Duke-NUS College System for student enrichment

Duke-NUS Medical School created the Duke-NUS College System to bolster our students’ professional and personal development by providing support, advice, and mentoring, and facilitating relationship building among students of different years. The philosophy behind the Colleges is that if students experience the benefits of a supportive community, they will be better able to cope with the challenges of a medical education, thereby becoming more capable and effective physicians.

During the first year of the medical program, weekly meetings of the Colleges allow the students to know and be known by their Masters and by their fellow College members in the context of giving and receiving support. College Masters are also available for individual meetings and may assist students if they encounter academic difficulties or other challenges. The College Masters include clinicians from a wide range of specialties, as well as physician scientists who assist the students in formulating research ideas and selecting mentors for their third year research project.

Our four Colleges

The four advisory colleges of Duke-NUS Medical School are based on the names of legendary figures in medicine. They are Gordon Arthur Ransome College, Seah Cheng Siang College, Benjamin Sheares College and Eugene Stead College. The four luminaries were highly influential and fondly remembered by countless patients, students and fellow doctors whose lives they had touched. As physicians, teachers, co-workers and friends, they were exemplary in their compassion and willingness to serve others, and remarkable for their great achievements.

Gordon Arthur Ransome College

Emeritus Professor Sir Gordon Arthur Ransome (1910-1978) was a key pioneer of modern medicine in Singapore. His contributions to medicine in Singapore went as far back as 1983 when he was made Associate Professor of Medicine at the then King Edward VII College of Medicine. He also founded the Singapore Academy of Medicine and was its first Master.

Meet the College Masters

Seah Cheng Siang College

Prof Seah Cheng Siang (1922-1990) was a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Singapore. He headed medical units at Singapore General Hospital and Toa Payoh Hospital (the present Changi General Hospital), and founded the Gastroenterological Society. He was also dedicated to medical training in Singapore, and set up the MRACP courses for internal medicine.

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Benjamin Sheares College

Dr Benjamin Henry Sheares (1907-1981) was Singapore's second President and "Father of Modern Obstetrics and Gynaecology" (O&G). He achieved several firsts for Singapore in this field - first Singaporean to specialise in O&G and first local to be appointed Professor of O&G at the University of Malaya in Singapore. He pioneered the Lower Segment Caesarean Section which is now gold standard and used extensively today. He also created the vaginoplasty surgical procedure, which was named after him, and became internationally recognised after he published a paper on it in 1960.

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Eugene Stead College

Dr Eugene Anson Stead, Jr, (1908-2005) was Chairman of the Department of Medicine and Dean of the School of Medicine at Emory University. He went on to Duke University in 1947 where he served as Chairman of Medicine for 20 years. In that capacity, he played a major role in shaping the vision of Duke, building its Department of Medicine, and devising many innovative methods for medical teaching and practice.

Meet the College Masters

Assoc Prof Toh Han Chong
BSc (London), MB Bchir (Cambridge), FRCP Edin, FAMS
Senior Consultant, Division of Medical Oncology and Deputy Director, National Cancer Centre Singapore
Associate Professor, Cancer and Stem Cell Biology, Duke-NUS Medical School