Welcome to the second issue of MEDICUS. I hope that you enjoyed the stories from our inaugural issue. We received terrific feedback from you that will help us to further refine MEDICUS.

We continue to battle the global COVID-19 pandemic and while Singapore is gradually and pragmatically easing restrictions, the storm is far from over. And yet, this is an opportune moment to reflect on how data has helped us to fight this pandemic, how our researchers are now harnessing the power of data to measure the ripple effects of this pandemic on patients, healthcare workers and the wider health system and how this pandemic has taught us about resilience and preparedness.

In this issue, we also document the journey of Singapore’s COVID-19 vaccine, LUNAR-COV19, investigate how our body’s own defence systems fight against COVID-19 and hear from the faculty and leadership on how we have transformed the curriculum to ensure students that remain on track with their learning and graduate on time.

But this issue is not only about the pandemic. Duke-NUS and our academic medical partner SingHealth both mark milestone anniversaries this year, turning 15 and 20, respectively. In our newest column In Conversation With, we talk to Professor Thomas Coffman, Duke-NUS Dean, and Professor Ivy Ng, SingHealth Group CEO, about how this impactful academic and clinical collaboration has been making our Academic Medical Centre a shining success, globally.

Moreover, you will get to know one of our very first pioneers and recipient of Singapore’s prestigious National Day award, the Public Administration Medal (Silver) — Professor Patrick Casey — and meet some of the students in our latest intake. And we will take you behind the scenes to understand how Duke-NUS’ latest spin-off, PairX Bio, which focuses on cutting-edge cancer immunotherapies, came into being

We also bring you news from our parent universities — Duke University and the National University of Singapore — and our partner, SingHealth, as well as the latest news and happenings from Duke-NUS. Lastly, I would like to extend a huge thanks to my fellow members on the MEDICUS Editorial Committee for their help in shaping an amazing line-up of stories.

I hope that you are inspired by these impactful stories, each of which contributes to helping to transform medicine and improve lives.

Anirudh Sharma
Editor-in-Chief
Medicus Team