Round-up of Duke-NUS latest people news

Round-up of Duke-NUS’ latest people news

As we ushered in 2023 and the Year of the Rabbit, there was much to celebrate and look forward to. Duke-NUS received a $5 million gift from the GK Goh family to establish a centre for neuroscience research, with exponential potential impact for patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. Our PhD students’ research was featured on the cover of the American Journal of Public Health. All this on the back of celebrating the signing of the fourth phase of the partnership between our parent universities with a milestone event at Duke-NUS, graced by Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Education, and Mr Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Health. Our scientists and clinician-scientists received national awards for their contributions to fighting the pandemic and improving lives as well as grant calls, while our staff were honoured with the Dean’s Excellence Award at the townhall, and at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre-wide research appreciation day, where Ms Clara Koh received a special nod for her hard work and dedication.

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Duke-NUS celebrates the next phase in Duke-NUS journey

At Duke-NUS’ milestone event held at the Duke-NUS Amphitheatre in the Khoo Teck Puat Building, guests-of-honour Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Education and Mr Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Health, were joined by NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye, members of the Duke-NUS Governing Board as well as distinguished guests from the Ministries of Education and Health, Duke-NUS’ academic medicine partner, SingHealth, and members of the Duke-NUS community as they commemorated the fourth phase of the partnership between Duke and NUS, where they also toured a specially curated exhibition showcasing the School’s achievements in medical education, research, innovation and academic medicine.

“…in medicine, where there is a concept of a clinician-scientist – where you practise and yet you are a scientist, and you publish but at the same time, you are still performing surgeries. That has always been something special about the medical faculty, and I think it is that essence that makes Duke-NUS special as well. I am fairly confident you will do well in Phase IV, and I am fairly confident that we will have a Phase V. I think we have ourselves a very good partner in Duke University. Thank you very much for all the hard work. May you go higher, wider, deeper.”
Minister Ong Ye Kung

Duke-NUS receives $5 million gift in support of neuroscience research

At the SingHealth Duke-NUS Gala Dinner held in support of research and education on 28 January 2023, Duke-NUS received a $5 million gift from the GK Goh family in honour of Mr Goh Geok Khim, Founder and Executive Chairman of G.K. Goh Holdings, in support of neuroscience research, who is also Chairman Emeritus of the international executive board of Temasek Foundation International and a member of the board of Temasek Foundation Ltd.

The gift will establish a proposed centre for neuroscience research that will enable scientists from Duke-NUS to investigate the mechanisms behind the ageing of the human brain as well as those underpinning degenerative disorders, with the aim of developing effective new therapeutics and strategies to slow the ageing process and treat debilitating neurological illnesses.

“The human brain continues to astound scientists with its complexity and beauty. This impactful gift will enable our scientists to pursue new insights about how we can slow the impacts of ageing on the brain. Such new knowledge will enable us—and our partners—to deliver innovative bench-to-bedside interventions that improve quality of life for longer, thereby creating new opportunities for people to enjoy life and remain actively engaged in their communities”
Duke-NUS Dean Prof Thomas Coffman

A transformational gift of $50 million from the Lee Foundation, also announced at the gala dinner, will support the advancement of innovation and research in the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre (AMC) Health Discovery. The National Neuroscience Institute also received a a $9 million gift from Mr Cheng Wai Keung, Chairman, SingHealth, in support of the “Ecosystem for Dementia” programme.

(L-R): Professor Ivy Ng, SingHealth GCEO; Mr Cheng Wai Keung; Mr Goh Yew Lin, Duke-NUS Governing Board Chairman; Mr Goh Geok Khim; Deputy Prime Minister Mr Lawrence Wong; Duke-NUS Senior Vice-Dean for the Office of Research Professor Patrick Casey, Duke-NUS Neuroscience & Behavioural Disorders Programme Director, Professor Zhang Suchun and Professor Thomas Coffman

Duke-NUS governing board members and scientists among top COVID-19 National Awards

“The award is a recognition of the contributions made by all healthcare professionals, working in different settings – public and private hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, community treatment facilities and in the community.”
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Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, member of Duke-NUS Governing Board, told The Straits Times on receiving the Meritorious Service Medal (Covid-19), the top award of a special state recognition awarded to individuals who went beyond the call of duty to help Singapore battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joining Mak in receiving this national honour were Duke-NUS Governing Board members Professors Fong Kok Yong, Ivy Ng, and Dr Fidah Alsagoff who received the Public Service Star (COVID-19), as well as Professor Wang Linfa from the Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme who received the Public Administration Medal (Silver) (COVID-19).

The full list of Duke-NUS awardees can be found here.

Professor Wang Linfa received the Public Administration Medal (Silver) (COVID-19).

Duke-NUS scientists and clinician-scientists shine at the National Medical Research Council Award 2022

At the National Medical Research Council Award 2022, two teams from the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre received the Open Fund-Large Collaborative Grant (OF-LCG) of S$25 million each for their research in liver cancer and glaucoma respectively.

One of the teams is a multi-institute team led by Professor Aung Tin from the SingHealth Duke-NUS Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences Academic Clinical Programme, who is working on a five-year project focused on tackling and reducing glaucoma blindness with emerging technologies, aptly abbreviated to Target.

“Glaucoma worldwide is the leading cause of irreversible blindness and by 2040, more than 110 million people are projected to have glaucoma worldwide. We hope that our research can lead to improved patient care and cost savings for healthcare systems, not just in Singapore, but also in the region and beyond.”
Prof Aung Tin told The Straits Times

The other winning team is led by Professor Pierce Chow, whose research focuses on precision medicine in liver cancer across an Asia-Pacific Network (PLANet 2.0).

Our clinician-scientists and researchers also received talent development awards. They include Professor Marcus Ong, Professor Stuart Cook and Associate Professor Toh Han Chong who received the Singapore Translational Research Investigator Award, and 17 other recipients from the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Centre (AMC) who received the Clinician Scientist Award and the Transition Award.

They were joined by six other winners from the AMC who received the Clinician Innovator Award as well as the Health Promotion, Preventive Health, Population Health and Health Services Research Clinician Scientist Awards—Investigator award.

For the full list of winners, click here.

Professor Marcus Ong, Director of the Health Services and Systems Research programme at Duke-NUS and the Health Services Research Centre at SingHealth, was among one of the three recipients of the Singapore Translational Research Investigator Award.

Recognising our people with the Dean’s Excellence Awards

Last year, four staff received the Dean’s Excellence Awards (DEA) for their outstanding contributions to the School at the bi-annual staff townhall.

They were: Mr Irwin Wong, Director of Information Technology from the Office of Corporate Services, Ms Tammie Zhu, a senior manager from the Office of Education, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Dr Suzanne Goh and Professor Tazeen H Jafar from the Office of Research, who were awarded the DEA in the areas of leadership, administration, education and research respectively.

Recipients of the DEA with Professor Thomas Coffman, Dean Duke-NUS (L-R): Mr Irwin Wong, Ms Tammie Zhu, Dr Suzanne Goh and Professor Tazeen Jafar

Giving thanks to researchers from the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre

“I am grateful for the people who have nominated me and guided me throughout the past year and this award has encouraged me to achieve more in the coming year.”
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Clara Koh, a research assistant from the Duke-NUS Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme who received the Bunsen Burner Award at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre’s Research Appreciation Award 2022, said. This award recognises aspiring researchers who are passionate, enthusiastic and conscientious about work.

When asked about how she manages to have the energy to not just self-learn Python and R programming languages in one month but also be able to apply them in her work while coping with many other manuscripts, she said: “I try not to work after office hours so I can be refreshed and motivated to continue my work the next day. I also cope by taking time off to unwind with my friends and family.”

Duke-NUS students’ research make the cover of the American Journal of Public Health

“I feel much honoured that our paper made the cover of the American Journal of Public Health! This would not have been possible without the guidance and support of my supervisor Associate Professor Bibhas Chakraborty, and Professor Roger Vaughan. With this review, we would like to promote the application of a modern trial design—the sequential multiple assignment randomised trial to advance public health by summarising recent methodological and practical developments in the field. We believe that our paper is a great place to start for researchers wishing to construct evidence-based adaptive interventions to improve the future healthcare for disease treatment and prevention,” shared Ms Xinru Wang, a student from the Duke-NUS PhD Programme in Quantitative Biology.

Wang’s classmate, Ms Xueqing Liu added, “Just-in-time adaptive interventions could improve people’s lives by focusing on things like keeping people active, dealing with depression, etc. Micro-randomised trials give information that can be used to build these kinds of interventions. I'm so happy to be on the cover of AJPH and I really hope that our work will make the public health research community more interested in using these methods.”