Professor Marcus Ong, Director of Health Services Research and Population Health at Duke-NUS Medical School, is among 10 distinguished experts elected as international members of the US National Academy of Medicine (NAM) this year.
Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honours in health and medicine, recognising individuals for outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.
With this latest recognition, Prof Ong has become the first Emergency Medicine specialist from Singapore elected to NAM, and the fourth Singaporean member of the Academy, joining Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, former President of the National University of Singapore (NUS); Professor John Eu-Li Wong, Senior Vice President (Health Affairs) of NUS; and Professor Wong Tien Yin, Vice Provost of Tsinghua University in China and a professor at Duke-NUS’ Office of Academic Medicine.
“This recognition is a strong validation of Singapore’s success in building a thriving, world-class academic medical ecosystem that delivers meaningful scientific and implementation impact,” said Prof Ong.
“I want to appreciate and thank all my mentors, colleagues and staff who have guided, supported and contributed in various ways to our vision to improve outcomes for patients. It takes a system to save a life!”
An accomplished clinician-scientist and recipient of the National Medical Research Council (NMRC) Clinician Scientist Award, Prof Ong leads Duke-NUS’ signature research programme in Health Services Research and Population Health. The multidisciplinary, policy-driven programme examines the effectiveness, appropriateness, scalability and economic sustainability of healthcare services, with the aim of improving healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.
Prof Ong is also Director of Duke-NUS’ Prehospital and Emergency Research Centre (PERC), and Senior Consultant and Distinguished Senior Clinician at the Department of Emergency Medicine, Singapore General Hospital.
His research spans prehospital emergency care, medical devices, data science and health services research, with significant contributions to improving outcomes in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, ambulance deployment, acute myocardial infarction care and emergency medicine. His work has significantly enhanced out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region, leveraging strengths in data science, medical innovation, and artificial intelligence. He was also a key member of the Lancet Commission on Sudden Cardiac Death, which published a landmark paper in 2023.
Professor Patrick Tan, Dean of Duke-NUS, said, “We are immensely proud of Marcus. His election recognises not only his outstanding contributions to academic medicine, but also the passion, energy and leadership he has brought to improving patient care and health systems.”
“This also speaks to the strength of Singapore’s academic medicine ecosystem and what becomes possible when research, clinical care and health systems come together. Marcus’ work exemplifies the kind of impact we aspire to achieve through the SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre.”
Established in 1970 as the Institute of Medicine under the US National Academy of Sciences, NAM addresses critical issues in health, science, medicine and related policy. Together with the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, it provides independent advice to the United States and the global community.
New members are elected by existing members in recognition of their major contributions to advancing medical sciences, healthcare and public health. This year, NAM elected 90 regular members and 10 international members during its annual meeting, bringing NAM’s total membership to more than 2,600, which includes more than 200 international members.
“I am thrilled to welcome these outstanding health and medicine leaders into the National Academy of Medicine,” said NAM President Monica M Bertagnolli. “Their extraordinary talent and commitment to advancing evidence-based guidance and solutions for our country’s greatest health care challenges will strengthen our efforts to improve health for all.”