Joining hands to forge a stronger AMC
The SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre (AMC) welcomed members of the Academic Medicine Advisory Council (AMAC) from 15 to 17 April to review progress and offer strategic guidance as the AMC embarks on its next phase of transformation to advance healthcare delivery.
This sixth AMAC meeting marked the debut of several new members—Associate Professor Subha Ramani and Professors Sheri Johnson and Russ Altman—who brought fresh perspectives across population health, education and artificial intelligence (AI).
“Your range of expertise and points of view will no doubt enrich our deliberations and help inform our strategic development,” said Duke-NUS Dean Professor Thomas Coffman, as he welcomed the Council members during the opening session of the meeting.
“Your range of expertise and points of view will no doubt enrich our deliberations and help inform our strategic development,”
Professor Thomas Coffman
Laying out the focus areas for the discussions ahead, SingHealth Group CEO Professor Ng Wai Hoe noted: “Our three key themes for this year are: discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship; convergence science; and data science and AI. And this dovetails very nicely with our three desired states in SingHealth—a community-empowered population health system, where we empower our population to keep well, get well and live well.”
Duke-NUS Dean Prof Thomas Coffman welcomes the audience
Established after the SingHealth Duke-NUS partnership was forged in 2010, the AMAC has played a strategic role in guiding the AMC’s growth into a world-class academic medical centre. The Council first met in 2012, and the meetings have evolved from the fundamentals of building an AMC to focus on broader issues that enable the AMC to flourish.
Added Duke-NUS’ Vice-Dean for Academic Medicine Clinical Associate Professor Chow Wan Cheng: “We integrated all the SingHealth Duke-NUS academic clinical programmes (ACPs) and we became thematic-based, rather than talking to one ACP at a time.”
During the three-day visit, AMAC members heard updates on the progress of the AMC and engaged in numerous dialogue sessions and fireside chats with stakeholders from across the AMC—from clinician researchers to early clinician educators to residents—centred on the key themes for this year.
In addition, Profs Johnson and Altman shared their insights on population health and the central role of biobanks in their Academic Hour Lectures with audiences who hailed from well beyond the AMC.
The open-door visit culminated with AMAC Chair Professor Victor Dzau summarising the Council’s findings and recommendations during the closing meeting on 17 April.
While acknowledging the significant strides made since the last review, the Council’s recommendations highlighted opportunities for growth in areas including population health, convergence science, and called for the AMC’s transformation into a digital medical centre.
Reflecting on the AMC’s progress, Prof Dzau said: “I’ve been involved with this organisation for 20 years, since the very founding…To see where the AMC is today is so gratifying.”
Prof Victor Dzau shares an overview of the observations and recommendations from the AMAC at the closing meeting
With the visit concluded, the journey at the AMC continues, bolstered by a shared commitment to build on the AMAC’s recommendations.
“Our ambition is to be world-class, and I think we have had that as a goal and focused on that since this academic partnership began many years ago. I think it’s humbling to say that we’ve achieved that to a certain extent, but we want to do more,” concluded Prof Coffman.
Marking the closing of AMAC 2025 (L-R): Prof Dzau, Prof Sam Hawgood, Prof Sheri Johnson, Prof Coffman, SingHealth GCEO Prof Ng Wai Hoe, Prof Gillian Harvey and Prof Subha Ramani
The AMAC 2025 members with senior leaders from SingHealth and Duke-NUS
All photos in this story are copyrighted to Duke-NUS Medical School.