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Friday, 25 Feb, 2022

Duke-NUS inducts second cohort of outstanding clinicians into its prestigious Hall of Master Academic Clinicians

Members of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre (AMC) community gathered on 25 February in person and online to celebrate the induction of the second cohort of outstanding SingHealth clinicians into Duke-NUS’ Hall of Master Academic Clinicians—the highest recognition for outstanding clinical faculty bestowed by the School. Alongside the eight newly inducted Master Academic Clinicians, the campus also celebrated the promotion or appointment of 30 senior clinical faculty members at a ceremony held at the Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium at the Academia on Singapore General Hospital (SGH) campus.

Kick-starting the ceremony on stage at the Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium, Duke-NUS Dean Professor Thomas Coffman welcomed the in-person audience and those joining via livestream, saying, “We are here today to induct the best of the best doctors from our AMC into the Hall of Master Academic Clinicians and also, importantly, to celebrate our clinical faculty who have been newly appointed or promoted.”

The eight newly inducted Master Academic Clinicians are an inspiration to all on the academic medical campus

Before turning to the stars of the day, Prof Coffman honoured the inaugural cohort of Master Academic Clinicians, who were inducted in January 2021 when the Hall was first launched.

Addressing this group, who were beamed onto the big screen, he said, “Thank you for joining us. We’re proud of what you’ve done.”

Duke-NUS Dean Professor Thomas Coffman welcomes the audience in the auditorium and online

The inaugural cohort of Master Academic Clinicians is beamed onto the big screen

The eight newest inductees represent seven of the 15 SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Clinical Programmes (ACPs), which were established for each clinical specialty to facilitate residency training for Duke-NUS students upon graduation. In order to be considered for election to the Hall, they had to demonstrate subject matter mastery, academic excellence and exceptional mentoring for Duke-NUS students.

“[They] have distinguished themselves by their multi-dimensional contributions and that makes them inspirational role models for all of us,” said Prof Coffman.

After the Dean’s opening remarks, the audience heard directly from the second cohort of Master Academic Clinicians via a video message.

In the video, the newest cohort of Master Academic Clinicians reflected on what inspired them to pursue this path, the greater reward and their words of wisdom.

The newly inducted Master Academic Clinicians share their words of wisdom in a video

After the video presentation, Chairman of Duke-NUS’ Governing Board Mr Goh Yew Lin took the stage. Reflecting on the words and experiences of these soon-to-be inducted Master Academic Clinicians, he said they are “a perfect representation of the greater heights that we achieve through our strategic Academic Medical partnership with SingHealth.”

“By combining the complementary strengths of our two institutions, we broke through to a whole new plane of excellence, one where we gained international recognition and made a global impact on healthcare,” said Mr Goh, noting that it is the talent pool on the academic medical campus that underpins these accomplishments.

Following Mr Goh’s congratulatory message, the 2022 inductees were presented with their trophies on stage, marking their official induction into the Hall.

Duke-NUS Governing Board Chairman Mr Goh Yew Lin congratulates the group before they are officially inducted into Hall of Master Academic Clinicians

SingHealth Chairman Mr Cheng Wai Keung adds his congratulations to Mr Goh’s and reflects on the greater heights SingHealth and Duke-NUS have reached as an AMC

SingHealth Deputy Group CEO for Research and Education Professor Lim Soon Thye pays tribute to the accomplishments of the assembled audience

Taking the stage after the induction, SingHealth Chairman Mr Cheng Wai Keung also offered his congratulations to the newly named Master Academic Clinicians.

“The SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre is proud to foster the development of world-class clinical practice alongside academic excellence. It is this twin mission that has enabled us to spearhead innovations in research and education and transform clinical practice to improve lives here in Singapore and beyond,” he added.

The Hall is one of several ways in which Duke-NUS recognises its clinical faculty. At the same ceremony, 30 senior clinical faculty members were also appointed or promoted to the ranks of associate or full professor. These clinicians have an excellent track record of outstanding academic accomplishments in their fields and are sought-after mentors to medical students as well as their junior colleagues and peers.

The audience in the auditorium gives their thumbs up in celebration of the Hall of Master Academic Clinicians 2022 inductees and the newly promoted and appointed clinical faculty

With the celebration of the newly promoted or appointed faculty the ceremony drew to a close. Reflecting on the calling of medicine, Professor Lim Soon Thye, who spoke in his capacity as SingHealth Deputy Group CEO for Research and Education, reminded the audience that “the ultimate beneficiaries of our endeavours to improve care” through education and research are the patients who entrust their health and lives to the clinicians who care for them.

“That must be the very focus of our motivation,” he added, before closing by congratulating the newly inducted Master Academic Clinicians and newly promoted and appointed senior faculty.

Just before the ceremony drew to a close, the in-person and virtual audiences were invited to dwell for a moment on the inspiration that set them on their journeys to becoming clinical faculty and Master Academic Clinicians—teaching Duke-NUS medical students through the School’s new corporate video.