Transformational Gift

TRANSFORMATIONAL GIFT FROM PROFESSOR SAW SWEE HOCK

“I am delighted to provide this strategic gift to enable NUS to establish a School of Public Health to undertake cutting-edge research and education in all aspects of public health. It is my wish for the School to play a key role in helping to improve the standard of public healthcare in Singapore and the region in the years ahead”.  – Professor Saw Swee Hock 

Building on 60 years of experience in research, teaching and practice in epidemiology and public health, the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health was established on 1st October 2011. The founding of the School signified an important milestone for public health in Singapore. And this was made possible by a landmark gift of S$30 million from distinguished NUS alumnus and philanthropist, Professor Saw Swee Hock.

This generous gift has helped blaze a path for the new School to reach the highest levels of excellence to become Asia’s leader in public health education, training and research in the years ahead. The School is named after Professor Saw in honour of his philanthropical support and his long-standing contribution to the University.

Professor Saw’s unprecedented endowed gift is timely as major public health issues confronting us today are becoming increasingly complex and require multiple levels of interventions. His gift will enable the School to invest and expand much-needed facilities, cutting-edge research, and world-class educational programmes, professorships and scholarships, and to dream big and pursue excellence in turning discovery into healthier communities.

The School will be able to realise game-changing resources to better serve meaningful real-world translations of public health applications, new methodologies for programme evaluation and systems to better integrate healthcare informatics for the prevention and management of chronic diseases.

ABOUT PROFESSOR SAW

Professor Saw is the President’s Honorary Professor of Statistics in the Department of Statistics and Applied Probability, NUS, and Professorial Fellow in the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS). A former member of the NUS Board of Trustees, he is also an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics (LSE) and an Honorary Professor in both the University of Hong Kong and the Xiamen University. He has published some 49 books and over 100 articles on statistics, demography and investment.

Professor Saw has provided philanthropic support to many charitable causes, particularly in the area of education in the form of gold medals, bursaries, scholarships, institutes, schools and buildings. Recipients of his donations include the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), NUS, LSE, Xiamen University, University of Hong Kong, Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Management University. In NUS, he has set up an endowed bursary fund which has so far benefited over 110 final year needy students across all faculties and schools. In 2014, he was named as one of the “48 Heroes of Philanthropy” in the Asia-Pacific region by Forbes Asia Magazine.