NTU medical school gets anonymous S$500,000 donation, sets up visiting scientist programme
Nanyang Technological University's Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine Novena campus. (Photo: Facebook/NTU Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine)
SINGAPORE: An anonymous donor has given S$500,000 to Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) medical school, which will be used on a programme that will bring renowned scientists to Singapore to share their expertise.
The government has also matched the donation, bringing the total to S$1 million, the university said in a news release on Saturday (Mar 19).
The Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) 10th Anniversary (2020) Distinguished Visitor programme will bring in Nobel and Lasker laureates as well as other renowned scientists to “engage with the NTU community and address thought-provoking issues in medicine”.
“Aside from engaging with the NTU community, these distinguished visitors will also conduct a public lecture as part of the new James Best Distinguished Lecture Series, named after NTU LKCMedicine’s former dean from 2014 to 2021,” NTU said.
The programme - formally launched on Saturday - was initiated in 2020 to mark the medical school’s first decade and “its transformation into one of the top 100 medical schools in the world, according to the QS World University Rankings”.
Under the programme, two distinguished visitors will be nominated annually to interact, network and share their expertise with the university’s faculty, students and the wider community.
Former NTU LKCMedicine dean James Best was the first distinguished visitor and speaker under the programme. He gave his inaugural lecture on Saturday, which highlighted the role of medical schools as “agents of influence for the future of medicine”.
Nobel laureate Barry Marshall, clinical professor and co-director of the Marshall Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Training in Perth, is slated to arrive later this year.
NTU President Subra Suresh thanked the donor, who works in the finance sector, for his contribution in a pre-recorded address at the programme's launch event on Saturday.
“His gift makes it possible for NTU and the LKCMedicine community to engage with renowned experts who are eminent leaders and movers in their fields,” he said.
