle): Prof Koh Woon Puay, Office of Clinical Sciences (Excellence in Research)

(Right): Ms Norrita Bte Abdul Ghani, Office of Education (Excellence in Administration)

2014 Winners

The winners are Dr Ian Mendenhall (Excellence in Education), Dr Chia Na Yu (Excellence in Research) and Dr Mara McAdams (Excellence in Administration).

July 2015 Staff Dinner and Dance - Ian & Na Yu receiving their awards from Dean Thomas Coffman. Not in picture (Dr Mara McAdams)

2013 Winners

The inaugural winners are Assoc Prof Tan Soo Yong (Excellence in Education), Dr Viji Vijayan (Excellence in Research) and Ms Goh Sok Hong (Excellence in Administration).

May 2013 Gala Dinner - Sok Hong & Viji receiving their awards from Dean Ranga Krishnan. Not in picture (Tan Soo Yong)

"Receiving the Inaugural Dean’s excellence award was one of the greatest achievements in my life. It brings to fruition all that I have embraced in my work and personal life – find passion in whatever you do and when you find, it do it with passion. This award is not the culmination but the beginning of more challenges to come." - Dr Viji Vijayan