Our heartiest congratulations to Professor David Koh, who was awarded the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award by the College of Public Health & Occupational Physicians (CPHOP), Academy of Medicine, Singapore! He received the award from guest of honour, Dr Lam Pin Min, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Transport, at the 12th annual Public Health and Occupational Medicine Conference held 21-23 July 2017, at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore.
With Singapore’s ongoing “war on diabetes”, the battle against increasing youth obesity as well as continuing efforts to create a “smoke-free” nation, it remains critical to invest in both infrastructure and services for Singapore’s healthcare system to remain efficient, sustainable and responsive to the needs of a rapidly ageing population and related challenges.
Aptly themed, “Moving Forward, Staying Ahead”, this year’s conference, organised by CPHOP in conjunction with the 51st Singapore-Malaysia Congress of Medicine (SMCM), gathered more than 300 experts, researchers, healthcare professionals, policy-makers and industry leaders from Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region to share insights and seek cross-disciplinary solutions for our health system’s ever-dynamic challenges. This is also to mark the Academy of Medicine, Singapore’s diamond jubilee celebration of its 60th anniversary since its founding on 19 July 1957.
The CPHOP Lifetime Achievement Award honours exceptional public health or occupational medicine leaders and visionaries who have distinguished themselves through their accomplishments and contributions to the field of public health or occupational medicine (PHOM) in Singapore, and served as role models to the PHOM community.
Prof Koh currently serves as the Assistant Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research and Innovation) at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Prior to that, he helmed the former Department of Community, Occupational and Family Medicine at NUS from 2001 to 2009 as Head. Building on the vision set by his predecessor, NUS Emeritus Professor of Public Health, Professor Lee Hin Peng, Prof Koh further raised the department to new heights, reinforcing its reputation for translational research as well as education and training excellence, and strengthening its foundation to become Singapore’s national School of Public Health today. Amongst the many feathers in his cap, he was also notably instrumental in setting up the National Preventive Medicine Residence Programme, as its founding programme director. The programme has trained and produced many younger residents committed to protect, promote and maintain the health and well-being on our community.
Prof Koh has received numerous accolades and awards for his contributions to public health research, education and service. He was conferred the inaugural Outstanding Singapore International Volunteer (SIV) Award from the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) in 2012 as the first recipient of this highest award by the SIF in recognition of the contributions of outstanding volunteers who have taken time to share their expertise and resources in many overseas countries; displayed outstanding leadership capabilities in creating sustainable mind-set changes and impacted institutional or policy changes in those countries. Other honours include the Universiti Brunei Darussalam Teaching Excellence Award in 2014, and Distinguished Professorship of Occupational Health and Medicine at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam in 2015 – a title conferred by His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei for his academic achievements and contributions as a faculty member of the Universiti.
“We have many visionary leaders within our healthcare setting in Singapore. Many of them have great vision for their institutions and centres but David stood out as having a national rather than a sectoral perspective…”, said Professor Chia Kee Seng, Dean, NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, who delivered the citation. “… I know for a fact that it is not all these titles and accomplishments that gives him the greatest satisfaction. What gives him most satisfaction is to impact the next generation: in Singapore, the region and beyond,” added Prof Chia.
Prior recipients of the CPHOP Lifetime Achievement Award include: Prof Lee Hin Peng (2011), Prof Goh Kee Tai (2013), Dr Chew Pin Kee (2014), Dr Chen Ai Ju (2015) and Dr Lam Sian Lian (2016).