PM Lee officially opens the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School

29 Sep 2009

Academic medical centres like the Outram campus, which the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School (Duke-NUS GMS) is a part of, and the National University Health System, are key components of the overall healthcare system. They need to develop a 'triple bottom line' of delivering good medical care, educating the next generation of doctors well and enhancing our medical capabilities through research. Guest-of-Honour Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was speaking at the Official Opening of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School on 28 September.

Set up in 2005, the Duke-NUS is the collaboration between Duke University and NUS. The Duke-NUS GMS aims to pioneer leading-edge graduate-entry medical education and contribute to the biomedical sciences research landscape in Singapore. At the official opening, Duke University President Prof Richard Brodhead said that Singapore was chosen for the collaboration with Duke University as it is becoming a leader in biomedical research and education.

NUS President Prof Tan Chorh Chuan said: "Duke-NUS GMS is a very valuable addition to the medical and educational landscape in Singapore. It is quite highly complementary to the exisiting NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine." He added: "The curriculum of the Duke-NUS is particularly tailored to educate high-quality clinician-scientists."

Housed at the Khoo Teck Puat Building located at 8 College Road, Duke-NUS GMS will further its biomedical research programmes and initiatives with a gift of S$80 million by the Khoo Teck Puat Foundation, which will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the government.

Over just four years, the Duke-NUS has established five Signature Research Programmes to address key healthcare concerns for Singapore. The programmes are infectious diseases, cancer and stem cell biology, neuroscience and behavioural disorders, cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, and health services and systems research. The school launched a medical education anchored on TeamLEAD, an innovative method. Its faculty members are from local hospitals and national institutes.

The Duke-NUS received its first batch of students in 2007 with 26 students who have already obtained a Bachelor degree. To-date, there are 130 students hailing from 17 countries pursuing the Doctor of Medicine (M.D) course. Its inaugural class will be graduating in 2011 with a joint M.D. degree from Duke University and NUS - the first such degree in the history of both Universities.