'It's a good time to pass the baton': NCID chief Leo Yee Sin on leaving her role after six years

SINGAPORE: Nestled in the Novena area is the 14-storey beige and grey chequered National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).

With its muted colours, the building blends in with its neighbours Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Ren Ci Community Hospital.

But to Professor Leo Yee Sin, the 330-bed purpose-built facility is her pride and joy.

She helped to set up the centre, which was officially launched in September 2019 to enhance infectious disease outbreak management and public health preparedness for the nation.

“It is a place where we put quite a fair bit of effort as well as our heart and soul to make it happen and for things to move smoothly,” said Prof Leo, who is currently NCID's executive director.

Last month, it was announced that she will leave her role after six years in charge, to be succeeded by Professor Vernon Lee. 

Prof Lee, a public health specialist, is currently the senior director of the Health Ministry's Communicable Diseases Division and will take over as NCID’s executive director on Jul 1.

In an interview with CNA on Wednesday (May 3), Prof Leo said it was a suitable time for a leadership transition now that the COVID-19 situation has stabilised.

“During the process of handling COVID-19, we’ve seen the next generation stepping up, and many of them are showing good leadership,” she said.

“For every outbreak, we need to learn and be able to adapt and also renew, improve or strengthen the current system to make sure that we will be capable of handling the next round.

“So it's a good time to pass the baton over to younger colleagues.”

THE MAKING OF NCID

Reflecting on the early days of NCID, Prof Leo shared the challenges of building a complex facility to respond to outbreaks of new and emerging infections.

For instance, the team had to figure out how to reduce cross-contamination while moving from one point to another as well as how to segregate contaminated materials from the rest.

“We were basically moving from a huge space at the Communicable Disease Centre, which was almost 10 hectares to the current place – just barely about two hectares,” she said.

“We had to design paths where people can move safely from one place to another place and dirty material can be disposed of using a designated route that would not (put it in contact with someone accidentally),” she added.

To practise, NCID staff members would walk around the centre to familiarise themselves with the different routes, recalled Prof Leo.

“We just kept walking,” she said, with a laugh.

Their efforts paid off in May 2019 when Singapore detected its first case of monkeypox and later, a mini outbreak of measles and COVID-19.

“By then, we had already built up the workflow and the processes and our staff also had first-hand experience in using a screening centre as well as how to move patients around,” she said.

But beyond infrastructure and work processes, Prof Leo said the greater challenge was integrating people from different parts of the healthcare system.

“With the new centre, the clinicians, the laboratory specialists, the researchers, and other people who use these facilities all needed to come together,” she said.

“We had to understand one another with a common goal and common function in mind and that was critically important.”

During her interview with CNA, the petite and soft-spoken 63-year-old often highlighted the contributions and sacrifices of her staff members but rarely mentioned her own.

“(Setting up NCID) was not one person's job, it took a whole village,” she said. “I had very good seniors, colleagues and staff to help develop this new building, successfully migrate from the old Communicable Disease Centre and also, rewrite the workflow.

“I was very fortunate to have many good staff members.”

Beaming proudly, she recalled how quickly her team had responded to a potential transmission of COVID-19 in the community at the start of the pandemic.

“The incident wasn’t at NCID but we put up our hand and carried out our motto, (showing) that we don’t just work here at NCID and that we want to protect the people in Singapore,” she said.

“The whole team jumped in and within a few hours, we assembled a team and sent them to the site to do the investigation, assess the situation and come up with solutions,” she said, adding that this included healthcare workers and logisticians.

“This is just one of many examples of the dedication of my team and the people willing to do extra work to carry out the mission and vision of NCID.”

STRENGTHENING THE SYSTEM

With about two months before she completes her tenure, Prof Leo said her priority now is to work with Prof Lee to ensure a seamless transition.

“I’ve known Prof Lee for many, many years, he was my medical officer in the Communicable Disease Centre and someone that we are very familiar with,” she said, adding that Prof Lee also spent time with the World Health Organization for many years.

“I look forward to having him take over and also continue to strengthen the entire public health system in Singapore.

“I'm hoping I can continue to partner him and work together with him, giving him whatever I can to strengthen the entire system,” she added.

On Jul 1, Prof Leo will be appointed senior consultant at the Ministry of Health and senior adviser at the National Healthcare Group, where she will lend her wealth of expertise and experience in the area of infectious disease and outbreak management.

Besides this, she also hopes to build more regional and international connections so as to improve disease surveillance and get timely information.

“Looking back, I have no regrets. Building up this place and bringing the people together wasn't easy,” she said. “But amidst all these tough challenges, we made it through and proved the value of having the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.”

“It has fulfilled its function and is able to shoulder the challenges, many outbreaks including COVID-19.”

Going forward, she said she hopes that NCID will continue to build on its current reputation and strengths. 

“It’s very important to be able to continue to nurture the human resources and have good people in the organisation to carry on and do the work."