Former Duke-NUS Dean Professor Ranga Krishnan and Duke-NUS Emeritus Professor Duane Gubler received the Honorary Citizen Award—Singapore’s top honour for foreigners—for their valuable contributions to the country during a ceremony held at the Istana on 9 June 2022. Singapore President Madam Halimah Yacob presented the award to the two Duke-NUS pioneers, thereby inducting them into an illustrious group of recipients which also includes fellow Duke-NUS trailblazer Professor Victor Dzau, who received the award in 2019.
L-R: Former Duke-NUS Dean Professor Ranga Krishnan with President Madam Halimah; and Emeritus Professor Duane Gubler with Madam President after receiving their honorary citizenships // Credit: Ministry of Health
National Day Honours for Duke-NUS and SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre
After two years of disruption because of the pandemic, National Day celebrations returned to normal on 9 August. The celebrations kicked off with honours for those who dedicated themselves to serving the nation. The top National Day Award honour given out this year was the Distinguished Service Order, given to three individuals. Among them was former Duke-NUS Governing Board (GB) Deputy Chairman Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, now the Chief Health Scientist at the Ministry of Health.
He was joined by more than 50 other recipients of National Day honours including Public Administration (Silver) recipients including former GB members Dr Benjamin Koh Khay Wee and Mr John Lim; Duke-NUS Professor Patrick Tan, who is the director of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Institute of Precision Medicine; Clinical Associate Professor Ng Kee Chong, who is a senior associate dean with the Office of Academic and Clinical Development; and Adjunct Associate Professor Raymond Chua; as well as Senior Vice-Dean and Group Director for Corporate Services Ms Karen Chang, who received the Public Administration Medal (Bronze).
Duke-NUS recognises pioneer clinical faculty and celebrates new appointments and promotions
Duke-NUS celebrated the promotion and new appointment of senior clinical faculty at the School’s Amphitheatre on 27 July 2022. During the same celebrations, the School also recognised its very own pioneer clinicians who have served Duke-NUS since its inception and received their 15-year long service award.
L-R: The newly promoted and appointed senior faculty join Vice-Dean for Academic and Clinical Development Clinical Associate Professor Chow Wan Cheng (front, centre); and the 15-year long service award recipients gather for a commemorative photo with Clin Assoc Prof Chow (front, centre) as well as Senior Vice-Dean for Corporate Services Ms Karen Chang (second left) and Vice-Dean for Education Professor Ian Curran (right)
The science writer behind many MEDICUS stories, Dr Chua Li Min made the editorial team proud with a special win. Her story titled “Inflammation – the fires that burn within” published in MEDICUS 2021 Issue 3 won GOLD at the CASE Circle of Excellence Awards 2022. The results were announced online on 22 June 2022.
The story also received a nod at the APEX 2022 Awards, receiving an Award of Excellence for feature writing.
Camp Simba is back after two-year hiatus
After a two-year hiatus and some six months of planning, Duke-NUS medical students alongside their undergraduate peers from NUS Medicine and the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine brought their collaborative community project, Camp Simba, back to bring joy to the children of families who are living with cancer.
Thirty campers aged seven to 16 enjoyed the two-day camp which was run by more than 50 student facilitators from the three medical schools. While the last COVID-19 restrictions made overnight camping not feasible, the student facilitators focused on organising a fun and meaningful programme during the day. From loud fun to quiet time spent learning a new skill such as tie-dying.
“We couldn’t plan for overnight stays since we would have to take our masks off when sleeping, which might put our campers and medically vulnerable members of their families at risk. But we were still able to retain other vital elements of the camp, like the station games and psychosocial activities, while adding in new elements such as the tie-dye workshop,” said Ms Meenakshi Siddharthan, Duke-NUS Camp Simba project director and Year Two MD student.
L-R: The campers get ready for an adventurous scavenger hunt that featured lots of team bonding; making jars filled with motivational statements for their future selves