On 5 December 2013, Utrecht University inked two Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (YLLSoM) and NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SSHSPH) to foster partnerships on medical research and advancement. With this latest collaboration, the three institutions will see the exchange of scientific, academic and technical information and potentially two-way exchange of students, faculty, researchers and administrators. Ms Marjan Oudeman, President of Utrecht University, Professor John Wong, Chief Executive-Designate, National University Health System (NUHS) and Vice Provost (Academic Medicine), National University of Singapore (NUS), and Ms Susan Van Boxtel, Science and Technology Advisor from Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, were present to witness the signing event.
The institutions also discussed plans to implement fellowship programmes and research projects in disciplines of mutual interest, which includes cardiovascular research to be led by Professor Dominique P.J de Kleijn. This partnership will be supported by the three institutions.
As one of the largest and most established academic centres in the Netherlands, UMC Utrecht’s mission to create, test, share and apply knowledge about health, disease and care for both the individual and society underpins its work in patient care and biomedical research. At the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, our mission is to build upon more than 60 years of experience in research, teaching and practice in epidemiology and public health, to turn public health discovery into healthier communities.
Both institutions share a common vision to not just be repositories of public health expertise but make better use of our knowledge to proactively and decisively improve the health of populations. The MoU signed between Utrecht and the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health will help provide us with a committed approach to working more closely on significant activities including the exchange of scientific, academic and technical information and potentially two-way exchange of students, faculty, researchers and administrators.