Remembering ‘Plague Fighter’ Dr Wu Lien-Teh

A gift appreciation session was held for donor, Ms Tai Ai Luen on 16 January 2015 in recognition of her generous donation to the School. Ms Tai’s gift has contributed to the setting up of the Wu Yu Lin Scholarship to fund one postgraduate scholarship annually for the School’s Master in Public Health programme. The Wu Yu Lin Scholarship is named after Ms Tai’s mother, the late Dr Tai Yu Lin, and in honour of her grandfather, the late Dr Wu Lien-Teh.

During the session, Ms Tai presented Dean Professor Chia Kee Seng with a bust of Dr Wu Lien-Teh. Ms Tai was joined by University Professor Lim Pin and Mrs Tan Suan Imm, a prominent NUS alumna from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

From left: A/Prof Gerald Koh, Dean Prof Chia Kee Seng, Ms Tai Ai Luen and University Prof Lim Pin holding the bust of Dr Wu Lien-Teh, Mrs Tan Suan Imm, Prof Lee Hin Peng and A/Prof Jeannette Lee

Dr Wu Lien-Teh was a Malayan-born Chinese doctor and the first medical student of Chinese descent to study at the University of Cambridge. Dr Wu is remembered for his role in fighting the pneumonic plague pandemic in China over 100 years ago, helping save millions of lives. Also known as the “plague fighter”, he is widely regarded and held in high esteem as the “Father of modern medicine in China”.