SingHealth and Duke-NUS’ strong partnership in research and education notched another success with the opening of the 2nd SingHealth Duke-NUS Scientific Congress, attended by more than 2,500 multi-disciplinary medical, nursing, allied health and research professionals, academic scholars as well as overseas healthcare leaders. The event was graced by Guest of Honour, Minister for Health, Mr Gan Kim Yong.
The Congress is an important platform for ideas, innovation and discovery as the best healthcare minds come together to shape the future of medicine. The programme covered key subjects such as basic insights and clinical impact of cancer genomes, technological advances in healthcare industry, neuropsychiatric and geriatric syndromes in the elderly and multidisciplinary care for chronic diseases management. This year’s congress had a strong focus on Academic Medicine with a diverse grouup of healthcare professionals sharing their clinical and research findings, skills and experience.
Strength of Collaboration
Professor Ivy Ng, Group Chief Executive Officer, SingHealth said: “Award-winnning research abstracts presented at the last Congress have since proven their worth as relevant and clinically applicable, with some currently in development. I am confident this year’s Congress will also serve as an incubator for ideas and discoveries as we find more innovative ways to deliver better care to our patients. Our partnership with Duke-NUS will enable our academic clinicians to further their aspirations in continually setting new standards of care.”
Professor Ranga Krishnan, Dean of Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School said: “The evolving healthcare environment has created opportunities for us to leverage deeper collaborations that integrate cutting-edge clinical and translational research. The Congress is a platform to showcase the best of this partnership. We are confident this strong collaborative spirit will help achieve our aim to boost Singapore’s biomedical science landscape and strengthen our potential to develop new treatments and better outcomes that will benefit patients.”
The Role of Academic Medicine
“I am heartened to note the strong focus on academic medicine by SingHealth and Duke-NUS in this Congress. Academic medicine involves the integration of clinical services, education and research. Many pioneering innovations elsewhere have taken place in academic medical centres involving partnerships between medical schools and teaching hospitals. I believe that this is key to elevating healthcare standards here,” said Minister Gan.
Inaugural SingHealth Academy Duke-NUS Golden Apple Awards 2012
A key highlight of this year’s Congress is the presentation of an award recognising outstanding SingHealth and Duke-NUS educators from different healthcare professions for their contributions to education. Awards were conferred on the best staff from the Medical, Nursing, Allied Health and Research categories for the Outstanding Young Educator, Outstanding Creative Educator and Programme Innovation Awards. 12 winners were presented with the award. They were selected by a panel of judges comprising healthcare and educational leaders and faculty members, each experienced in their respective fields of expertise. Please refer to Annex A for profiles of winners.
Public Forum
In conjunction with the Scientific Congress, SingHealth will hold a free public health forum to be held on Saturday, 4 August, 2 – 4pm at the Raffles City Convention Centre, Level 4. Topics include pregnancy and parenthood, the importance of regular screening, exercise for health, managing blood lipids and sugar. Please refer to Annex B for details of the public forum.
For media queries, please contact:
Ms Carol Wee
Group Communications SingHealth,
DID: 6557 4950 H/P: 9781 2169
Email: carol.wee@singhealth.com.sg
About SingHealth Duke-NUS Scientific Congress
Started in 2010, the SingHealth Duke-NUS Scientific Congress is a highly anticipated event that brings together various institutions across SingHealth, Duke-NUS, and around the region, sharing the latest medical development and scientific advances across the various disciplines. Pushing the frontiers of healthcare and biomedical sciences, the collaboration between SingHealth and Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore aims to boost the exchange of ideas and research findings among healthcare professionals in our pursuit of defining tomorrow's Medicine.
The theme for the bi-annual congress Defining Tomorrow’s Medicine reflects the need for healthcare professionals to keep up with the complexity of today’s health issues and continuously innovate the way healthcare is delivered. In line with this overarching theme, the two-day congress covered a wide range of research and educated-related topics through a series of plenary lectures, symposiums and specialty tracks. The presentations were delivered by a distinguished line-up of speakers including keynote speaker Professor Michael B. Kastan, Executive Director, Duke Cancer Institute who spoke on DNA Damage Responses: Bedside to Bench to Bedside.
About SingHealth
SingHealth, Singapore’s largest healthcare group, is committed to providing affordable and accessible quality healthcare to patients. Its 2 Hospitals, 5 National Specialty Centres and 9 polyclinics, backed by internationally qualified medical specialists and advanced diagnostic and treatment medical technology, offer a complete range of multi-disciplinary and integrated medical care. By pursuing excellence in Patient Care, Education and Research, SingHealth aims to be the trusted leader in healthcare for its patients, partners, staff and the community. For more information please visit: www.singhealth.com.sg.
Members of the SingHealth group:
Hospitals:
Singapore General Hospital and KK Women's and Children's Hospital
National Specialty Centres:
National Cancer Centre Singapore, National Dental Centre of Singapore, National Heart Centre Singapore, National Neuroscience Institute, and Singapore National Eye Centre
SingHealth Polyclinics:
Bedok, Bukit Merah, Geylang, Marine Parade, Outram, Pasir Ris, Queenstown, Sengkang, and Tampines
About Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore
The Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore (Duke-NUS) was established in 2005 as a strategic collaboration between the Duke University School of Medicine, located in N. Carolina, USA and the National University of Singapore (NUS). Duke-NUS offers a graduate entry, 4-year M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) training programme based on the unique Duke model of education, with one year dedicated to independent study and research projects of a basic science or clinical nature. Duke-NUS also offers M.D/PhD and PhD programmes. As a player in Singapore's biomedical community, Duke-NUS has identified five Signature Research Programmes: Cancer & Stem Cell Biology, Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders, Emerging infectious Diseases, Cardiovascular & Metabolic Disorders, and Health Services and Systems Research. For more information, please visit www.duke-nus.edu.sg.
Annex A: Profiles of Selected Winners for SingHealth Academy Duke-NUS Golden Apple Awards 2012
Annex B: Details of Public Forum