ANNEX A
CITATIONS OF NMEA 2010 WINNERS
NATIONAL OUTSTANDING CLINICIAN MENTOR AWARD 2010
PROFESSOR HO LAI YUN
Singapore General Hospital
KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School
Ministry of Health
“For his distinguished and outstanding contributions in continuing tertiary
education at institutions and to the community in Singapore and the region,
particularly in the areas of neonatology, developmental paediatrics,
child health and development, welfare and protection”
Professor Ho Lai Yun is currently a Senior Consultant at the Department of
Neonatal & Developmental Medicine at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and
the Department of Child Development at KK Women’s & Children’s Hospital
(KKH). Professor Ho is also a Clinical Professor, Yong Loo Lin School of
Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS) and Associate Dean of SGH
Campus and concurrently is a Professor at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical
School (GMS).
Professor Ho is well recognized in Singapore for his contribution in the
development of the field of neonatology and child development. His efforts were
instrumental in establishing neonatology as a subspecialty in paediatrics in
Singapore. He was the founder and head of SGH’s Neonatal Care Unit from
1986-2004. Under his leadership, he pioneered many important programmes in
perinatal care such as birth defects clinics, perinatal counselling services, multidisciplinary high-risk consultations, and neonatal follow-up programme, bringing
in a new era of collaboration with obstetricians. He also initiated congenital
hypothyroidism screening and neonatal hearing screening as early as 1990, both
have since become nation-wide screening programmes.
Professor Ho is also very involved in fostering the area of early child
development service in Singapore. In 1989, on the recommendation of the
Advisory Council on Disabled, he founded the Development Assessment Clinic at
SGH in 1991, heading the unit through its move to KKH as the Child
Development Unit and eventually becoming the Department of Child
Development. Under his leadership from 1991-2008, Professor Ho had
successfully established the reputation of the department, becoming an important
local and regional referral centre. He has also acted as a regional mentor and
teacher to similar programmes in neighbouring countries. Together with his
involvement as Director of the Child Development Programme at Ministry of
Health since 2002, he has brought developmental paediatrics to new heights in
Singapore and in the region.
Professor Ho continues to lecture at both the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at
NUS and the Duke-NUS GMS, inspiring the lives of young medical students
through his History of Medicine lecture series and tutoring trainees in both basic
and advanced courses. He was also the co-chair of the Joint Committee for
Specialist Training (JCST) from 2006-2008, as Master of the Academy of
Medicine, Singapore and continues to serve in the Specialist Training Committee
(Paediatrics) and the Subspecialty Training Committee (Neonatology), as well as
the Residency Advisory Committee (Paediatric Medicine). He also serves in the
Continuing Medical Education, Maintenance of Competency, and Schools
Review Committees of Singapore Medical Council. Through his various
educational roles, he has mentored many young clinicians, out of which many of
his mentees have grown to be outstanding clinicians, including heads of
departments and established consultants.
Professor Ho is also popularly known as the “Face of Touch” in Singapore,
personally involved in teaching Touch Therapy at many community clubs for
many years in Singapore, actively encouraging parent-infant bonding. Under his
leadership as Vice-Chairman of Singapore Children’s Society and the Chairman
of the Research and Advocacy Standing Committee, he initiated several
pioneering research on child abuse and neglect, as well as parenting practices in
Singapore. He has spearheaded many programmes to improve various aspects
of developmental health of children in the region. In recognition of his
contributions to child abuse and neglect prevention, he was conferred the Henry
C. Kempe Distinguished Career Award by the International Society for Prevention
of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) in 2008, an award given to an individual
working in this field from any part of the world once in two years.
Internationally, Professor Ho has won recognition for his educational and
community work on the development of paediatrics and children health in the
Asia-Pacific Region. He was awarded the “Outstanding Paediatrician in Asia”
Award in 2003, by the Asia-Pacific Pediatric Association, previously known as
Association of Pediatric Societies in Southeast Asian Region (APSSEAR). He is
one of the two Singaporeans ever to receive this award so far. He was also
recently nominated to represent the Asia-Pacific Region in the Standing
Committee of the International Pediatric Association.
For his distinguished and outstanding contributions in continuing tertiary
education at institutions and to the community in Singapore and the region,
particularly in the areas of neonatology, developmental paediatrics, child health
and development, welfare and protection, Professor Ho Lai Yun is awarded the
2010 National Outstanding Clinician Mentor Award.
NATIONAL OUTSTANDING CLINICIAN AWARD 2010
PROFESSOR A VATHSALA
Division of Nephrology, University Medicine Cluster
National University Hospital
“For her contributions in developing and raising the standards of
healthcare delivery and policy implementation in the field of nephrology
and renal transplantation”
For the past two decades, Professor A Vathsala has been closely involved in the
renal transplantation scene in Singapore. As one of Singapore’s leading renal
physicians in the area of nephrology and renal transplantation, she has been at
the helm of many milestones in renal transplantation in Singapore, including the
first spousal kidney transplant in 1991, crossmatch positive deceased donor
kidney transplants since 2007, and the rare blood group incompatible and cross
match positive kidney transplant performed at National University Hospital in
2009.
Her sustained efforts in pushing for lifetime government subsidies for
immunosuppresants for transplant patients is a reflection of the passion
Professor Vathsala has for her patients. Working together with the Ministry of
Health, she was instrumental in getting 50% government co-funding for the cost
of immunosuppressant use from one year to the entire lifetime of a transplant
recipient. Her research studies have likewise focused on optimizing the use of
immunosuppressants in transplant patients so as to improve outcomes while
reducing their side effects.
These efforts have translated into improved transplant patient care and outcomes
and raised the reputation and standards of renal transplantation at two of
Singapore’s public hospitals, hence putting Singapore on the world map in the
area of renal transplantation. Her achievements include developing the
Singapore General Hospital to become the single largest renal transplant
program in Singapore, managing 70 to 80 new kidney transplants annually. Since
her move to National University Hospital two years ago, NUH has also significant
developments in its adult renal transplant programme under her directorship.
Under her guidance, the outcomes of renal transplantation in Singapore’s public
hospitals are among the best in the world. Her efforts have had a significant
impact on the lives of transplant patients, making therapies more effective yet
affordable, resulting in high patient compliance and excellent clinical outcomes.
Professor Vathsala is a renowned figure in renal medicine and her leadership in
this area is recognized internationally. She is past President of the Asian Society
of Transplantation, an executive committee member of the Declaration of Istanbul
Custodian Group and was invited by the Ministry of Health to represent
Singapore as the co-Chair at a meeting on organ donation and transplantation
organized by the World Health Organization.
She is currently is a Senior Consultant and Head of the Division of Nephrology,
National University Hospital and the Director of the Adult Renal Transplantation
Programme. She is also a Professor of Medicine at Yong Loo Lin School of
Medicine, National University of Singapore.
For her outstanding contributions to the field of renal medicine and renal
transplantation, her significant accomplishments in improving transplant patients’
outcomes and her efforts in establishing Singapore as a center of excellence for
renal transplantation, Professor A Vathsala is awarded the 2010 National
Outstanding Clinician Award.
NATIONAL OUTSTANDING CLINICIAN SCIENTIST AWARD 2010
PROFESSOR WONG TIEN YIN
Singapore Eye Research Institute
Singapore National Eye Centre
National University Health System
“For his outstanding contributions to research in the area of retinal
vascular diseases and development of innovative retinal imaging platforms
for cardiovascular and metabolic disease diagnosis”
Professor Wong Tien Yin is one of Singapore’s clinician-scientist pioneers and an
accomplished ophthalmologist. Professor Wong’s research is revolutionary and
multi-disciplinary in nature, bridging the field of ophthalmology with computer
imaging, cardiovascular disease, neurology, diabetes and epidemiology. His
efforts have led to the generation of novel research knowledge that has proved
that retinal imaging could be useful to understand basic mechanisms in human
vascular and metabolic diseases such as stroke, heart disease, diabetes and
hypertension.
Over the years, he has built up a broad-based research program, managing to
develop innovative diagnostic platforms which can assess a patient’s
cardiovascular and diabetes risk by having a simple retinal photograph. He has
shown that this predictive nature is independent of traditional tests, and is useful
even in people at low risk of cardiovascular disease. This has great significance
to the public health benefits for Singapore and other countries where
cardiovascular disease and diabetes is the leading cause of death and morbidity.
Professor Wong’s work is widely recognized internationally and he is widely cited
for his work on retinal vessels. He has published more than 450 peer-reviewed
papers, including papers in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet.
He has awards not only in ophthalmology, but also in the fields of cardiovascular
disease and diabetes. For example, he is the only ophthalmologist worldwide to
receive the Sandra Doherty Award from the American Heart Association for
cardiovascular research and only the 2nd ophthalmologist to receive the Novartis
Prize in Diabetes Global Award. He has won the Outstanding Researcher Award
at NUS twice. He is also the recipient of the prestigious Singapore Translational
Research Investigator award, which has led to the formation of a major multidisciplinary research effort, pulling together local and oversea partners, including
industry partners, to further translate his research into clinical care and potential
commercial applications.
Professor Wong is the director for the Singapore Eye Research Institute and
holds the position of senior consultant at the Singapore National Eye Centre and
the National University Health System. He is also a Professor at the Department
of Ophthalmology at the National University of Singapore.
For his outstanding contributions in translational and clinical research in
ophthalmology and his novel approach in linking retinal imaging to diagnose
human vascular and metabolic disease, Prof Wong Tien Yin is awarded the 2010
National Outstanding Clinician Scientist Award.
NATIONAL OUTSTANDING CLINICAL QUALITY
ACTIVIST AWARD 2010
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR TAN KOK HIAN
KK Women’s and Children Hospital
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School
“For his outstanding contributions in championing clinical improvement
and quality, particularly in the area of perinatal care, significantly
enhancing clinical efficacy and ensuring better patient outcomes”
Associate Professor Tan Kok Hian is a quality champion at the KK Women and
Children’s Hospital (KKH). He has been systematically studying perinatal
mortality and published his findings in both local and internationally peer
reviewed journals since the 1990s.
He conceived and oversaw the implementation of the Labour Ward Risk
Management Programme to improve the safety and quality of birth delivery. This
initiative included a rapid emergency cesarean section mobilisation system and
also a reporting system of near misses in the delivery suite which proved
instrumental in instilling a culture of reporting and continuous system
improvement. The programme won the Asia Hospital Management Award
(AHMA) 2004 under the Patient Safety and Risk Management Category. He has
since been called upon to share these successful initiatives in numerous
conferences and workshops throughout Asia.
Under Associate Professor Tan’s able leadership the number of successfully
completed Clinical Practice Improvement Programme / Process Improvement
Project (CPIP/PIP) projects grew from five in 2005 to 25 in 2009. These projects
achieved a total cost savings of almost $3 million over the last financial year.
His efforts earned KKH accolades not just at the national level but also at the
international level. A project of note that A/Prof Tan led was the Integrated
Perinatal Care Project, which resulted in KKH having one of the lowest maternal
& perinatal mortality and eclampsia rates for a tertiary hospital in the world. That
project won the Ministry of Health Clinical Excellence Award in 2008 as well as
the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) United Arab Emirates Health Foundation
Prize in 2009.
As Chairman of KKH Joint Commission International (JCI) Core Committee since
2005, Associate Professor Tan and his team led KKH in attaining JCI
accreditation in the same year. The team’s sterling efforts also won KKH a merit
award for Human Resource Development at the 2006 AHMA. He also led the
team to renew JCI accreditation in 2008 and the outstanding KKH staff
participation in quality improvement activities and the maintenance of a
continuous high level of performance won the JCI surveyors’ praise.
Associate Professor Tan is currently the Chairman of KKH’s Division of
Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Associate Professor at both the Duke-NUS
Graduate Medical School and at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National
University of Singapore. He is also Director of Clinical Quality and Chairman of
the Patient Safety Council, playing a pivotal role in overseeing the
implementation of Clinical Quality and Patient Safety initiatives.
Recognizing his significant contribution and role as a clinician champion of quality
improvement, and for his leadership, zeal and enthusiasm in helping to create
and develop a culture of constant learning and improvement at KKH, as well as
for his successes particularly in enhancing clinical efficacy and ensuring better
perinatal care outcomes, Associate Professor Tan Kok Hian is awarded the
National Outstanding Clinical Quality Activist Award 2010.
NATIONAL OUTSTANDING CLINICAL QUALITY
ACTIVIST AWARD 2010
MRS NELLIE YEO
National Healthcare Group
National Healthcare Group College
National University Hospital
“For her sustained contributions in raising and sustaining the standards
and quality of Singapore’s healthcare sector, resulting in better patient
safety and health outcomes”
Mrs Nellie Yeo has made significant contributions in the development of clinical
and healthcare quality in Singapore across both the public and private sector.
Throughout her career, spanning almost two decades, she has made quality in
clinical practice and upholding patient safety standards her central focus.
A healthcare nurse by training, Mrs Yeo started getting involved with clinical
quality work at Gleneagles Hospital, where she implemented the voluntary
reporting of hospital occurrences system and helped Parkway Group Hospitals
attain ISO certification in 1994. Later, as Director of Quality Improvement Unit,
she led NUH to achieve triple ISO status in 2001, and spearheaded quality
programmes across the National Healthcare Group (NHG) institutions. Among
these were Clinical Practice Improvement Programme, Adverse Events Studies
and Clinical Review Programme - all of which have now become well-established
programmes today. Through her sustained efforts, she first led NUH and then
NHG Polyclinics and National Skin Centre to be Singapore’s first public hospital,
group of polyclinics and national centre, respectively, to attain Joint Commission
International accreditation, a milestone in raising the quality standards of the
public healthcare sector in Singapore.
She initiated collaboration with international quality experts such Professor David
Bates from the Harvard Medical School to rollout the medication safety
collaborative which helped encouraged electronic prescriptions, flagged high risk
medications to be managed, and introduced medication reconciliation. This has
resulted in an electronic drug administration system which has helped reduce
harm and improve quality of care. She has also launched a local collaborative
with infectious disease doctors and infection control nurses to combat methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). This included launching handwashing
campaigns, active screening and surveillance; IT databases to flag patients for
isolation and antibiotic stewardship programmes. This concerted effort resulted in
the halving of the MRSA infection rates at NUH within just one year.
Mrs Yeo is a respected figure among the quality champions in Singapore’s
healthcare and has been instrumental in training many people in the aspects of
clinical quality and in particular, she has conducted many “train the trainers”
programmes, building up a pipeline of clinical quality resources. As Executive
Director of NHG College, she was responsible for the reorganization of the
school to cover clinical education, healthcare quality, healthcare leadership and
skills development for both the acute and intermediate/long term care sectors.
She is currently appointed as a JCI consultant and travels extensively to assist
hospitals internationally in their quest to improve patient care through the
adoption of JCI standards.
For her outstanding contributions in raising and sustaining the standards and
quality of Singapore’s healthcare sector, resulting in better patient safety and
health outcomes, Mrs Nellie Yeo is awarded the National Outstanding Clinical
Quality Activist Award 2010.
NATIONAL CLINICAL EXCELLENCE TEAM AWARD 2010
PROFESSOR LIM TOW KEANG
DR MALCOLM MAHADEVAN
DR IRWANI IBRAHIM
DR JASON PHUA
University Medicine Cluster and Department of Emergency Medicine,
National University Hospital
“For their outstanding contributions in effective clinical knowledge
translation in the use of non-invasive ventilation for the treatment of
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Singapore”
To the group of clinicians from the National University Hospital (NUH), the word
‘Non-Invasive Ventilation (NIV)’ is their pride and joy. As the team who pioneered
the use of the alternative method to help chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD) patients during severe disease exacerbations, they have managed to
improve patient outcomes by reducing intensive care utilization, complications
such as nosocomial infections, length of stays at the hospitals, improved survival
rates and at the same time reducing hospitalization costs.
The use of NIV was pioneered by Professor Lim Tow Keang’s team at NUH in
the 1990s and was eventually extended to the Emergency Department in 2002.
The procedure involves delivering mechanical ventilation through a mask around
the nose and mouth, and is non-invasive in nature. This method is more effective
and safer than the conventional more invasive intubation method.
The project had a significant impact, resulting in a reduction of mortality rates of
patients with severe COPD exacerbations by half. The reduction in
hospitalization for such cases has also resulted in significant cost savings for
patients and NUH. Following the team’s successful implementation at NUH, the
use of NIV was extended to the emergency management of COPD in other
restructured hospitals. As of FY2009, substantial cost savings of S$4 million had
resulted for patients and hospitals implementing this programme. Additionally,
through the experience gained by the clinicians in COPD patients, NIV has also
been employed to treat other emergency conditions, such as bronchiectasis,
pneumonia, asthma and cardiogenic pulmonary edema.
For their outstanding contributions in bridging the gap between clinical knowledge
and the effective practice of evidence-based medicine which resulted in the
successful implementation of NIV in the emergency department, the team made
up of Professor Lim Tow Keang, Dr Malcolm Mahadevan, Dr Irwani Ibrahim and
Dr Jason Phua from the University Medicine Cluster and Department
of Emergency Medicine, National University Hospital, is awarded the 2010
National Clinical Excellence Team Award.
ANNEX B
NMEA INFORMATION SHEET
About the National Medical Excellence Awards
The National Medical Excellence Awards is a national-level award given out to
recognize the efforts of clinicians, clinician scientists and other healthcare
professionals for their clinical and research work. It acknowledges their
contributions in advancing healthcare, improving the standards of patient safety
and quality of care which ultimately improve people's lives.
National Outstanding Clinician Mentor Award
The National Outstanding Clinician Mentor award recognizes individuals with at
least 15 years of service in healthcare industry and health-related work and has
contributed substantially in the training of young clinicians and clinician scientists
via mentorship or by virtue of academic positions. Recipients will receive a
plaque, a citation and a prize of S$10,000.
National Outstanding Clinician Award
The National Outstanding Clinician award recognizes individuals with at least 15
years of service in public or private healthcare establishments with exceptional
contributions to clinical work that advances the safety and quality of patient care,
and in addition has supported and facilitated research. The recipients have
successfully introduced novel / effective treatment methods resulting in high
standard of quality healthcare delivery and are recognized by one’s peers as
being a master clinician. Recipients will receive a plaque, a citation and a prize of
S$10,000.
National Outstanding Clinician Scientist Award
The National Outstanding Clinician Scientist award recognizes individuals with at
least 15 years of service in public or private healthcare establishments with
outstanding contributions to clinical and translational research work relating to
their field of specialty. Their contributions through research work have resulted in
novel understanding of diseases with potential positive outcome on healthcare
delivery. Recipients will receive a plaque, a citation and a prize of S$10,000.
National Outstanding Clinical Quality Activist Award
The National Outstanding Clinical Quality Activist award recognizes individuals
who have contributed significantly to clinical quality improvement and patient
safety and have likewise, inspired others to do so. This is the only award that is
open to all medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists and allied health professionals
in the public and private healthcare sectors non-doctors. Recipients will receive a
plaque, a citation and a prize of S$10,000.
National Clinical Excellence Team Award
The National Clinical Excellence Team award recognizes teams or organizations
that have undertaken a clinical quality / practice improvement project that
succeeded in making an outstanding contribution to improving patient safety and
care through exemplary innovative transfer of benefits of research, novel
methods or care delivery resulting in improved standards of care, health
outcomes, higher efficiency and/or more effective patient centered services. The
team should demonstrate their achievements through successful population of
novel care delivery services beyond the unit / ward / department. Recipients will
receive a plaque, a citation and a prize of S$10,000.