NUS’ public policy and medical schools get new deans
Associate Professor Chong Yap Seng (left) and Prof Danny Quah have been appointed new deans of National University of Singapore's Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy respectively. Prof Quah will assume his role on May 1, and Assoc Chong will take over from January next year. Photo: National University of Singapore
SINGAPORE – New deans will helm the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY School) and the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine), announced the National University of Singapore (NUS) in a media statement on Wednesday (April 25).
From May 1, economist Danny Quah will become LKY School’s dean, the second person to assume the role since the school was established in August 2014. Professor Quah will take over the reins from Prof Kishore Mahbubani, who has served the school for 13 years.
Over at NUS Medicine, Associate Prof Chong Yap Seng – regarded as one of the best fetal growth and early development clinician-researcher – will become the school’s 17th dean from January next year, and will replace incumbent dean Assoc Prof Yeoh Khay Guan.
Graduating from Princeton University in 1980, Prof Quah obtained his doctorate in economics from Harvard University. He later went on to take up academic positions at several top universities including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Department of Economics, and the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Commenting on Prof Quah’s appointment, NUS President Tan Eng Chye said that the university has “found a leader who has the vision, stature and drive that will propel Asia’s top public policy school to the next level”.
Chairman of LKY School Governing Board and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong also sang praises of Prof Quah, describing him as an “outstanding scholar and leader”.
For Assoc Prof Chong, he is no stranger to NUS Medicine, having headed the school’s medical education unit from 2004 to 2014. He has also been overseeing the school’s academic medicine division as vice-dean, a role he has held since 2015.
Pointing out that Assoc Prof Chong “has an impressive research track record”, NUS said that he has received more than S$100 million in research grant funding to date.
Among his current research work involves being the lead principal investigator of the Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes study – the largest and most comprehensive research of its kind, looking at how mothers’ diet and lifestyle during pregnancy affect their babies' growth after birth.
Expressing “great confidence” in Assoc Prof Chong, Prof Tan noted that “he has a clear vision and strategy for further deepening the impact of the region’s leading medical school”.
