News

The School is pleased to announce the recipients of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health Faculty Awards for the Academic Year 2019/20. Mr Julian Azfar, Dr Liow Chee Hsiang and Asst Prof Kavita Venkataraman received the Teaching Excellence Award, which recognises faculty members who have excelled in teaching and have shown a high level of performance, dedication and commitment to teaching and learning. Asst Prof Cynthia Chen received the Young Researcher Award, which recognises junior faculty members who have demonstrated great potential in research and achieved research excellence.Read more

The School is currently developing case studies to use in education, one of which will be on palliative care. Part of the case study development involves gathering perspectives and insights from experts in the field. We spoke with Dr Mervyn Koh, Medical Director at Dover Park Hospice, about how this important field is evolving to meet the needs of Singaporeans. Dr Koh initially trained as a geriatrician and went on to complete specialist training in Palliative Medicine. He is a senior consultant at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and headed upRead more

Since it began on 30 December 2020, Singapore’s vaccination programme has continued to make good progress. More than a million doses of vaccine have been administered, with around 40,000 doses now being administered per day. The vaccines were first given to those working on the frontline in the fight against the pandemic, followed by the elderly. In March 2021, those age 45 to 59 years old become eligible for vaccination. Currently, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are being administered at vaccination centres around the nation. Singapore has also received approximately 200,000Read more

Professor Saw Swee Hock, a leading expert in statistics and renowned philanthropist, passed away on 16 Feb at the age of 89. Prof Saw was the President’s Honorary Professor of Statistics at NUS, and Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. He served as a member of the NUS Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2015. His generous donations include a landmark gift in 2011 that led to the establishment of the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. Prof Saw’s contributions in the field of statisticsRead more

What might Singapore’s record number of dengue cases and the curious case of a cholera outbreak in Canada have to do with climate change? Associate Professor Yann Boucher was invited on CNA’s ‘The Climate Conversations’ podcast to speak on how climate change affects the way diseases are emerging and transmitted. The discussion with podcast host, Jaime Ho, revolved around the impact of man-made environmental disturbances and pandemics. “Certainly, there’s been changes happening in the environment and one thing to understand is that most diseases, at least the one that spreadRead more

COVID-19 vaccine programmes are being rolled out across the world, including in Singapore. Last month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that vaccination would be free for all Singaporeans and long-term residents. While vaccination is voluntary, all medically eligible residents are encouraged to come forward to get vaccinated. “Because when you get yourself vaccinated, you are not just protecting yourself. The more of us are vaccinated, the harder it will be for the virus to spread, and the safer we will all be as a society.” – Prime Minister LeeRead more

Singapore has addressed local transmission, but we must recognise that this success is transient and constantly at risk. If we want to keep local COVID-19 transmissions low for the long-term, then it’s important that 70 to 80 per cent of the population gets vaccinated, wrote Associate Professor Alex Cook, Vice Dean (Research) and Domain Leader (Biostatistics and Modelling). In a commentary for Channel NewsAsia, he explained the differences between ‘natural herd immunity’ and ‘vaccine-induced herd immunity’, as well as the safety of the vaccine development process. Assoc Prof Cook alsoRead more

Dr Melvin Seng is the Country Lead Physician in GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), overseeing employee health and well-being across commercial offices and manufacturing sites in the private sector. He obtained his Master of Public Health from the School in 2016.

Zero locally transmitted cases were reported in Singapore in the past two weeks. This is the longest period without any cases in the community since the pandemic started. “I think it is a good milestone, and it gives us cautious optimism that our current measures, even in Phase Two, are sufficient to reduce the transmissibility of the virus significantly to the point where probably the majority of small outbreaks might burn themselves out,” said Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, Vice Dean (Global Health) and Programme Leader (Infectious Diseases). “But IRead more

The COVID-19 outbreak has brought global travel to an unprecedented halt as countries worldwide imposed travel restrictions in an attempt to contain spread. Yet, many look towards reopening and return to a sense of normalcy while striking a balance between protecting public health and economic survival. As the coronavirus outbreak steadies and comes under control across countries in the Asia Pacific region, governments are exploring different options to reopen their borders. The COVID-19 in Asia Pacific: Border Control and Path to Reopening webinar organised by the School on 21 October,Read more